If you’re travelling through Germany the number one place you have to go is Berlin! It’s an amazingly vibrant city with many different faces. Every district has a different feel, I’ve been living in Berlin for 6 years and I’m always able to find something new. Many places around the city can cater to people with celiac disease.

I’ve got two suggestions that can be found in the city centre. Cha Cha's Thai Street Kitchen in Friedrichstraße has some great gluten free options. All the meals are really fresh and light which is perfect for the hot summer we are having. Nearly everything there is gluten free, some of which is clearly noted on the menu but it's best to ask the staff. I would recommend trying some of their fantastic curries.

You can also find Block House Steak houses scattered around the city, there’s a big one next to Alexander Platz for example. They have a gluten free menu and from my experience the staff know what to do when a celiac walks in. It doesn’t hurt to remind them that all utensils and preparation surfaces can’t come into contact with gluten. I have been glutened once before there because of such a mistake albeit only mildly.

It doesn’t hurt to have some allergy cards on you either: www.delicardo.com is a company based in Berlin that provides such cards in German among other languages. They are handy to give the chef at any restaurant as an extra reminder of what he/she should be aware of.

Oh, and very important is Neumarkter Lammsbräu Gluten Free Beer, you can find it in some organic supermarkets (Bioladen) or health stores (Reformhaus).

cha chá

Friedrichstr. 63

10117 Berlin

Germany

www.eatchacha.com

Block House

Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 7

10178 Berlin

030 2423300

www.block-house.de

I called and found it was open until 6 pm and did salads, crepes, and other stuff. He confirmed they do nothing that has gluten, so I could relax. I am GF but also must be DF and SF. It's a tiny shop front, doing mostly lunchtime trade. It has light fare and desserts and non-dairy ice cream as well as normal ice cream. Young oriental trio, cooking in full view. Lots of selection. I had ginger squash and beet soup, with a home made lavash cracker. Both were outstanding. Then a buckwheat crepe with 2 types of mushrooms, tomato, basil, spinach, and vegan cheese. So good. Finished up with a coconut mango ice cream. My companion had the same main and dessert but had an awesome salad starter (quinoa, beet, carrot….15 things in it) and he said it was delicious – he doesn't have to eat GF.

And it wasn't expensive either. Not even $30 (Cdn) for 2 people for 3 courses. Parking is tough… there are some parking garages but little street parking.

This gem of a place for anyone with GF DF SF etc is the

HIBISCUS CAFE, 
238 Augusta Ave,
Toronto.

Web: www.blogto.com/cafes/hibiscus

Apart from listening to me on which gluten-free soy milk I preferred, they'd gone out of their way to find a truly superb gluten-free, dairy-free bread from local artisanal bakery Fatto a Mano. The poached eggs with smoked salmon are perfect. The house-baked beans were a little under-done, but the sauce was piquant. The specials are also probably good when done as designed; however my attempt to get the green eggs and ham (pesto eggs) with soy instead of cream made them a tad odd.

The owners are aiming for excellent coffee and have a few single origin options. It's certainly one of the better coffees I've had in Clifton Hill recently.

The café is one of those rustic places where hardly any of the chairs match and every room has a different feel. The building is a classic Victorian terrace where the downstairs is the café and the upstairs is still living space. The front room is all old school tables and mis-match; the centre-room has a huge wooden table done beautifully with autumn leaves and stools around it, just right for lazing at and reading the Saturday papers or good for a large group; and then there are a few tables outside, next to a fabulous mural and poky garden with little pots and a square of lawn.

There are still a few too many dishes you'd have to alter to call the place gluten-free and the kitchen is so tiny that service can take a while, but the staff are delightful and the produce is ultra-fresh and high quality. Can I just gush about that bread again? Best gluten-free bread I've ever had at a café.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The Bell Jar,
656 Smith Street
Clifton Hill, 3068

03 9482 7980

The first thing that strikes you at Auction Rooms is the scale of the place. Located in the old WB Ellis auction house in Errol Street, North Melbourne, the refit has preserved the brick walls and the height of the ceiling, but with quirky touches such as a sun-shade made of milk crates, creating a funky space without being intimidating. A lot has been written elsewhere about the way the central bar and innovative use of levels allows the tables to have privacy and a nook-like feel while staying airy and spacious.

The menu features quite a few bread-based items, which can all be made with gluten-free bread. I’m suspicious of that in most cafés — the bread is usually packet stuff from the supermarket that tastes like cake. At Auction Rooms, though, it’s good crusty bread sourced from Silly Yaks. Points already. I decided I wanted something different, though, and ended up with calamari, tossed in spices and rice flour and lightly fried, served in a salad with the most amazing thin strips of salted cucumber. Finished off with a perfect aioli, the result was mouth-watering and I took my time to savour each bite.

