Hello there! Long time, no see!
Well, my last couple of months were not easy. A lot of flying, holidays and visits to Dubai which I cannot complain about!!
February was quite a short month. I had only 3 layovers: MELBOURNE (Australia), FRANKFURT (Germany) and MUNICH (Germany). It might not seem super exciting, however I love Australia and Germany so I was really looking forward to it.
Melbourne
Melbourne was the second Australian city I had the pleasure to visit. And I LOVED IT! Its cultural life, all the different atmospheres and neighbourhoods.. it was amazing! Because most of the crew had already been in the city before I decided to go by myself and just explored Federation Square, the CBD and the Chinese and Greek neighourhoods.
Because I had been in Australia before (in Brisbane) I knew it was almost a safe place in terms of finding gluten free options, not only in restaurants but also in supermarkets. Anyways, and like always, I decided to do a little research before I went. I found an article which had a really nice list of the best 13 places to eat gluten free in the city. After I checked the location of my hotel, I did a small list on my cellphone and later I pinned down some of the locations on my paper map. I ended up having pretty much an option in each of the central neighourhoods (clever girl!).
After some hours of proper walking with already some shopping bags in my hands and having spent a great part of the morning at the Thai festival in Federation Square, I decided to have some lunch. I was in need of a decent meal and since I was around Chinatown I went to Mrs. Parmas. The house speciality are Parmiggianas, a Napoli speciality that I haven’t tasted since forever because of the bread crumbs that compose it. However here they made it with gluten free bread! I was a happy girl!
I read before that this place was 100% safe for celiacs. However, when I asked for the separate gluten free menu, the waitress told me that their restaurant was not safe for celiacs. At the back of the this menu, there was a note stating that they could not guarantee a kitchen 100% free of contamination even though the gluten free food was prepared in a different area of the kitchen with different tools and one staff was also celiac.
I would usually try to avoid these type of places because they have no clue about cross contamination whatsoever… they happen to have gluten free food because of the «hype» and not really because they care about celiacs or intolerants. However, something made me stay. I thought that if they cared enough to explain everything in detail on the menu, if they used a different part of the kitchen and also different tools was because they were actually informed about the disease and its details.
I replied to the waitress that I was going to stay because I felt that at least there people were treating me with respect, not rolling their eyes just because I asked a couple of questions. I told her again that I was celiac and she answered me that she would personally make sure to pass that information to the kitchen so that my food was properly taken care of.
After some minutes of waiting… there it was, the most amazing parma I have ever seen in my life! I bet you all agree, no? Look at the size of it!
Although Mrs. Parmas does not consider itself 100% safe for celiacs, I have to say that after this amazing meal I didn’t feel sick or had any type of contamination symptoms. Everything was tasty tasty and the staff super attentive. I would totally recommend it. Just make sure you mention that you’re celiac so that they can have a little bit of extra attention when preparing your food.
After this amazing meal, it was time to go to the supermarket! I was really looking forward to it because when I went to Brisbane I didn’t go to a proper one and so I was super curious with the type of products I was going to find. I headed up to Coles Supermarket which was on the way back to the hotel and I was really happy with my findings. I bought a lot of stuff, not only to take back to Dubai but also and most importantly to eat during the return flight.
In Australia the «allergens law» is really similar to Europe. The majority of the products I bought were labelled as «gluten free». Moreover, all the allegerns were clearly marked and highlighted in the packages so even if something is not labelled as «gluten free», you can easily read the ingredients and make your own judgment.
Below are some of the beautiful products I bought:
After my supermarket adventure, it was time to head back to the hotel… Unfortunately, time goes by so fast when you’re having fun!
As a conclusion I would totally recommend Australia and specifically Melbourne as a nice gluten free holiday destination. Not only does it has an amazing cool and cultural vibe, it’s also a city where the people in general are really aware of food restrictions and intolerances and that makes everything so much easier!
Stay tuned for the other February destinations! German adventures are just around the corner!
Beijinhos,
Sara
the gluten free journey 