Jones the Grocer

Living in Sydney, if a friend asked for a catch up, the question was never 'What do you want to do?', but 'Where do you want to have brunch?' In my student days, hanging out in gluten free havens of Glebe and Newtown, I would be able to visit a different cafe every weekend day for a year (and if it wasn't for the Molly Coddle Cafe in Stanmore I probably would have), and still not run out of new gluten free possibilities. Therefore, it wasn't surprising that when a fellow Sydney girl took me to a real 'Sydney style' brunch place in Singapore, I nearly died of delight.
Take the rustic charm and scrumptious menu of an out of the way cafe in Glebe, add a real cheese fridge, a deli, a wall of the finest wine and a huge range of beutiful olive oils, spices, specialty biscuits, nogaut, cakes and other goodies, and you will be starting to understand Jones the Grocer. I wasn't surprised to find out upon later research that Jones the Grocer started in Sydney. From there it has expanded to Melbourne, Singapore and Dubai. The key differnce between the dives of Glebe and Newtown and Jones the Grocer is the price, but for those who are far from home, the luxury is worth it once in a while. Jones the Grocer in the Mandarin Gallery on Orchard is likely to be busier on a weekend than its out of the way but out of the bussle sister store at Dempsey Hill, however, if you are there with just two or three people it is still likely to be les than a five minute wait. No gluten free options are listed explicitly on the menu, but like a team of health gurus in a city where no one seems to know or care what goes into their food, the staff at Jones the Grocer were attentive to my description of what it would mean to make a gluten free meal, and we managed to throw together a version of the Country Breakfast that was safe.

Country Breakfast at Jones the Grocer

Mandarin Gallery, Orchard Road, Singapore

Chicken Rice

It is high time I addressed the blessing of Hainanese Chicken Rice. This is now my 'go to' meal for hawker dining. You can just about bet your gluten free cookies on finding at least one Chicken Rice shop in every Hawker Center or food court you visit. Chicken Rice shops offer a choice of steamed or roasted chicken, sliced atop a generous helping of rice that has been cooked in chicken stock. It is important to note that the stock is usually made on premise, as well trained Coeliacs are used to avoiding stock at all costs since packaged stock liquids and powders usually contain gluten. As a friend of mine put it - 'why would they go and buy the powder when they have all the chicken they need to make natural stock right there'? Good point, and it is a safe bet for the local HDB food courts and hawker centers. You should be paying between $1.20 and $4.00 for a plate of Chicken Rice. If you find yourself paying more, that's when you should start asking questions about the stock they use, as at that price they may be affording the store bought variety. I tend to stick to the steamed chicken as sometimes trying to ask about any sauces on the roast chicken can confuse the situation. Be sure, though, that you first watch them prepare a dish for someone else. If they add a sauce on top, (which not all do), be sure to ask them for 'no sauce'. You can usually get a plate of steamed bok choy on the side but in this case be sure to tell them 'no sauce' as this usually comes heavily loaded with oyster sauce.You may have to pay close attention when they are preparing yours and stop them from adding the sauce as these guys make plate after plate after plate of the same dish every day and the habit can be heavily ingrained. It is worth pointing out that eating at Hawker stalls is generally safe in Singapore from a hygiene point of view. If you are worried after a bad experience somewhere else in South-East Asia, check for a sign about A3 size that shows the cleaning and food hygiene rating that stall has been given - A, B, or C, with A being excellent, B being good and C being 'needs improvement'. Any lower than that and they get shut down.

Chicken Rice at Eunos

Muthu's Curry

The nice thing about restaurant chains is that once you find out they can prepare a gluten free meal in one location, their menu and rules of operation will generally be the same accross all sites. Muthu's Curry prepare delicious currys with fresh ingredients that include no thickeners or flour. On my first visit I went through the process of assessing the contamination risk, and Muthus passed. The cuisine has more of a Northern Indian focus - with lots of creamy, saucy curry and less of the Southern Indian breads common in Little India, which can be a gluten contamination nightmare. Another gluten trap in Little India that Muthu's avoid is  the Chinese 'vegetarian meat', which is almost pure gluten - this tends to pop up mostly in the 'pure veg' restaurants has a casual restaurant atmosphere, a few steps up from the food court and is great for groups. Expect to pay about $20 a head.

