Visiting Cape Town on holiday?
A rough guide to surviving gluten free in Cape Town
updated 16 October 2009
Gluten Free Breakfast
Deane House Bed & Breakfast, Sea Point, Cape Town offers gluten free breakfast on request [and gluten free cookies on the tea & coffee tray in the rooms]. They can also provide gluten free AND dairy free breakfast. Contact them on deanehouse@mac.com
If you are bringing gf food with you, go for gf bread. Rice cakes, crackers and gf biscuits are widely available, gf bread is not.
The Wellness Warehouse [in Kloof Street and Cavendish]now sells gluten free bread and a good range of gluten free items in its supermarket. This is usually a gluten free muffin available in the cafe and I've noticed they offer a gluten free bread option for their breakfast menus. If you are staying in Cape Town central or nearby, this is the place for breakfast and to stock up on gf food.
Supermarket food: by far the best supermarket for gluten free items is SuperSpar: it sells South African brand Glutagon who make bread, pasta and gluten free flour mixes. It also stocks imported brands Schar and Orgran.
The other useful supermarkets are Pick n Pay and Woolworths.
Checkers in Sea Point sells imported Orgran products - very expensive. [Although not as expensive as local South African brand, Glutagon]. Self-raising Orgran gluten free flour [500g] is currently selling for R20.
Rice crackers and gluten free pasta are widely available, also nuts and seeds for
snacks, fruit is excellent quality and reasonably priced
Always read the ingredients list I've noticed some products (like breakfast cereal, pancakes in a health food store) are labelled gluten free but then list spelt on their ingredients. Some breakfast cereals labelled "gluten free" also list oats as their main ingredient.
Creeds health food store in Steenberg village give a recipe for "gluten free" pancakes but include spelt on their ingredients.
Do not assume that because someone puts a "gluten free" label on food or menu items that they are clear on the meaning of gluten free. Always check and double-check, it is your health and well-being that is at stake here.
SuperSpar sells sliced gluten free bread [seed loaf and brown rice and buckwheat
loaf] it just needs toasting
email:
glutagon@telkomsa.net
for a supplier near you if you are staying in or around Cape Town. They are based in Stellenbosch and are not yet available nationwide.
SuperSpar also have a gluten free section with pasta, corn thins, biscuits [Schar]
They also sell King Soba noodles, MOST of which are gluten free
In their freezer section, they have gluten free pizza bases made by Glutagon
Woolworths occasionally sells gluten free white bread but it is poor quality - a tiny 200g pack for R16.95 and made entirely cornstarch.
Their salads are good though and some of their ready meals, which just need
microwaving, are gluten free
Woolworths are the only supermarket who label their products which contain gluten.
Health food shops, such as Healthy Life [ground floor in the V & A Waterfront sell gluten free sliced bread and gluten free muffins [Diana’s], muffin and flapjack [pancake]
mixes and vegetable crisps.
Chains such as Dis- chem in the Canal Walk shopping centre, sell a wide range gluten free flour mixes,[Waffle, pancake, cake and muffin mixes from South African company Glutagon], imported mixes from Schar and Orgran, lots of gluten free pasta and nuts, seeds, rice cakes. They don't sell bread, though. The most useful shop for gluten free products in Canal Walk.
A useful health food shop in Sea Point: in the Adelphi Centre, Main Road, upstairs beside Clicks is
The Healing Tree 021 439 8147
They have got an excellent selection of gluten free flours including Ancient Grain, mixes- Orgran's buckwheat pancake mix makes a filling breakfast, rice cakes, oat cakes, nuts etc
[Forget Pick n Pay downstairs, this is a far more useful shop, and so clean and new]
Try a health food shop near where you are staying: you may be able to order gluten free bread from them
News for Sea Point:
Markets:
pavement market outside Main Ingredient Shop on Friday and Saturday morning. Gluten free items such as macaroons and sometimes shortbread available as well as free-range farmyard eggs, honey, cheese, preserves, chutneys and other deliciousness
Osumo has opened a branch in the new shopping centre beside SuperSpar [which is on the Bantry Bay border of Sea Point]- Piazza la Luz
Masala Dosa is also opening another branch in Sea Point!! 143 Main Street
Restaurants & Cafes
never assume grilled fish is gluten free
In general, beware of ready-ground salt and pepper which is not gluten free
Kauai, branches Canal Walk and V &A Waterfront sell juices, smoothies and
salads, some of which are gluten free
Osuma - Canal Walk- sell smoothies and salads, some of which are gluten free
Ocean Basket
- branches citywide - good sea food but you must choose the grilled
option from the menu - always check the fish is not cooked with flour [I usually eat shellfish or grilled calamari]
Fork - Long Street; great tapas, some of which are naturally gluten free
A flour-free chocolate cake on their dessert menu: ingredients - chocolate, sugar and eggs. Presented in
their four-bite format. If you are paying with a strong international currency, you'll enjoy eating here.
Otherwise you pay alot of rands for very little food.
