Finally on my recent trip to Asturias I could go to the famous Marqués Confectionery in Gijón. I say “finally” because I’ve known about it for a long time and I have tasted their delicious gluten-free products several times. I also met its owner Alejandro before, during an exhibition in Madrid.

When I got there the first thing I noticed was the decoration, it’s so cute. It looks like a tea parlor.

Alejandro Álvarez, the creator of this celiac paradise showed us the whole place. We saw the area where they prepare shipments and wrap gifts. Then he showed the kitchen where we met Carlos, the baker, working on “carbayones” (typical from Asturias). Everything in this confectionery is gluten-free, but there are also lactose, egg and nuts free products.

After the kitchen tour it came the best part: tasting. Alejandro already had prepared a box of “Rocas de Almendras” (almond rocks) because he knew it’s my favorite. We also bought a few tuna turnovers that were to die for :-) We also had a couple of excellent apple pastries and a few other candy to go.

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We recently took a trip to Asturias and we planned to stop in León to take a look around, see the famous cathedral and so on. The first thing I did before leaving was browse around the web to find a restaurant in León with gluten-free food.

Among the options we found we decided for the restaurant “Alfonso Valderas”. It happened to be a delicious choice.

The restaurant specializes in cod and beef. It was nice surprise to find  they have a varied gluten-free menu

Among the starters they have: …read more »

Since VIPS has a gluten free menu I’ve been there a couple of times tasting the dishes.

First I tried the “Flatbread de pollo” (Chicken flatbread). It’s like a pizza dough with chicken chunks and barbecue sauce. It was pretty good as a starter, maybe too big so it’s better for sharing. I wasn’t very hungry so I just had that.

Another day I tried the Cheeseburger (the cheese is hidden under the meat ;-). The bread is quite similar to Mc Donald’s and I’d rather have it with french fries instead of chips but… well, the overall dish it’s good.

And for dessert a big big brownie, well at least for Spanish standards it’s huge. It’s covered with chocolate sauce and it’s coulant, meaning the core is “melted”. It was delicious.

All gluten-free dishes are served on blue plates to distinguish them from the others.

bon appétit :-)

The VIPS Group has just announced that we can enjoy a gluten free menu in their Vips and Ginos.

In the Vips case they have renewed the gluten free menu and it’s already available in its 93 restaurants. In the Ginos case they have created a new gluten free menu that is being implemented gradually in its 94 restaurants (currently is available in 18).

The new menu includes gluten free starters, main courses, drinks and desserts. All these at the same price of regular dishes.

At Vips we can enjoy:

• Tex-mex nachos
• Ham and cheese sandwich
• Chicken BBQ flatbread
• Cheese Burger
• Lasagna Bolognese
• And for dessert: pancakes with whipped cream and syrup, brownie or Copa Doppio Cioccolato

At Ginos we can have:

• Fonduta di Formaggi
• Spaghetti a la Panna e Prosciuto
• Pizza Prosciutto o Piemontese
• And for dessert: tiramisú, profiterole with hot chocolate sauce

I have tried almost all of them and I can tell you they are pretty good :-)

VIPS Group have made a big effort to have these menus. They have remodeled kitchens, included ovens dedicated to gluten free food and use different plates to avoid the cross contamination.

¡Thanks to the VIPS Group!

Before being diagnosed celiac, every now and then we felt like eating out good and cheap. One of the places we used to go was 100 Montaditos (“mini” baked bread sandwiches restaurant chain with a menu of 100 type of sandwiches). Well, that’s not an option anymore because they don’t have any gluten-free option.

Now we have an alternative: Rodilla, which is another sandwich restaurant chain, recently launched a gluten-free ham and cheese warm sandwich that it’s individually stored, warmed and served packaged.

It’s a pity that there is only one (ham and cheese) but at least it’s pretty good. According to my non-celiac husband the bread was better than the regular one he was having.

So thanks to Rodilla and we hope you will extend your gluten-free options soon.

Have any one out there taste it? How do you like it?. Please let us know in the comments.

