Gluten Free Eating in Bruges, Belgium

Myself and a group of friends went for a city break last week to Bruges and had an amazing time :) I thought I would write a blog about it as when researching food I had found lots of negative reviews and even one saying it was one of the worst places they had every visited to be gluten free! Needless to say knowing it was famous for Beer and Waffles which are famously not Gluten Free I was a little apprehensive and as we went on the Euro Star made sure that most of my suitcase was filled with food rather than clothes, but it turned out to be a much easier experience than I had anticipated!

On the first night after wandering around we ended up in an Italian restaurant (which I will try to find the name of) and the staff were brilliant, the chef asked what kind of flavours I liked and made me up 2 varieties of tomato based sauce to accompany my starter and my main!

Grilled Scallops in Tomato Sauce

Garlic and herb  Chicken with pick and mix salad

The second night after getting on Trip Advisor I had found a place called 'Beer and Ribs' which had amazing reviews and booked a few weeks in advance which I was glad I did as for a larger group they already had limited space!  I had already emailed to find out what the ribs were marinated in, they did 4 different types smokey BBQ, Chilli, dry rub and chocolate and beer, the latter being the only one unsuitable because of the beer but that sounded good to me! It got better on arrival as a plate of nachos and all you can eat ribs for 18 Euros is a bargain and the nachos were pure maize so I got to eat almost exactly the same as everyone else :) Genuinely the best ribs I have ever eaten, smokey BBQ literally fell off the bone so could not recommend it more highly! 

Nachos to share with a variety of toppings

Meaty perfection!

Lunches admittedly were a little more tricky and not a huge range of 'safe' options but there was lots of salads and omelettes which I stuck to and took a roll with me, which for a weekend was more than adequate!

Hardest bit of the weekend was watching everyone with their amazing looking waffles covered in chocolate and cream BUT I found so much amazing dark chocolate it more than made up for it, even chocolate covered

marshmallows and also some lovely Macaroons in a beautiful shop off the main square and have come back well stocked up with buttons from the Chocolate Museum! 

The other thing that is worth a mention is the 'Frites' museum- all about potatoes and chips which made for an entertaining trip for the group of us, could be very educational if you are a veggie fan but the best bit was hands down tasting the chips at the end which are all cooked in front of you and individually fried :) Nothing tastes better than food you know won't make you ill! 

So all in all- don't panic! I know experiences all vary but I wanted to share how positive mine was and that I found there is much more to Belgian food than unfriendly waffles and beer. I didn't even have to use my language cards as everywhere we went into English was very well spoken with a good understanding of Coeliacs and being Gluten Free! 

Vozar's- Gluten Free Restaurant, Brixton Village

The weekend I was taken to Vozar's for a celebratory meal and having pledged support to get it on it's feet I have been excited about a visit for months!!

It has developed from WAG Bakery which I'm sure many people are familiar with as I always see raving reviews about their cakes and bread but had not yet been able to sample it myself- this is their website so you can have a gander: http://vozars.co.uk/

I was a little apprehensive about what Brixton Village would be like but it is so easy to get to from the station and when you walk in Vozar's is right in front of you, a cute little cafe on the corner of a busy strip with lots of other lovely looking restaurants. 

Having been drooling over the menu for days I had already decided my boyfriend and I would be sharing the scotch egg and chicken strips to start, unfortunately they had run out of scotch eggs (very popular!) but I was nowhere near disappointed with the crab meat dish I chose instead:

                                       

Literally piled high with moist crab meat and underneath is pile was half a soft toasted roll! 

Chicken Strips- HEAVEN! These were exactly how I remember Schnitzel tasting, so yummy I could easily of had 2 plates of these for dinner! 

For our mains we had the Pork Belly, which as you can see looked (and tasted) amazing, served with and appley sauce and creamy mash 

                        

Now, at this point I definitely did not need pudding, but after a rest and this little one having been calling to me I gave in and ohhhhh was it good :) The crust was crisp but not dry and custard was the perfect very occasional dairy treat! 

I really can't reccomend this place any higher, it would be amazing to see them go on to have a larger premises but we will definitely be back!!