Honest Burgers, Bristol

I first visited a branch of Honest Burgers back in 2015 and it was amazing, but it was a shame that they were only available in London as I didn’t visit that often, aside from a few trips for work.

A burger restaurant where I can actually have a burger in a bun is seemingly still quite a rarity, so when I found out that a branch was going to open in Bristol I was extremely excited!

At the beginning of July the latest branch opened in Clare Street (just down from Cosy Club) and I’ve already visited twice!

If you don’t know much about Honest Burgers, here’s some more information about them taken from their website:

We met working at a restaurant in Brighton, while at university. We loved restaurants. We talked about them, worked in them, ate in them, and thought ‘we could do better than them’.

We decided to open Honest over a pint in our favourite pub. And that’s what we wanted it to be: a pull-up-a-chair local with good people and good food.

Not A Trace Awards 2016

Regular readers will know that each year I have my own little awards ‘ceremony’ where I acknowledge the best products / companies in various categories.

The awards for 2016 are obviously a little late(!) and as my blog posts were few and far between last year, due to a certain little person taking all my attention, the 2016 awards are more a summary of my blog reviews from last year.

Despite my inability to blog of late, it’s great to have had over 58,000 blog views since Not A Trace began. I am also very proud to see the constant stream of views every day even if I haven’t blogged for a while. Thank you to you all!

So, on to the awards / 2016 round-up….

Pieminister Gluten Free Pies

Having lived in Bristol for over 10 years now, one of the best things it has produced is definitely its Pieminister pies! I always loved having a Heidi pie (goats cheese, spinach and sweet potato) but after being diagnosed as a coeliac four years ago, these became a thing of the past.

That was until Pieminister recently introduced their gluten free pies! Only three of their pies are gluten free at present, but one of them just so happens to be the Heidi pie! Wahoo! 🙂

Pieminister kindly offered me the chance to try their gluten free pies – there was no way I could say no to that!

Before I get on to the review, here’s a little bit more about their gluten free pies, taken from their website:

We’ve spent the best part of a year rolling, mixing, tasting and baking to create Gluten Free Moo and Heidi pies.  And proof that they taste just as great as their non-GF counterparts, they both triumphed in the 2016 British Pie Awards. Taking first place in the Free From Class, the Gluten Free Heidi was crowned Class Champion, making it officially the best gluten free pie in the UK. The Gluten Free Moo was placed in the top three ‘Free From’ pies in Britain, winning a Gold Medal and the ‘Highly Commended’ title.

Bristol Coeliac UK Local Support Group

If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you’ll be aware that I have spent a number of years trying to reinstate the Bristol Coeliac UK Local Support Group (the original post from 2014 can be found here).

I didn’t think it was right that a city the size of Bristol didn’t have its own group and that its members had to travel further afield to go to events. Well, things have changed…..

We now have our own group!! 🙂

After a lot of years of effort from a group of very committed people (who are now committee members), the official group had its launch back in July 2016. I was due to have been at the event, but was instead in hospital being unexpectedly induced, so sort of had my hands full!

The event was a resounding success and was just a taster of things to come for the group.

At the start of this month we held our first coffee morning at Windmill Hill City Farm, which was well attended and helped to raise funds for future events. The donations we receive from members are extremely important as we are a self funding group, so if we don’t receive the donations then unfortunately we won’t be able to put on the events.

You’ll be pleased to know that there are more coffee mornings in the pipeline, as well as some free from taster evenings and even our very own food fair!

In order to find out more about our upcoming events, pop over to our official group Facebook page, as well as the Coeliacs in Bristol Facebook group which also shares details of our events.

Salt & Malt, Chew Valley Lake

I first ventured out to Chew Valley Lake last year and experienced the fish and chips at Salt & Malt, an amazing restaurant overlooking the lake. I enjoyed it so much that I didn’t have time for photos, so promised myself that the next time I went I would write a review….

Before I get on to that, if you haven’t heard of Salt & Malt where have you been? Not only do they have a restaurant, but they also have a takeaway so you can have the same great food whilst enjoying a walk around the stunning lake.

However, the best thing about Salt & Malt is that a large number of their items are gluten free as standard! 🙂

Georges Fish Bar, Hanham

Social media really is a wonderful thing…. You’ll be aware that I set up the Coeliacs in Bristol Facebook group with the intention of forming an official Coeliac UK group (more on that to follow….), but it’s also used as a forum for sharing new finds and asking for advice.

One of the suggestions posted by the lovely Sonia was regarding Georges Fish Bar in Hanham and that they are now serving gluten free fish and chips. Having moved to Hanham earlier this year, this was amazing news, so I contacted them for some more information.

At present they only offer gluten free fish and chips on the first Monday of every month between the hours of 17:00 – 20:30, but hopefully with a bit more advertising and interest I’m hoping they may increase this….

I’m back!

Since the early part of last year things have been pretty quiet on my blog for various
reasons. Firstly I was busy planning our wedding, then we moved house and now we have a baby! As a result blogging had to take something of a back seat.

However, there’s good news….. I’m back! 🙂

La Grotta, Bristol – gluten free pizzas!

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you will be aware of my slight addiction to La Grotta, an Italian restaurant in Bristol city centre.

We went there for one of our Bristol Coeliac group meals last year, but I’ve been numerous times since then for lunch and also insisted that it’s where we went for my birthday work lunch last month. Basically I love it there!

When we went for the group meal (the full review can be found here if you’re interested!), La Grotta were in the process of producing gluten free pizzas, but they weren’t yet available, so we indulged in their amazing pasta dishes instead.

But things have changed, they now have their gluten free pizzas and they are incredible! 🙂

It’s Not A Trace’s birthday!

I’ve just been reminded that it’s my blog’s birthday today! Happy Birthday Not A Trace! 🙂

My blog was set up 3 years ago for two main reasons: the first was to allow me to have an outlet to share my gluten free views and reviews and the second was to hopefully help other coeliacs and gluten intolerant people along the way.

During the last three years the blog has had over 48,500 views, which I don’t think is bad for little old me!

Venue 35, Westbury-on-Trym

I need to make a massive apology to Josh and the team at Venue 35, Westbury-on-Trym, for the massive delay in posting this blog review from the Bristol Coeliac Group’s Christmas meal at the venue. Due to personal reasons things have been a little busy of late and blogging has had to take a back seat, but I think this review was worth the wait…

Towards the end of last year we floated around some venue suggestions for the group’s Christmas meal. Having been to The Townhouse the previous year, we wanted to try somewhere different and I’d heard good things about Venue 35 and in particular how much of their menu is gluten free, but I wasn’t sure if its location would be suitable for those in the group that travel quite a way to come to our monthly meals.

It turns out that there was nothing to worry about as those that could attend overwhelmingly agreed that we should give it a go. I got in touch with the venue and had regularly chats with the manager Josh to make sure everything was well prepared for the meal.

Before I come to my review, here’s a little bit more information about Venue 35, taken from their website:

Come to us for the best in the area. Venue35 Café Bar is a fully licensed premises in Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol. Come by today and choose from our amazing menu. In our cafe, we offer breakfast, lunch and early dinner seven days a week.