<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
First off, thanks tons to all the Oz coeliacs out there that lent a helping
hand. The emails were a nice security blanket as I headed, nervously, down to
Australia. Bit of a long summary follows.
CUSTOMS
I had been forewarned that customs was "very tough" on incoming food, so I only
arrived with an emergency brownie and a box of Cracker Jacks. Thankfully, both
passed inspection and the customs lady told me that packaged unopened food was
okay -- that fruits, veggies, etc., were the main concern. In hindsight, I wish
that I had brought at least soy sauce and salad dressing.
DARWIN
Started off my trip with a treat: I ordered a 'sampler' pack from Memory Lane
Confectionary... I'll admit I was a bit skeptical, mostly because I've been
mourning licorice for seven months and it seemed a bit too good to be true that
GF licorice was just an email away ... but the nanosecond I sunk my teeth into
the new! toffee crunchy chocolatey thing [err, Licorice Honeycomb Crunch], I
was in heaven. Also amazed at *real* licorice, after all these years of
ingesting licorice-flavored wheat paste. Big yumm. They delivered a fresh batch
to my hotel on the day of my arrival.
Telephone +61 8 8351-2066/fax 8351-2088 http://www.confectionery.on.net
mailto:[log in to unmask]
Woolworth's in Darwin had a fairly decent health food section, though it was
labelled something foreign like Helthlyte or some spelling permutation that did
not make immediate sense to me. Corn cakes were a nice new treat. A health food
store in the Smith Street marketplace did have GF soy sauce, though GF salad
dressing remained elusive. Food labelling is heaven, every item has a number
next to it, i.e., "filler (1420), flavorings (378, 323)" ... Anything with a
1400 is to be avoided by celiacs, though one person clarified that they avoided
1400-1450 ... To be safe, I just avoided the whole 1400 gang, which wasn't
difficult.
Hanuman Restaurant, 28 Mitchell Street [right next door to the Rydges Hotel,
tallest building in Darwin] was sheer heaven. They offer both Thai and Nonya
Cuisine and chef was extremely knowledgeable about which items were GF. Duck
in red curry sauce to die for.
Telephone 08 8941 3711
Nirvana Restaurant, 6 Dashwood Cres [about 3 blocks from the
Beaufort/Carlton] was another delight -- serving a mixture of Indian, Thai,
Malaysian cuisine. Not "fused" cuisine, but 3 separate menus. Funky place,
live jazz, in a strip mall that you enter from Dashwood -- Take Smith to
Packard to Dashwood. or just email me and I'll describe how to find
it.Telephone 08 8981 2025.
CAIRNS
Warning!: On Sunday nights, Cairns closes rather early. While restaurants say
they stay open until 10 p.m., we were turned away from restaurants starting at
9:20. So our in-town experience was not as, um, upscale as we would have liked.
Fox + Firkin a fun pub. Food court by the casino had a good steak place.
We did stay at the Kewarra Beach resort, about 30 minutes outside of Cairns,
and the chef pampered me silly. All waitstaff were aware that I was the 'flour
lady' [as they nicknamed me]
and the chef whipped up a fresh loaf of GF bread that served me well the 4 days
I was there.
Telephone 61 740 57 6666 http//www.kewarrabeachresort.com.au/
GREAT BARRIER REEF
We took a 4-day northern reef cruise on Captain Cook Cruises, and I did
initially have some
trouble explaining my need for FOOD to the less-than-helpful cruise director
[who kept saying that the chef could not be bothered until 'later' and that he,
the director, was the gatekeeper]. Hungry and crabby, I stomped into the
kitchen, against the wishes of the dictator, errr, director, introduced myself
to the head chef and the 2 mini-chefs who were all excited about what goodies
they could whip up for me. Even made a pizza for me on "pasta day" ... Chef
called me every night before dinner and gave me a run down on what ingredients
he planned to use. Our assigned dinner partners turned out to be an Australian
doctor who has devoted his life to researching celiac. Fascinating stuff, to
hear a non-U.S. take on all this, though his wife kept complaining that it
wasn't good "dinner" conversation.
http//www.captcookcrus.com.au/endeavour.htm
MELBOURNE
I have to confess that by the time we got to Melbourne I was just one overfed
pudgy happy celiac, and did not quite do investigative legwork as I should
have. Thai resaurants abounded, lots of good snacking opportunities.
