Last time I blogged I went to a café with no gluten-free options. Three days later, I got an apologetic e-mail and reassurance that gluten-free food was usually available. In fact, the reason they'd run out was, they told me, because it sells so quickly.
Hurrah! I thought, and quickly headed off to the same café in Kingswood (Boswell's) to see what yummy treats I could devour.
I wasn't disappointed. No fewer than four different snacks were available and all in sealed wrappers so I wouldn't have to worry about cross-contamination.
I bought two different types (the brownie and the chocolate caramel shortbread) because, well, you can never treat yourself enough, right?
Plus I had a small person with me to help devour the goodies.
For anyone wondering (who can't quite make out the text in the photo) Boswell's don't actually make the snacks. They buy in gluten-free goods from Honeybuns, a Dorset-based business.
The result?
Well, the small person was happy. And I think I'd have had no complaints if I'd been the child version of myself. You know, the time when high sugar rather sickly treats are exactly what you want.
But as an adult I was rather disappointed. The texture of the food's fine and the ingredients are undoubtedly gluten-free. But to be honest it all tasted rather like someone had used a really cheap chocolate, which is such a shame. One ingredient swap for a dark cocoa is probably all these products need to elevate them to a decent treat.
So I'm grateful to Boswell's for supplying food Coeliacs can eat. I'm just sad it wasn't better.
What are your experiences of eating at cafés? Do share them below!