The weather was a little cool on our first day but cleared up beautifully, as you can see in the photo above. Anyways, so we stayed at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel which is incredibly nice! I mean really, I have never stayed anywhere so fancy in all of my life! And probably never would have if my friend's husband hadn't paid for our trip! So generous and I am so grateful to have had such a spectacular experience! For those of you not from the area, the Banff Springs is pretty reminiscent of the Beasts castle in the woods from Disney's Beauty and the Beast!
Seriously, mountains and forests and then this giant castle-esque hotel right in the middle of it all! The first night we arrived, my friend had made a reservation for us at the Banffshire Club restaurant inside the hotel. She let them know when she made the reservation that I'm a vegetarian with Celiac Disease and they reassured her that I would be well taken care of. I'm happy to report that they did exactly as advertised. The woman seating us confirmed my needs and after being seen to by the waiters, the maître d' came and not only told me that I would be taken care of, but that the chef would pretty much make whatever I wanted. What? So after confirming that the kitchen stocked gluten-free pasta, I decided to have their vegetable lasagna with the gluten-free option. During the meal, the chef himself came out to make sure that the food was good and that I was happy. Pretty much the most attention I have ever received from restaurant staff in my life! Everyone was extremely kind and friendly and helpful. I was very impressed. I was too excited receiving my food to actually take a picture of it, but my friend got a super creepy picture of me eating. I'm sorry for inflicting this upon you, but try to pay more attention to how awesome the food looks rather than how big I can make my mouth stretch open when I try...
I know, I'm sorry, it's very scary but let's focus, shall we? They brought out this incredible pasta with mushrooms, sprouts, tomatoes, and a really delicious sauce with soft cheese. The flavours were wonderful! Fresh and rich at the same time and the pasta was cooked perfectly al dente which I know can be harder to pull off with gluten-free pasta if you don't have any experience cooking it. I was also pretty impressed that when they brought out table bread before our meal, they happened to have on hand some truly excellent gluten-free bread for myself so that I didn't just stare at my friend eating her "normal person" bread. I was able to have flourless chocolate torte for desert with some truly exceptional desert wine, guided by the waiter who knew clearly knew his stuff and steered us into a very delicious place. All in all, the Banffshire Club gets all the gold stars from me!
The next evening, we decided to walk into the town to take in dinner at the Bear Street Tavern, which was recommended online for having really good pizza with a gluten-free option. The service was pretty friendly and when I told the waitress about my need for a very strictly gluten-free pizza, she informed me that because they work in an open kitchen, there is a slight risk of cross-over but that she would inform the chefs of my needs and that because the gluten-free pizza crust they use is frozen, they don't need to place it on any countertops or anything which reduces possible contamination. I had the mediterranian pizza with gluten-free crust and it was very excellent! Topped with tomatoes, peppers, artichokes, olives, feta, asparagus, and more! The crust, though not the most delicious crust I've ever eaten, but was thin and supported the toppings well. More to the point, I wasn't sick afterward! They have a really strange, yet fantastic, tradition at this place of providing the table with a bottle of honey and another of chili oil for mixing and dipping one's pizza crust in. Though a bit skeptical, it was actually a spectacular combination that my friend and I both lapped up! Again, was way too excited about pizza to remember to take a picture of it, but I did take a picture of the drink I had, called a Raspberry Beret.
I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that this drink rocked my world. And so pretty!
So with this Banff weekend a complete success, I have high hopes that I will find my Scottish experience more than tolerable. I plan to do my research sooner rather than later, especially given that I leave in just over a week! Anybody have any tips for gluten-free traveling in the UK?
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