Hoi An

As a side trip from Singapore, Vietnam has been at the top of my list of places to go, not least because the idea of eating Pho for breakfast every day was very tempting. We had Ho Chi Minh booked for late March a few months in advance, but at the last minute decided we needed a more chilled out time and booked connecting flights to Da Nang to see the ancient city of Hoi An.

As well as eating Pho at least once per day, (not always for breakfast as we slept in too much for that most days), we discovered some of the local treats that were gluten free. The Hoi An specialty 'White Rose' dumplings - rice flour wrappers with minced pork and shrimp in the center - were something that we ended up trying at nearly every restaurant we visited (that generally amounted to more than three meals a day). Without a doubt, my favorite were at the Banana Leaf Cafe, down by the river, where they also do an amazing Tuna Steamed in Banana Leaf. This is done with tumeric, mung bean noodles and a beutiful blend of spices. The Banana Leaf Cafe is also famous for it's buckets of cocktails - definitely something to share!

After Banana Leaf, The Mango Rooms rated the highest, though it was probably the one place where we didn't go straight for the White Rose dumplings. It was difficult to get past the Green Mango salad with grilled garlic prawns, especially as a fresh change from a diet of mostly rice noodles. Mango Mango and it's sister restaurant The Mango Rooms are at the high end, but with a great atmosphere, and insane flavours, they are well worth a the few extra dollars, and it's still a steal compared with what you would pay in Singapore for a similar standard.

Not everything in Vietnam is gluten free, but rice or mung bean noodles are used in a lot of things. Soy Sauce is not always used in stir frys - do be sure to check though. We found some coeliac cards from this site http://www.celiactravel.com/gluten-free-cards/vietnamese-celiac-card.pdf which were very helpful in a tight spot. However, we only found them on the second day, much too late to print them off, so I wrote them out by hand. After much giggling, the girls in the Banana Leaf Cafe explained to me that it was too much writing, no one wants to read all of that and that all I have to say is the first bit.

'White Rose' Rice Dumplings (left) and Tuna Steamed in Banana Leaf (right)

Banana Leaf Cafe,

Hoi An Ancient Town, Vietnam

Bread

If you need a gluten free bread fix whilst in Singapore, you are far better off cost-wise baking at home than buying frozen from Cold Storage. However, if you are passing through and want something for your travels, Jason's marketplace at Tanglin mall sells frozen Country life bread which defrosts quite nicely. Expect to pay about S$13.50 a loaf. Jason's in City Hall sells frozen rice bread, but this definitely needs toasting and is a typical crumbly rice bread. Not really worth the S$11.50 you will pay.

If you have an oven at your disposal, there are a few mixes to choose from. My favorite is the gluten free easy bake mix by orgran, http://www.orgran.com/products/161/. This is so easy to make, difficult to screw up, involves no messing around with yeast and the wholemeal version has psyllium for that added fibre so often missing from gluten free bread. The Fair Price supermarket at Bedok stocks both the white and the wholegrain versions, along with a huge sample of other orgran products. The end result is you have a fresh, gluten free loaf that you can enjoy in bread form for the first few days before it goes crumbly, and toast after that. No bread maker or kneading necessary, it's as simple as a cupcake packet mix. Depending on the size of your tin, you can get a loaf out of this about 1.5 times that of the frozen lines and for approximately half the price.

Bombay Cafe

I had a baffling experience in little India a while ago, after learning the word 'ata' means 'wheat' in Hindi. Several places in a row assured me that their Naan bread has 'no ata'. Now, I know this is untrue so I went on my way appalled at how people will lie to you to make a buck. A trip to the pure veg Bombay Cafe in Suntec City with a friend from work cleared this up.

Ata is whole wheat. 'Maida' is 'plain white flour'. A lot of people don't seem to question how processed food is made here. Flour is just, well, flour. 'What grain is it made from?', 'no grain, it's just normal, plain flour.' So if they say Naan has no ata they are not lying - they are just not extrapolating. I was also reminded that 'Rava' is Semolina, a type of wheat, so stay away from that too. Bombay Cafe had some delicious new things to try as well as GF curries (we got there in the end), I was introduced to a spiced puffed rice dish called Bhel - delicious and perfect for Singapore as it is prepared and eaten cold.

Bhel, Bombay Cafe

Suntec City (downstairs from Tower 2)