"Oh, she's a blogger, well I must go down and support her then" was my excuse for checking out The Mae Deli, founded by the beautiful Ella from Deliciously Ella. When in actual fact, I'd just heard amazing things about it, and as I'm embarking on a healthier diet - one of those things I'm putting out into the blogosphere so that when I tweet about my curry and chips nights you can virtually punch me in the face on twitter - I wanted to check out the Mae Deli, known for being very healthy, very allergy friendly (maybe carry on until the end for more on that), and also very tasty. It literally had my name written all over it.
I mean, it didn't, because I'm Ellie/Elle, but you know, close enough. Plus Olly Murs still thought I was called Ella after working with him for months but that's a whole other story...
So off I trotted down to The Mae Deli, camera in tow because I had a sneaky suspicion that it was going to be all kinds of incredible, a hungry belly (because this is me and my default emotion is hunger) and proud #teaminternet feels because we are kinda taking over. Amiright? I think I'm right...
Upon entering The Mae Deli, I personally felt like it was pretty obvious a blogger/someone who works in our industry had had a major involvement in the interiors. It is so beautifully finished with flowers, lots of exposed brick, rich woods and Instagram perfect vintage radio's... it just has a really cool, homely, relaxed atmosphere that I definitely could've hung out in for a while!
After stalking and instagramming the life out of everything in sight because basic bitch problems I finally looked at the menu and was completely torn between the Avocado on toast - which I easily have at least 3 times a week at meetings, I'll officially look like an avocado soon - nut butter and jelly on toast or the pancakes. Any takers on which pick won out?...
So pancakes won out, because pancakes are my everything and if you find gluten free pancakes as a coeliac - and have the appetite of an elephant like me- you go for pancakes! Usually when eating out and reviewing a place with my Mum and Dad, I play the Blogger daughter and do the f**king annoying "Shall we all get different things for the sake of review" [insert guilty smirk/"no but seriously, I'd hate me too" emoji's here]. But alas, like parents like daughter, we all went for pancakes...
I have to say, I was slightly sceptical at first because it's very rare to find good, healthy gluten free pancakes that also don't taste like cardboard but oh my frickin word, these are absolutely stunning. Made with buckwheat - an ingredient that sounds like it shouldn't be gluten free but is - and topped with the Mae Deli's homemade berry and apple compote, coconut chips and maple syrup, they are the perfect mixture of sweet, tart and syrupy. I also found that they were surprisingly filling too so whilst they're not the biggest of portions, they definitely hit the spot.
As I mentioned, I also took my Mum and Dad who are definitely not gluten free, sugar free, dairy free, taste free etc. and I was so surprised by how much they loved them too. Testament to the fact that this trendy new way of eating doesn't mean compromising on taste.
P.S I don't include myself in the "trendy" category as of course with coeliac you have no option. I'd personally be eating all the bread and doughnuts if I could. I digress....
(and also dream of doughnuts)
After demolishing our pancakes and a latte that was so amazing and I have no idea what they put it in, we headed off via the the amazing food counter - and a quick chat with the lovely, lovely staff - to check out what else the Mae Deli sells and decided that next time I'd be back for a Hot Mae Bowl lunch, some powerballs and the peanut butter slice. [Insert heart eye'd emoji's here].
Now, just a quick note on allergies, as much as I adored my food and absolutely love Ella's blog, I was slightly disappointed to find that whilst the majority of the food is gluten free, there's slightly questionable labelling for the Porridge. I was told that everything was gluten free, but then when I mentioned that I had coeliac, I was then told I might want to avoid the porridge. Porridge contains oats, oats in themselves are gluten free however are easily cross contaminated by wheat so real coeliacs have to eat certified gluten free oats. Now I have to say that the staff were knowledgable of the ingredients and explained that the oats weren't certified gf but only because I asked, and there was still no definitive "if you have coeliac, you can't have the porridge". In short, if you have coeliac disease or really want avoid gluten altogether with no risk of cross contamination, always ask about your allergy because I think it would've been quite easy to think that the porridge was gluten free/coeliac friendly when in actual fact it isn't.
I guess it goes back to my - major rant - post about having coeliac disease in that if a restaurant says something is gluten free, it needs to be 100% free of gluten and appropriate for coeliacs. Not just, it doesn't have gluten containing ingredients but may have been contaminated but it's perfect for those that fancy being trendy and don't really need a gluten free diet (can you tell it's still a really sore subject, LOL).
But anyway, I feel like my major digression/rant/bitch fit might have slightly tainted this review but I really don't want it to have done. The Mae deli is an amazing little place with the tastiest food made of the best ingredients and subsequently make the pancakes of dreams. I just know that I have a large gluten free following and would be doing an injustice to not mention that here. All it needs is to list that the porridge doesn't contain certified gluten free oats and you have the perfect healthy breakfast spot. Either way, I will 100% be returning to try out everything else (bar the porridge, if you hadn't guessed that already).
~
So, that's today's post wrapped up. I would love to know if you've made it down to The Mae Deli yet, if you're a huge Ella fan like I am or if you're now dreaming of those pancakes too? I always love hearing your thoughts :)
As always, thanks so much for reading!
xx
Labels: Gluten free, health
