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A few months ago I stumbled upon this great little Chinese restaurant in Surbiton. Fast forward to a few weeks ago and I was sitting in Naturally Chinese with three other wonderful ladies and the owner, Amie, pre-tasting her fabulous fully gluten free menu. That’s right – I just implied gluten free chinese food at a restaurant. And I’m not dreaming or making it up – it exists as the small little corner restaurant named Naturally Chinese in Surbiton.
As you know I grew up and practically live on Chinese food – but there is always a risk when I’m too lazy to make it on my own and I go to a restaurant and insist “no soy sauce!!!”. This is not particularly safe – and yes it is a risk that I chose to take and tell you not to. I only do this at one restaurant near me whose owners send good wishes to my Mom all the way back in Trinidad because they now know my face so well. They are very good with the no soy sauce, and are always trying to substitute chilli oil even though I tell them adamantly it is not necessary, however, there is still that risk, and not having sauces in Chinese food is altering what the dish itself is supposed to taste like, n’est pas?
So when I went to Naturally Chinese, I expected the same sort of thing – chinese food without sauces….no yummy fried spring rolls etc. But I was pleasantly surprised. Amie and the team at Naturally Chinese are so aware of the issue of those with food allergies and the compromises one has to make with food allergies that they do their best to make sure their food is safe and authentic. So instead of leaving ingredients out, they only include dishes which can still be made authentically with alternate ingredients – to the point where they make most of their own sauces from scratch! So we (you and I) can be 100% sure that if we eat there we will not get sick, that our food is authentically flavoured and cooked by old masters in the kitchen and that there are no weird additives like MSG etc in our dishes.
When we went for dinner our first course was a selection of gluten free dim sum created by Amie’s husband and head chef of Naturally Chinese. Two of the four of us at the table had never even had dim sum, but since half my family is Chinese, I was really glad to see it on the table. It was soooo good to be able to eat dim sum without worrying about cross contamination or getting glutenated! The food got scarfed down. Literally. To the point where all four bloggers forgot to take photos. So here’s the aftermath (sorry).
After we all inhaled the starters *ahem* we decided to be a bit more professional and to perhaps take photos of the food. So we chose braised lamb, Amie’s favorite beef and french beans, mixed veg stir fry, steamed rice and gluten free noodles – all which went really well with my two glasses of excellent (and well-needed after a stressful day at work) red wine.
Now Amie’s favorite by far is the beef with french green beans – and I have to say it certainly lived up to its reputation! Soft, tasty, flavourful tenderloin beef complimented by the fresh, crisp snap of the french beans was taste nirvana – and all gluten free, natural and authentic! We all agreed it should be on the final gluten free menu (cause it officially isn’t but if you ask…*hint hint*) – but that if it wasn’t, that Amie and her team should be prepared to make it for us on request as our *special* little favour. So if you want to try it, ask Amie when you go if the chef who specializes in it is in that night.
But never fear, if the chef is on holiday you can always have the just-as-delicious alternative – the braised lamb – so good, juicy, tender and meaty! Lamb has become a staple in my diet since I moved to the UK, but has always been one of my favorite meats – and doused in Naturally Chinese flavours (including yummy ginger!), this was perfect for me
One of the dishes that surprised me was the noodles. These noodles are basically Singapore Noodles, but without all the spices. I have to admit I am always a bit wary of Singapore noodles because the spices are just so strong – it tends not to fall into the “Chinese” category in the menu in my brain…but this way, it definitely does! It was a lovely plethora of flavours from vermicelli rice noodles (gluten free) to warm, meaty stock flavours to fresh little bits of veggies just as a surprise. Definitely a dish to try!
Now I’ve so far, only talked about the dishes we’ve tried, but there were so many others on the menu that between the four of us we had to let Amie choose a few for us rather than us choosing. That’s right – there’s an entire menu of four (I believe) pages of yummy Naturally Chinese gluten free and MSG free dishes for you to choose from, from pork and preserved veg congee, to steamed sea bass and all the way to spring rolls and a variety of dim sum. The crispy aromatic duck is also quite a good choice and safe for those who have a problem with gluten!
Finally, Amie offered us dessert. I barely had room, but was admittedly so engrossed in flavor heaven that I could not wait to see what she would come up with next. Now I know I’m dairy free – but as I have said on previous blogs, do as I say and not as I do – the dessert was 100% gluten free but did have dairy in it. I ate it anyway. You should not. At least…not on my say so. The specially formulated Naturally Chinese mango pudding was fresh and creamy and tart all at the same time. I loved that it was not too sweet because that would have just spoilt the meal – but the freshness and tart flavours just finished the meal with the perfect full stop – loved it and would definitely tell you to try it, just make sure you leave room for dessert!
I know, I know, I don’t usually think of chinese restaurants as dessert either, but man – this one was definitely worth it and was a perfect finish to the meal.
Needless to say, we all left happy and hearty and none of us got sick! Naturally Chinese is 100% dedicated to being an allergen friendly establishment and are passionate about their food being natural, preservative free and authentic to the original way of preparing and eating the food. The staff have all been trained in food allergens, are extremely friendly and if they don’t know something about an allergen, they are not scared to bring another staff member to you who is more knowledgeable.
So I wanted to say thanks so much to Amie and to the team at Naturally Chinese for a lovely evening and also to encourage you guys to go try the gluten free menu that they’ve come up with just for people like us! I know I’ll be going back – if you see me there please feel free to say hello
Do you have a favorite gluten free restaurant near your home?
- ...just trying to navigate through this obstacle course called life...
