Post by Trevor on Feb 11, 2018 16:02:54 GMT
Reporting back from a holiday in Sri Lanka
Posted by Palm, Dorset on 10/2/2018, 15:27:26
We flew with Emirates via Dubai but on each leg of the journey my gluten free meal arrived and was acceptable - not brilliant, but as good as airline meals get, and it definitely was gf. The best bread was on the outward trip from Gatwick - a lovely big BFree roll. I got the same dessert 3 times which was a very nice little chocolate cake topped with a creamy swirl, but it made a nice change from the usual fruit salad!
In Sri Lanka we did a tour staying in 5 different places and then finished up with several days relaxing at a beach hotel. I had emailed all the hotels re the gluten free diet in English, but attaching the Tamil and Sinhalese translations which were found on line. Everywhere the staff were very helpful - there's always a lot of staff - and were able to tell me what I could eat. The typical Sri Lankan curries were always fine, but most hotels had some western style food ( unlike when we were in Kerala in India ) which often seemed to be a bit more Thai/ Chinese style involving noodles so I gave them a miss. At breakfast there was always lovely fruit and eggs done in all sorts of ways, usually to order, but I was glad of the long life ciabatta rolls I had taken with me occasionally. To my surprise a few of the things I had expected to be gf like poppadums, the hoppers ( bowl shaped pancakes) included wheat flour, and a gf blog I read said this was more prevalent in more upmarket tourist areas, as wheat is not a staple in Sri Lanka and is imported. However I did find a little hole in the wall type cafe which made hoppers traditionally from rice flour and they were fab. One hotel , the Topaz in Kandy, made special gf bread for me which I was really sceptical about as it looked and smelt wonderful - not what we expect for gf! My husband tasted it and couldn't tell so I caused huge delays in the restaurant while various chefs were summoned to tell me what was in it. I couldn't recognise the name of the flour but they assured me it was labelled gf and other guests were fine with it , so very apprehensively I tried some and it was gorgeous and I was fine. It turned up for my breakfast and in a beautiful packed lunch but that was the only time I got anything specifically gf. Another hotel had been misinformed and bought western style wholemeal bread in the belief that wheat was white and this was brown! Fortunately I had demanded ( politely! ) to see the packaging and was able to point out the contents of wheat bran and flour. The poor man was mortified and very upset, offering to make me all sorts of things to make up for it - even chips for breakfast! So, all in all I had plenty to eat and found people willing to make something special for me if I couldn't eat what was on offer. The soups were particularly good and there was so much fabulous fruit. Bananas were everywhere, very cheap and good to snack on. I am glad I took some rolls, biscuits and crackers but could have managed without. There were always tea making things in the room and Ceylon tea is famous, and extra nice with a gf biscuit.
Sorry this is rather a long post but I know I like to read people's travel experiences and hope this might help anyone planning a trip. In over 20 years a coeliac I have been all over the world and never starved!
Posted by Palm, Dorset on 10/2/2018, 15:27:26
We flew with Emirates via Dubai but on each leg of the journey my gluten free meal arrived and was acceptable - not brilliant, but as good as airline meals get, and it definitely was gf. The best bread was on the outward trip from Gatwick - a lovely big BFree roll. I got the same dessert 3 times which was a very nice little chocolate cake topped with a creamy swirl, but it made a nice change from the usual fruit salad!
In Sri Lanka we did a tour staying in 5 different places and then finished up with several days relaxing at a beach hotel. I had emailed all the hotels re the gluten free diet in English, but attaching the Tamil and Sinhalese translations which were found on line. Everywhere the staff were very helpful - there's always a lot of staff - and were able to tell me what I could eat. The typical Sri Lankan curries were always fine, but most hotels had some western style food ( unlike when we were in Kerala in India ) which often seemed to be a bit more Thai/ Chinese style involving noodles so I gave them a miss. At breakfast there was always lovely fruit and eggs done in all sorts of ways, usually to order, but I was glad of the long life ciabatta rolls I had taken with me occasionally. To my surprise a few of the things I had expected to be gf like poppadums, the hoppers ( bowl shaped pancakes) included wheat flour, and a gf blog I read said this was more prevalent in more upmarket tourist areas, as wheat is not a staple in Sri Lanka and is imported. However I did find a little hole in the wall type cafe which made hoppers traditionally from rice flour and they were fab. One hotel , the Topaz in Kandy, made special gf bread for me which I was really sceptical about as it looked and smelt wonderful - not what we expect for gf! My husband tasted it and couldn't tell so I caused huge delays in the restaurant while various chefs were summoned to tell me what was in it. I couldn't recognise the name of the flour but they assured me it was labelled gf and other guests were fine with it , so very apprehensively I tried some and it was gorgeous and I was fine. It turned up for my breakfast and in a beautiful packed lunch but that was the only time I got anything specifically gf. Another hotel had been misinformed and bought western style wholemeal bread in the belief that wheat was white and this was brown! Fortunately I had demanded ( politely! ) to see the packaging and was able to point out the contents of wheat bran and flour. The poor man was mortified and very upset, offering to make me all sorts of things to make up for it - even chips for breakfast! So, all in all I had plenty to eat and found people willing to make something special for me if I couldn't eat what was on offer. The soups were particularly good and there was so much fabulous fruit. Bananas were everywhere, very cheap and good to snack on. I am glad I took some rolls, biscuits and crackers but could have managed without. There were always tea making things in the room and Ceylon tea is famous, and extra nice with a gf biscuit.
Sorry this is rather a long post but I know I like to read people's travel experiences and hope this might help anyone planning a trip. In over 20 years a coeliac I have been all over the world and never starved!