REVIEW: Zizzi

I have been meaning to do a review of Zizzi for a while now, and after eating there last night, there's no time like the present!

Zizzi is a nationwide chain of Italian restaurants similar to Strada, Prezzo and Carluccio's. They boast an impressive gluten free menu which isn't just limited to a couple of pasta dishes and salad. Their website has a separate 'special diets' menu, which lists all the food safe to eat for vegetarians and various allergies. I find this really helpful as you can plan in advance what you might have to eat, and it is particularly useful if you have trouble trusting the knowledge of the staff. They have copies of this menu within the restaurant, so make sure you ask for it when you're seated. Admittedly, when I asked to see it last night, I was told "oh you can have the pasta dishes, we just use gluten free pasta."  This isn't true. Some of the sauces contain gluten and are not safe, and there are more choices than just pasta, so be persistent in asking for the menu if you aren't offered it!

Having eaten at Zizzi before, I already knew what I wanted to order - the Strozzapreti Pesto Rosso. I love chicken pasta dishes and this one is gorgeous. Spiced creme fraiche sauce with spring onions and torn chicken breast. I am slightly confused by their special diets menu, as this dish is not listed as safe for coeliacs anymore, yet it does say it's fine in the allergen table at the back, providing the pasta is substituted.  I asked my server, and again had to ask twice as initially she said "oh it's probably not gluten free anymore then," and only sought confirmation when I explained about the table in the back of the menu. When she returned, I was told it was still fine and must be a printing error, so I'm going to raise this issue with Zizzi and ask them to recheck their menus. It would be a shame to miss out on my favourite meal because of a printing error.  Needless to say, I did order that and was fine the next day, so I'm confident it's still safe.

  My Strozzapreti Pesto Rosso. (Admittedly, it was hard not to
    divert my eyes towards my boyfriend's Rustica Pizza in the background!

Service aside, the meal was really nice. Ironically, I know I'm eating good gluten free pasta, when every mouthful has me doubting whether or not it is actually gluten free! Even my boyfriend couldn't tell the difference, but I was assured by two separate servers that it definitely was. The pasta they use is Doves Farm, and to my knowledge, I've never bought it before but I might have to add it to my trolley next time!

As with most of the gluten free menus at mainstream Italian restaurants, the only thing missing is pizza/bread options. It is understandable why they don't feature, with cross-contamination concerns etc, but it's still a shame as it would be lovely to have some garlic bread with my pasta. Perhaps they will look into some frozen/premade bread as gluten free options continue to expand and improve? I imagine that with Zizzi, it would be difficult, as their pizzas are cooked in a stone fired oven so I would rather know that what I'm eating was cooked separately and definitely safe. Lack of bread aside, the menu at Zizzi is brilliant for coeliacs. Various pasta and risotto dishes, starters (albeit only olives and prawns!), mains, sides and a couple of nice desserts are all safe, so if you like Italian food, you're bound to find something you like!

Maybe I could sneak a couple of slices of bread in my handbag next time?

Gluten Free in Paris

I've recently come back from a midweek trip to Paris with my boyfriend and thought I would share my experience on eating gluten-free there. First of all, there is lots and lots of informative reading about being gluten-free in Paris on the internet. Just google it and you'll find lots of information and tips.

I arrived in Paris with my little list of recommended eateries, shops and areas but to be honest, the only ones I was REALLY interested in were Biosphare - an entirely gluten-free shop, and Des Si et Des Mets - the first gluten-free restaurant in Paris. We arrived late Sunday night, but first thing Monday, we set off to find Biosphare as it was located less than a 10 minute walk away from our hotel. To my disappointment, when we approached the shop, we were greeted with an empty unit. It wasn't just closed for the day, it was closed. This was very disheartening as I had been looking forward to using up my baggage allowance bringing back some goodies, and asking the owner for some advice on places to eat! Not to worry, we'll go to the gluten-free restaurant tonight, we thought.

That evening, we got the metro out to Montmartre and had a little wander before making our way up the hill to Des Si et Des Mets, when low and behold, we were greeted with another closed unit! The shutters were down and the plants in the hanging baskets outside looked how I felt on discovering the closed restaurant. We never actually went back to this place, so I don't know if it has actually closed down, but it didn't seem like a temporary closure and there were no fixed menus outside like other the others featured. It would seem that the information I found on the internet is quite out of date, and indeed, looking back on the bookmarks I'd saved, a lot of them are from 2008, 2009 and early 2010.

I hope my post provides some up-to-date help for any gluten-free travellers planning to visit Paris in the future!

So what did I eat there? Well, in one of the posts I read about Naturalia - if you live in the UK, this shop is similar to Holland and Barrett. It stocks a wide range of gluten-free goodies which I stocked up on. I got bread (not as good as other stuff I've tried, admittedly), brioche - gorgeous!, cereal, biscuits, crackers, crispbread, madeleines! They have a gluten-free brand there called Valpiform which comes highly recommended. The shop had a lot of stuff you can't get over here, so I made a point of buying quite a bit.. which may have accounted as to why my suitcase was 8kg overweight - eep! So for breakfast in the morning, I had a buttered brioche roll, with some fresh fruit from the market outside our hotel, and a cup of tea or coffee - lovely!

At lunch time, we would stop at a patisserie (if you've been to Paris, you'll know that there's one every 6 feet or so) and have a coffee outside in the sun. My boyfriend would have something from the menu - a croque monsieur or some frites, and then afterwards we'd find a nice park to sit down and I would have crackers with ham and cheese slices, bought from one of the supermarkets such as Franprix (again, these are everywhere, easy to stumble across while you're out and about). For treats, I'd have some of the madeleines or cookies I'd bought, and on another day I bought 16, yes 16 macarons from Laduree - if you've never tried these, I would highly recommend them! They aren't cheap, but they're lovely a total must! They're naturally gluten-free, made from egg whites, almonds and sugar, with a fondant centre in flavours such as raspberry, chocolate, vanilla, pistachio.. Yum!

In the evening, I won't lie, unless you plan exactly where you want to go in advance, it can take a bit of wandering to find somewhere suitable to eat. On our first night we ate at a chain steak-house type restaurant which had a special allergy list showing what I could and couldn't have. I chose Steak-Frites - I was in Paris, I had to have it once!

On our second night, we ate at a very friendly restaurant called Le Parvis, located just round the corner from Notre Dame. The waiter is what swayed us to eat there. While we perused the menu earlier in the day, he came out and said hello and was quite funny, and despite not speaking great English, he made me feel comfortable enough to ask about gluten-free meals. I had lamb chops with fries and haricot verts. I know, frites again but I do love them!

Our last night took us to Montparnasse, where I was determined to find a nice seafood restaurant. We found a really nice one on the corner called Le Bar a Huitres. I enjoyed a wild alaskan cod fillet with creamy mashed potatoes and spinach, while my boyfriend opted for duck breast. Both meals were lovely, the waiters knew what contained gluten (for example, I couldn't have the Aoli served with my fish) and it wasn't too pricey either!

I'd say that it can be fairly easy to eat gluten-free in Paris if you go to the right places, speak to your waiters, do a bit of 'al fresco' dining, and make use of the supermarkets and health food shops.


Bon Appetit!