GF Pizza in Singapore
I took part in my first legit food critique/food tasting experiments tonight. Being a Celiac for 30 months now, I always thought it would be fun to write about the ups, downs, perks, funny and embarrassing moments, the socially frustrating, and the funny reactions people give when I tell them I'm allergic to gluten. "To glut-- to what?" "To gluten, a protein found in wheat and other grains" "What? You can't eat wheat? So... you mean, what?! You're telling me you can't eat bread? You can't eat BREAD?! How do you survive? I would die. How do you live?!"
Well, it's been 30 months and I'm still alive, so clearly you can survive very well without gluten. I'm still learning a lot about this gluten-free lifestyle and still find it difficult to explain to people that I cant eat certain foods when I get asked out to eat. Here's the beginning to sharing my joys, frustrations, and food (and restaurant) critiques as a 24 year old traveling Celiac food-lover.
First stop: Singapore. Before moving to Singapore I thought it would be easy to be GF here. Don't get me wrong - it is much easier to be GF in Asia compared to North America, however they still enjoy their pastries here. I'll write again about eating in Singapore - but first PizzaCapers Gourmet Kitchen.
"What makes this gourmet pizza?" My resonse: it's all about the toppings. If they're exotic, healthy, and plentiful - then I'd say the pizza is gourmet. Also, the price. If the pizza is over $20 for an 8'' pizza - it better be gourmet! Another thing that makes the pizza gourmet is the variety of combination of toppings. Tonight I had GF pizza. In Asia! Pizza in Asia is already rare enough so it was quite the treat to find a GF pizza place. I went with friends, one of them in franchise consulting, so we were encouraged to share our thoughts on the food. Gladly!
I haven't eaten pizza in a long time, so anything at this point would have tasted amazing. Tonight I had both the RAJA (Tandoori chicken, mozzarella and red onions. Garnished with mango chutney, snow pea sprouts, cashew nuts and mint raita), and MARGHERITA (Baby bocconcini cheese, roasted tomatoes, herbs, mozzarella and garlic. Garnished with parsley and parmesan). I enjoyed them both, however the mango chutney through me for a loop at first. It was an unexpected flavor. The crust was thin (as most GF crusts are) and hard to cut with a knife (again - normal) and tasted corn-based. However, there were so many good toppings that you couldnt taste the crust. My non-GF friends commented "it taste like I'm eating a tortilla almost, it's so thin!" For PizzaCapers, it didnt matter what the crust tasted like because they did a good job at covering it up with lots of flavor thanks to variety of toppings!
Also important to note that the toppings were all GF as well. You'd think that would be obvious but you have to be careful. Many people don't quite understand. For example, after the pizza outing, we headed to Awfully Chocolate for ice cream. (Note: I don't do dairy but since I had splurged with the cheese on the pizza, I indulged. I will be regretting this tomorrow!). When I asked the lady "is this gluten free?" "What? Gluten? Umm, g-l-u-ten? Uhh, yes, yes it's gluten free" Not exactly the confident answer I was hoping for.
The best chocolate ice cream: dark, rich, creamy.
Back to the atmosphere of PizzaCapers. It felt more like a trendy mid-end sandwich shop - the orange and black chairs didn't give a good gourmet pizza feel. Nor did the loud top 40 hits from 2006 that was playing. It felt weird to be eating 'Western' food while looking out at a Chinese store-front with a top-floor apartment with someone's laundry hanging from the balcony. I felt as though I should have been sitting on the curb eating a good bowl of congee instead.
Well, it's been 30 months and I'm still alive, so clearly you can survive very well without gluten. I'm still learning a lot about this gluten-free lifestyle and still find it difficult to explain to people that I cant eat certain foods when I get asked out to eat. Here's the beginning to sharing my joys, frustrations, and food (and restaurant) critiques as a 24 year old traveling Celiac food-lover.
First stop: Singapore. Before moving to Singapore I thought it would be easy to be GF here. Don't get me wrong - it is much easier to be GF in Asia compared to North America, however they still enjoy their pastries here. I'll write again about eating in Singapore - but first PizzaCapers Gourmet Kitchen.
"What makes this gourmet pizza?" My resonse: it's all about the toppings. If they're exotic, healthy, and plentiful - then I'd say the pizza is gourmet. Also, the price. If the pizza is over $20 for an 8'' pizza - it better be gourmet! Another thing that makes the pizza gourmet is the variety of combination of toppings. Tonight I had GF pizza. In Asia! Pizza in Asia is already rare enough so it was quite the treat to find a GF pizza place. I went with friends, one of them in franchise consulting, so we were encouraged to share our thoughts on the food. Gladly!
Raja and Margherita GF pizza
I haven't eaten pizza in a long time, so anything at this point would have tasted amazing. Tonight I had both the RAJA (Tandoori chicken, mozzarella and red onions. Garnished with mango chutney, snow pea sprouts, cashew nuts and mint raita), and MARGHERITA (Baby bocconcini cheese, roasted tomatoes, herbs, mozzarella and garlic. Garnished with parsley and parmesan). I enjoyed them both, however the mango chutney through me for a loop at first. It was an unexpected flavor. The crust was thin (as most GF crusts are) and hard to cut with a knife (again - normal) and tasted corn-based. However, there were so many good toppings that you couldnt taste the crust. My non-GF friends commented "it taste like I'm eating a tortilla almost, it's so thin!" For PizzaCapers, it didnt matter what the crust tasted like because they did a good job at covering it up with lots of flavor thanks to variety of toppings!
Also important to note that the toppings were all GF as well. You'd think that would be obvious but you have to be careful. Many people don't quite understand. For example, after the pizza outing, we headed to Awfully Chocolate for ice cream. (Note: I don't do dairy but since I had splurged with the cheese on the pizza, I indulged. I will be regretting this tomorrow!). When I asked the lady "is this gluten free?" "What? Gluten? Umm, g-l-u-ten? Uhh, yes, yes it's gluten free" Not exactly the confident answer I was hoping for.
The best chocolate ice cream: dark, rich, creamy.
Back to the atmosphere of PizzaCapers. It felt more like a trendy mid-end sandwich shop - the orange and black chairs didn't give a good gourmet pizza feel. Nor did the loud top 40 hits from 2006 that was playing. It felt weird to be eating 'Western' food while looking out at a Chinese store-front with a top-floor apartment with someone's laundry hanging from the balcony. I felt as though I should have been sitting on the curb eating a good bowl of congee instead.
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