Navratan Korma, Muthu's Curry

 Fountain of Wealth, Suntec City

USA

The first thing I do when I land in any city in the US is head to the nearest Whole Foods Market. Anyone looking to stock up on snacks or ingredients that don't contain the customary American dose of high fructose corn syrup should check it out, as everything in Whole Foods is fresh, with no added sugar or preservatives. Whole foods have a gluten free section in all of thier stores, most including goods from their gluten free bake house (link above). If you are attending a conference or other event where you may not find out the 'gluten free' options have been made in a contamination zone until it is too late, Whole Foods is perfect for back ups. Some of the stores also include a cafe which, though self service buffet style, post lists of ingredients for each dish. You need to judge carefully how close the gluten containing foods are to those that you want to eat and what the risk of contamination is. In the Whole Foods in Las Vegas Town Square, I found that all of the foods in the tacos section were GF with nothing dangerous near by, so I gave it a shot. On the same trip I I brought an extra suitcase to stock up on a range of different gluten free pastas, crackers and beers to bring back to Singapore.

Tacos from Whole Foods Market Las Vegas Town Square

San Francisco

If you live in Singapore you are likely to be a frequent traveler, so I have decided to share some of my gluten free travel experiences as well. On the way to a conference in Las Vegas, My colleagues and I took to the streets of in San Francisco during our 6 hour stop over. We took a cab to the Piers for lunch and look at the Golden Gate Bridge, ending up at a delightful little cafe called The Plant Cafe Organic down near the organic weekend markets by the single diget piers. Now, you may not need much guidance for San Francisco, as the health and wellness capital of the USA is very gluten aware. However, just as with my home town of Sydney, San Francisco is susceptible to the trends of health and lifestyle. This means that a menu with items labeled gluten free may be there to meet the needs of trendy 'low gluten' eaters and not of Coeliacs. After confirming the bonafides of the gluten free label of the Cob salad (lettuce, tomato, blue cheese, turkey, bacon, hard boiled egg, yum!), I settled down with that and the best latte I have yet had in America and felt right at home - for a while, before continuing on the last leg of my 36 hour journey.

Cob Salad at The Plant Cafe Organic, San Francisco

Harry's

When it comes to Gluten Free eating out, keeping it simple is best. Though most of the dishes on a typical pub menu are loaded with gluten of some form, it is possible to find a gluten free meal at your local - provided the staff are willing to discuss preparation with clean utensils and are open to altering the menu slightly. Usually this means a  basic steak, (cooked in a clean or separate saucepan or grilled on top of clean aluminum foil), and steamed vegetables or sometimes mashed potato. Though plain, if the ingredients are good quality, this can be quite tasty. Though there might not be a pub on every corner in Singapore, there are a few iconic pubs around and with transport so easy in Singapore, they may as well be your 'local'. Harry's is one of the most well known of the British style pubs in Singapore and they went a step further than the classic coeliac plain steak. They were able to convert their 'steak sandwich' into a gluten free version, without bread but still with the sauteed onions and peppers cooked without sauce and with clean utensils, topped off with some melted cheese, and served with salad - yum! There are a few locations for Harry's throughout Singapore including Boat Quay, (which I tried tonight), and Dempsey Hill.

Rice Dumplings - Zong Zi

Bingo! The elusive $1.50 Singapore meal that is Coeliac safe. Rice dumplings, or Zong Zi, are individually wrapped in bamboo leaves and steamed. There is no pastry-like wrapper as the leaves serve the purpose of holding the rice in place. There are rice dumpling stands all over Singapore, all year through. During the Dragon Boat festival in May Zong Zi abound as a commemoration of Qu Yuan, a legendary poet who is said to have drowned himself about 2000 years ago in protest against corruption in the ruling classes. The legend goes that the people threw rice dumplings into the water to stop the fish from eating the revered poet. These days in Singapore the dumplings are exchanged between family and friends to be eaten. Be aware that most of the dumplings will have soy sauce or other gluten containing sauces mixed through, but most stands seem to sell at least one coeliac friendly variety. The gluten-free variety sold at the dumpling stand in the Care Four in Suntec City contains only glutinous rice, (glutinous being a description of the consistency, not an indicator of gluten), crushed peanuts, legumes, mushrooms, salt and pepper. As well as checking that your dumpling does not contain sauce, be sure to check that no additional grains have been added for 'health benefits'. I have been warned by a friend that sometimes wheat or barley is used to add fiber and that these would be visible as full grains, not as a flour. As always, stay away from processed meats where you don't have the opportunity to check the ingredients. Looking forward to seeing the new variety of dumplings that come out in May - fingers crossed that some of these rely on gluten free flavors!