Masala Dosa 167 Long Street and and Sea Point [Shop 3, 154 Main Road]
delicious, reasonably priced food in Cape Town central: dosa made with rice and lentils
Kirstenbosch Tea Rooms,
[the building with the thatched roof near the garden centre] are aware of gluten free food - will make “sandwiches”
or salads with Corn Thins
Caveau Cape Town central - Bree Street @ Heritage Square
blackboard menu which changes each lunch and dinner - really good food with naturally gluten free options
Sage Organic Cafe
117 Hatfield, Gardens
naturally gluten free salads - useful stopping point if you are visiting the South African National Gallery, Jewish Museum or walking through the Company Gardens
They had a gluten free chocolate and ginger cake on their menu but was out of stock when I visited, [on a Friday] which apparently usually happens by the end of the week.
Sushi
[without soy sauce]
Beware of crab: unfortunately it is always crabsticks which are used - which are not gluten free
Sushi is widely available in Canal Walk, V & A Waterfront, Just Sushi in Simon's Town
Dynasty Chinese Restaurant in Sea Point [Shop 10 Nedbank Centre, Kloof Road]
have an excellent sushi counter, they serve wonderful mackerel sashimi aswell as the usual tuna and salmon
Pizza
gluten free pizza bases served from Col’ cacchio, for an extra charge, although I’ve never tried it
Genevieve: Butler's pizza (my favourite delivery pizza) now does wheat/gluten free crusts that are as good as the original.
Pancakes
Harrie's Pancake House at the V & A Waterfront, beside the Robben Island Museum ferry port,
offers gluten free pancakes. I haven't tried them, but a friend did and said they were good.
Genevieve: Harrie's pancakes are quite good. A little eggier than the originals, but delicious nonetheless.
Craving desserts or cake? Creme brulee features on just about every dessert menu. But for gf chocolate cake or brownies or cheesecake, head for Hillcrest outside Stellenbosch.
Hillcrest Berries Orchards
Tea rooms, outside Stellenbosch.
They have no less than THREE gluten free items on their dessert menu, which is quite exceptional in a city which does not usually acknowledge coeliacs. They include baked cheesecake, Belgian chocolate and almond cake and chocolate brownie with roasted hazelnuts. [They've also got the ubiquitous creme brulee] For special dietary requirements, including gluten free options, phone them 48 hours in advance on 021 885 1629.
Beautiful setting, definitely worth stopping in when you are out in the winelands or near Stellenbosch.
When I visited 27 March 2009 I enjoyed an assiette of passionfruit:
a perfectly sized passionfruit [granadilla] creme brulee, passionfruit and ginger icecream, passionfruit and raspberry mousse and sesame seed brittle. Beautifully presented, all items perfectly executed and a joy to eat.
Hillcrest Berries
Stellenbosch
Apprenctice@Institute of Culinary Arts
Ardringa Street 021 887 8985
Modern food by trainee chefs- interesting shorter than usual menus - [a good thing in a province which usually tries to cover too many tastes instead of concentrating on a few items done really well]
It's best to order directly from the manager.
Woolworth's cafe
their menu highights items which contain gluten: don't get too excited though, this will usually just be naturally gluten free food; for breakfast - your only option is a fruit bowl
In general, restaurants do not offer a gluten free menu and I’ve found waiters to be
unaware of terms such as "coeliac" or "gluten free food" in general. Rather ask if a dish contains flour, breadcrumbs, soy sauce etc but I have found the most effective way to order gluten free food is to ask for the manager and order directly from him/her. If I am going out in the evening for a special occasion/to an expensive restaurant, it's always worth phoning a couple of days in advance to check whether they can adapt [or are willing to] to a gluten free guest
Never assume that grilled fish is gluten free: I always ask if it contains flour, and in most cases, the answer is yes!!! [I suspect that "grilled" means pan-fried] In all cases, the restaurant will be happy to cook it for you without flour.
Always request that your fish is plainly grilled or panfried.
The more expensive restaurants, such as within the Mount Nelson Hotel, will brief
the waiters in advance on gluten free options, but always double check everything you are given, and ask about soy sauce. You must phone in advance to check, however.
Another great gluten free option is Thai Food, some of which is naturally gluten free. There are many Thai restaurants citywide. In Kloof Street,[on the corner of Camp St] the vietnamese restaurant Saigon is wonderful.
For a restaurant review guide, Roussows is excellent.
Hidden sources of gluten: muesli, unless it is Glutagon's Gluten Free muesli
Ready ground pepper.
Sausages [boerewors] all sold by Woolworths contain gluten: other supermarkets do not list their ingredients. Some of SuperSpar's sausages now list their ingredients- watch out for "cereal" which contains gluten, listed as an ingredient.
Other places in South Africa I've visited such as the garden route, Durban and Port Elizabeth all have naturally gluten free items on their menus; at lunchtime I'm usually limited to salads, and it's getting increasingly more difficult to find salads without pasta or bread. I haven't found anywhere noteworthy - just to say
it is possible to travel for short periods. Don't expect gluten free food on internal flights - the choice on a recent flight between Durban and Cape Town was lasagna or a beef pancake. For me personally, I don't want to eat on such short flights so it isn't an issue but for others it is probably advisable to take gluten free snacks, as the choice of food available in the airport is narrow.
