Another weekend away last weekend and I stumbled across a fantastic Vietnamese restaurant full of yummy food which meets all my many dietary requirements – I was in gluten free, lactose free heaven.
The Hanoi Bike shop is tucked away just off Byres Road in the West side of Glasgow close to the beautiful Gothic buildings of the university. Full of character, warm and friendly this is a great place I would really highly recommend to everyone – coeliac or not!
Before booking a table my sister and I popped in to explain dietary requirements (coeliac, lactose intolerant, nut and mushroom allergies and no meat or fish can be tricky even for the best!) In addition to providing us a full menu they gave me a Gluten free and Vegan menu so we cross reference dishes which featured on both, I was really surprised to hear there were quite a few I could choose from. They then jotted down all my requirements, made a note against the booking and made the chef aware in advance. Brilliant service equals happy Nat.
When we arrived to eat the staff double checked dietary requirements and sat me close to the kitchen – it’s quite a small place but it’s full of life and near the busy vibrant pass is a lovely place to be. As well as gluten free and vegan menu’s they have gluten free and vegan drinks and cocktails highlighted too. I tucked into an amazing spiced gin cocktail; gin, chilli, lemon, coriander – wicked combination and made the difficult decision of what exactly I wanted to eat.
As it was hard to decide my sister and I shared a few dishes. The Hanoi Bike Shop actually make all tofu on site meaning it is beautifully fresh and creamy, I loved the sweet potato, tofu and coconut hotpot – I could have eaten it forever. On the side was a minty vermicelli rice noodle salad, a stunning flavour combination that was so fresh which I’m definitely going to try to replicate, though I don’t imagine I could get it anything like so perfect. I also had braised Vietnamese greens with a gluten free tamari . The sides are huge and definitely good sharers.
Throughout the helpful Hanoi Bike Shop staff checked the food was great and I was happy, I was so busy eating I could hardly answer as my mouth was so full all the time.
The Hanoi Bike Shop is an absolute must for any coeliac, vegan or in fact anyone in Glasgow to check out, I had such an amazing time, probably worth the trip just for an amazing meal.
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