Plenty-o-sushi as well. The International Bakery on Lonsdale Street
did have 3 choices of GF cookies and bread as well. Open until 3 a.m. Yay.
Again, feeling a bit puffy, I didn't sample as much as I would have liked.
Telephone 03 9525 6744
Daimaru Department store was recommended as it does stock quite a bit of Asian
food ... however, a stroll to the bakery also discovered two GF chocolate cakes
that looked heavenly.
Surprisingly inexpensive sushi as well.
On a recommendation, I did try Bon Bons in Southbank for GF cake and -- for the
first time -- the hostess chippy looked as though I had three heads. There was
lots of muttering and confusion and she finally said "oh, I heard the *other*
girl mention something about no wheat, but I just can't remember" [had forgotten
both *who* said no wheat and *which* cake was no wheat]. She seemed so spacey
that I decided to not leave my fate in her hands. Sigh. Smelled good. Might
want to called ahead and make sure something with an EEG blip answers. If it
hadn't been our last day in Oz, I would have definitely trekked back.
The Near East Restaurant, 254 Park Street, South Melbourne is owned by the same
folks that own Hanuman in Darwin. We did not get a chance to make it there, but
thought it was worth mentioning. Telephone 03 9699 1900/fax 9696 3842
SALAD DRESSING
After a bit of searching, hubby Jon found quite a treasure at a BiLo ... Little
baby packets of GF salad dressing: "Ina Paarman's Kitchen Classic Vinaigrette
with Sesame Oil & Rice Vinegar" ... Imported by Manassen Foods in Silverwater,
New South Wales ... Produced by Paarman Foods of South Africa. Much web
searching has only turned up that Ina Paarman is considered quite a culinary
expert in Africa... Very tasty, actually I broke it into 2 servings very
easily, 3 servings if I poured bowl remnants back into my travel bottle when no
one was looking :) .... I will do my darndest to see if these can be purchased
in the U.S. Telephone [SAfrica] Paarman Foods +27 (21) 705 6440/fax: 705 6399
In a pinch, I found that orange juice and soy sauce actually made a pretty
decent salad dressing.
SNACKS
My best bet for snickysnacks turned out to be Vege Chips ... all wheat and
gluten free, and quite a variety of flavors. Their sweet and sour [I think, the
blue label] had vinegar listed -- didn't risk it, though if they had GF and
wheat free stamped everywhere, probably was okay. Vege Chip Company is in
Currumbin, Queensland +61 7 5598 3671/fax Fax: +61 7 5598 3966
AIRLINES
The American Airlines GF meal was just fine, rather tasty -- so much so that
fellow passengers asked how to get "that" meal. [Which led me to think that
perhaps a small awareness-raising campaign could be as simple as having our
friends and family request GF meals when they fly.] Qantas meals were actually
almost as good as a normal restaurant, though the 14-hour nothing-else-to-do
flight may have skewed my take a bit. Qantas *very* customer service oriented;
we changed one flight w/out time to request the GF meal and the flight attendant
went hunting down stray salads volunteered by other passengers.
MISCELLANEOUS
An excellent list of recommended GF-friendly restaurants can be found at:
http://www.ozemail.com.au/~coeliac/dine.html
I realize I've used a lot of superflous adjectives here, but it was absolutely
astounding to me that I could just say to any waitress "what's gluten free
tonight?" and she'd come back with *choices*... That every single time that I
got my rice cakes out of my purse -- someone would ask "are you a celiac? so
is my ___ [fill in the blank]" ... high level of knowledge and acceptance --
coupled with chefs and waitstaff who truly know the meaning of service. It was
nice to let the guard down a bit [and 2 weeks later -- zero gluten, yay!]
though I've come home to the U.S. a bit more peeved
at how far behind the times we are.
I'll confess that I was quite terrified to travel so far away for so long as I
couldn't fathom that I'd find my goodies and that I'd starve eating nothing but
fruit and eggs. The irony is that I'm almost more afraid now that I'm back
"home." <harrumph.>
DISCLAIMER
I do not have a financial interest in any of the companies mentioned nor did I
receive any form of compensation from said companies.
Tracey in Connecticut GF lodging: http://www.innseekers.com/feature.htm
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