The downside of shopping at Carrefour on Saturday at 6 pm (besides the crowd) is that they offer tastings of a lot of food you can’t eat. However yesterday I found something good, there was a tasting of salad with a new raspberry vinaigrette by the brand “Baby Fresh” (Primaflor). I ask the girl who was offering it if the sauce was gluten-free but she didn’t know. I took a look at the bottles and fortunately they have a gluten free logo, because the text on the label is so small that you need a magnifying glass to read it ;-)

They have a several flavors:

• Caesar
• Mustard and honey
• Yogur
• Balsamic
• Raspberry

I bought a raspberry vinaigrette and a caesar sauce and prepared a good salad when I got back home.

They come in 280 ml cans with lid drip and costs 1,95 Eur each. On Primaflor’s web, the balsamic and the raspberry flavors vinaigrettes don’t say “gluten-free product”. However, the bottles I brought home do. They also have the caesar sauce in sachet of 60 grams.

If you want to know where do they sell then besides Carrefour, send them a message from their web contact page.

Thanks Primaflor for thinking of celiacs.

Starbucks in Spain increases its gluten-free product variety. First it was the gluten-free brownie. Now they offer the Millionaire Shortbread. It’s a little but dense scone ideal to go along with a large cup of coffee.

It looked so small that I also ordered a brownie. However the Millionaire happened to be stuffing enough so I took the brownie and put it in my purse for later. I just ate it at breakfast today :-)

I also saw new gluten-free potato chips.

I’m happy to see that every day more and more restaurants increase their variety of gluten-free products.

The VIPS Group (restaurant chain) has been working to develop a gluten-free menu for its  Ginos restaurants. A few months ago I was lucky to participate in a gluten-free food tasting session organized by Ginos for a group of celiacs to collect feedback about the dishes they “designed” for their gluten-free menu. Let me tell you that I was very satisfied with what I tasted:

• Pasta Bolognese.
• Pasta with a creamy sauce and ham
• Tiramisu. It doesn’t look exactly like the traditional tiramisu but tasted good.
• Profiterole.
• Some other stuff that wasn’t included in the final menu.
• They also have gluten-free beer, regular and alcohol free.

Now, the celiac menu is available in the following Ginos restaurants:

• Kinepolis
• Monforte de Lemos street
• Carlos Trías Bertrán square
• #66 Doctor Esquerdo street

I was at the restaurant in Kinepolis and had a delicious gluten-free meal :-)

It’s worth to mention that the restaurant is certified by FACE (Spain Celiac Associations Federation)

I want to thank VIPS Group for considering Spanish celiacs in their menu.

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to attend to the launch of a new product for celiacs called Proceliac. It’s a new milk from Central Lechera Asturiana  that contains a probiotic that reduces intestine inflammation in celiac people.

I’ll try to explain this in a very simple way. The first time I heard about a “special milk for celiac” I wonder: why this milk is special if we can drink almost any kind of milk? Well, the answer is not in the milk but in the probiotic in it.

According to Wikipedia (in Spanish), probiotic food is a type of food that contains live microorganisms that remain active in the intestine and have physiological effects. Consumed in an appropriate amount they have a very beneficial effect, like contributing to the intestinal flora balance and boosting the immune system.

Now that we already know what a probiotic is, I’m going to talk about this specific probiotic. It’s called Bifidobacterium longum ES-1, but the name is not as important as its function in our body: it reduces intestine inflammation and improves the intestinal flora of celiac (according to the studies done).

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Finally I was able to go to CELICIOSO bakery and coffe shop, in Madrid downtown.

I had read many good comments about this place where everything is gluten-free. Now I definitely can call it a “celiac paradise”.

First of all, the place decoration stands out of the regular. It’s pretty nice, it reminds me of French coffee shops. Both the atmosphere and the food are really cool. It’s almost a pity to eat such a nice food :-)

In second place, the variety is amazing. Celiacs are so used to have a few options and here there are so many different things: cupcakes of different tastes and colors, brownies, alfajores, cakes, breads, cookies, beer, lasagnas and other dishes to go.

They also deliver to other restaurants.

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