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Do you remember our Gluten Free Magic Bake Off champion, Kate Hardie?
After winning our bake-off challenge last year with her fabulous creation – the Blooming Lovely Citrus and Poppy Seed Celebration Drizzle Cake, filled with Prosecco Cream and Homemade Blackberry Jam - we sent her off for afternoon tea at the wonderful 2 Oxford Place, Leeds, as part of her prize.
Kate was kind enough to write up her experience, and judging by her kind words it went down a treat! We're so glad Kate and her son enjoyed their afternoon.
Here's what she had to say about her trip...
'I have been really looking forward to this weekend ever since I won Delicious Alchemy’s gluten free magic bake off challenge last year, as part of the prize included afternoon tea at 2 Oxford Place.
Nestled in the heart of Leeds city centre, this hidden gem of a restaurant not only serves delicious food, it prides itself on being exclusively gluten free. An accolade unprecedented by any other restaurant in Leeds, how lucky are we?
My companion for the day was our 5 year old son, William who was diagnosed with coeliac disease at the age of 18 months so I was really excited to be taking him there. We had some interesting conversations about visiting as I explained what kind of thing we might expect to eat. He said to me and I quote, “Mummy, if I am allowed to eat all of these things, what will you eat?”, which really highlighted to me the importance of today and role reversal of the usual limited gluten free food choices when dining out, especially for children. He is so used to having a limited menu that he assumed that if he could eat everything, then I must have to work on a limited menu - very sweet but heartbreaking at the same time. It was so nice that for once, he could eat what ever he wanted without any compromise on choice, substitution of ingredients or adaptation of the standard menu.
It was also refreshing to see that the restaurant owner, Victoria Hall, has the same attitude to children's menus as I do - just make smaller portions of everything on the main menu as opposed to offering the usual processed options for children.
As soon as you enter 2 Oxford Place, you begin to feel at home. The walls are adorned with quirky decorations, higgledy-piggledy furniture and I love the way it is the polar opposite to symmetry and uniformity.
We brought big appetites, which is certainly a requirement. William’s eyes were like saucers as the three tiered savoury platter arrived, still a little suspicious that he could actually choose anything he wanted to. The array of sandwiches included rare roast beef and horseradish, smoked salmon pate, cucumber and egg mayonnaise as well as some warm Cajun halloumi all washed down with a generous pot of tea. The bread is all freshly baked by Victoria and it was truly delicious - who needs gluten?!
For those of you with a sweet tooth like myself, the best was yet to come as another three tiered platter arrived with a selection of ten different decadent desserts each. People on other tables could not help but comment how beautiful everything looked. The selection included a mini pavlova, vanilla creme shot, a choux puff, a chocolate brownie, a white chocolate cake truffle, a mango tart, a rosewater cheesecake and last but not least a double chocolate sponge cake. My favourite was the delicate rosewater cheesecake which just melted in the mouth.
As our tummies were now full to bursting, we decided to make our exit, complete with doggy bags! It truly was a brilliant way to spend a Saturday afternoon, most of all hearing William's enthusiasm and enjoyment of all that he had eaten.
Bring an appetite, bring family and friends, because whatever occasion you choose to dine at 2 Oxford Place, you will not be disappointed.'