More importantly, the food is as good as it used to be, if not better. It’s even more rare to find gluten-free and dairy-free items and ones that taste so incredible. Of course, everything is clearly marked. My absolute favourite sweet is still available: the dark chocolate raspberry tart. The apple pie is sweet and the pastry is incredible for a gluten-free pastry. There’s a variety of sweet biscuits including vanilla kisses and tiramisu kisses.

Savoury dishes include sausage rolls and pies, salads, soups and brunch dishes such as eggs florentine. The coffee is even good — and it’s the first place I’ve ever been able to ask if they have soy milk without having to check it’s a gluten-free brand.

You can take a little bit home with you too: there’s fresh bread, lots of cakes and pastries, and a little store space out the back selling pasta and condiments. The cakes are stunning and you can buy whole ones for your next party. Sacs is definitely worth the trip. If you dream of having an entire menu to choose from, Sacs is where your dreams come true.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Sacs
105 High St
Northcote 3070
Victoria

+61 3 9482 3999

Knowing they closed at 8pm, though, we went early and had dinner too.

A typically cosy inner-city café, the Refectory sits on Sydney Rd in Brunswick and has eclectic decorations. The prices are reasonable and the servings are generous.

At first glance, the menu isn’t coeliac-friendly: filled with focaccias and other wheat-heavy items. However, they have gluten-free bread and will do any item on the board with it. Most of the non-bread items were already gluten-free. Top that off with a comprehensive soup list (at least eight varieties, all but one of which was safe) for $6.95 for a meal-sized bowl and you’re laughing. I can only speak for my soup (split pea and ham, delicious); although the rest of our group said their items were also terrific, I have no idea how they would taste with gluten-free bread.

The pavlova was everything we expected. I noticed they also had flourless orange poppyseed cake and flourless chocolate cake as options if you’re not feeling up for the richness of a pav. Coffee was good and the atmosphere throughout was terrific.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Green Refectory,
+61 3 9387 1150

115 Sydney Rd,
Brunswick VIC

Gurkha’s Brasserie is one the Gurkha’s growing chain, although it’s not a fast food restaurant. We sat at the front on those knee cushions you sometimes find in Thai restaurants. The waiter brought a basket of pappadums which we ascertained were chickpea flour.

Nothing on the menu was marked gluten-free but the waiter was very helpful. Following our usual pattern, we ordered the most unusual things we could find on the menu: the goat curry and the crab curry. They were utterly delicious. The crab was served with a silver tool for cracking the legs, but the shell was so soft we didn’t need it. Thankfully, we were also given a bowl of water to clean our fingers.

We had saffron rice and yoghurt raita as sides. The raita was unusual, in that it had onion, apple and tomato as well as the usual cucumber you’d find in an Indian restaurant. It worked surprisingly well with the goat.

My partner had a “Nepalese tea” (very much like chai) and I had mango lassi. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to stay for dessert.

The total for the night was $51 — where else can you get a crab dish this good for only $16.50? We will definitely be returning. Gurkha’s reputation is well deserved.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Gurkha’s Brasserie
190 -192 Chapel St
Prahran VIC 3181

Jan’s overhaul included introducing organic fair trade Jasper’s coffee, organic foods where possible, free-range eggs and, delightfully, an awareness of gluten-free cooking. At first, it was just gluten-free toast but the kitchen now ensures most flours used in items like the corn and zucchini fritters (served with slow-roasted tomatoes, bacon and avocado salsa) are gluten-free too. The gluten-free bread is the thick white loaf from local bakery Silly Yaks, so it works brilliantly when used in such dishes as French toast with poached spiced pears (or the special variation, caramelised French toast with sweetened ricotta and poached berries).

Unfortunately, recently it’s been harder to guarantee gluten-free items are available and specials are less likely to be gluten-free than they used to be. We’ve downgraded the café to three stars as a result.

As a bonus, the coffee is also excellent, thanks to the efforts of barista Carly, whose latte art includes mini-Mona Lisas you have to see to believe.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Café Quince,

43 -45 Spensley St, Clifton Hill 3068

Melbourne, Australia

+61 3 9482 4180

The menu has a ton of gluten-free food, all labelled clearly with a [GF] next to appropriate items. Options include gluten-free muffins if you’re only feeling peckish to the unbelievably delicious and spicy seafood jumbalaya (also available vegan) to the slightly odd beetroot chocolate cake. Prices are reasonable and the atmosphere is good.

Our only complaint was the coffee — I ordered decaf and it came weak as dishwater — and the service — when I complained about the coffee, I was told that decaf is weak. Not true. The waiter did take the coffee away and come back with a stronger one, which tasted strong, bitter and stale.

Ignore that, though, and the place is terrific.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Gluttony,
278 Smith St, Collingwood 3066
Melbourne, Australia
+61 3 9416 0336