So a few months ago myself and Gavin booked a holiday for Paris. Paris was never a place I really thought about going to but when the price is right who cares! ☺ We booked it for 4 nights/5 days, from the 26th August until the 30th August. As I am lucky enough to be Coeliac that ment a lot of planning! 😰
Holidaying as a Coeliac always makes me panic! Not knowing where I can eat or if I can eat anything worries me here in Ireland, so not having any French made it even worse! It was time to do a lot of research! We found many helpful blogs along the way. Being the organised pair we are, we made a notebook with all the restaurants, shops and cafes that we found with gluten-free options. In our notebook we wrote the address and opening times of many of the places! We also made our very own Gluten Free Food Map so these places would be easy to find! In total we had 22 places wrote down and found a few others along the way. I also wrote down Gluten Free Phrases and got Gluten Free Restaurant Cards.
Our notebook, food map, restaurant cards and a few coeliac phrases 😆
To say we were prepared would be an understatement!
Here are the places we tried and tested during our visit to Paris:
- Grom – I am so glad we got to go to Grom twice during our time in Paris. Everthing they do is Gluten Free. They make milkshakes, hot chocolate and other products. With it being a quick walk from our hotel it was hard not to go there every night. The first time we both got a Vanilla Milkshake and the second time Gavin got a tub and I got a cone with Chocolate, Vanilla and Salted Caramel ice-cream. They both tasted far too good!! 🍦
- Paris New York Hamburgers – We came here for some much deserved burgers on our first day in Paris. They had their very own Gluten Free burger that tasted amazing. Gavin and I were both savages and got their Loaded Fries (Chips covered in cheese and bacon bits). They were super tasty! 🍔
- Helmut Newcake – We found Helmut Newcake on the wettest day of our trip. This may be the reason why we got three takeaway pastries, a chocolate cake, a cheesecake and a religieuse. They were all very good! I also had a tasty Quiche and salad there for lunch. Everything there was gluten-free which made it hard to pick what pastries we wanted. 🍰
- Pret A Manger – This was a place we stumbled upon while Gavin was looking for somewhere for lunch. While looking through their range of Salads, Soups and Sandwiches I saw that anything that was Gluten Free was marked with the Gluten Free symbol. Gavin had the Chicken soup which was Gluten Free and said it was very tasty. 🍲
- LouLou’ – This was another place that offered Gluten Free Burgers and they also had Gluten Free Bagles. When we went there we both got the Bacon Cheesebuger with chips. It was devoured by both of us after a long day at Musee de l’Armee and the Eiffel Tower. 🍔
While in Paris I went to restaurants and bakeries that we did not find a Gluten Free Menu for. Twice I got a good old Omlette and Chips and another time I got Chicken and Chips. I also got two giant Macaroons, a Vanilla one and a Strawberry one that were a nice treat! Thankfully there was no cross-contamination or side effects from eating in these places!
As a Coeliac I felt that I managed to survive in Paris! Being prepared made everything so much easier! After the trip “sans gluten” are the only words I’ll need to know for my next visit!👌
Hi, I'm Coeliac too! 