I had the amazing good fortune to be invited to Locanda Locatelli by my friend Lilija, who has created the most amazing website for people with allergies, a bit like Trip Advisor for allergic people. Check out Allergy Companions if you haven’t already, it’s amazing and now has my 5 Star review for Locanda Locatelli on it.
The reason I’ve always wanted to go here is because Georgio Locatelli, the world Italian renowned chef, has a daughter who has a lot of allergies, so I imagined he’d understand the fear and trust issues we allergic diners all have.
You can find out more about Georgio and his family’s very real struggles with anaphylaxis and life threatening allergies here: The Chef and his daughter and the 600 allergens
But you want to know about the food right?
Here we go
Just one disappointment… no bread!
The only downside of the whole experience was that the bread was not suitable.
It think this hit us both harder as they had promised the bread and bread sticks in particular, but these transpired to be unsuitable due to may contain warnings for dairy.
I might have marked them down for this but I was so impressed with the care, attention to detail and checking that they did.
I’d far rather be told something isn’t OK than eat something and find that it’s not. And if I’m out in London I will 100% not risk something I can’t be certain of. So we skipped the bread…
So here is some bread porn for those of you who can eat it… looks good doesn’t it?
Starter – Scallops
I absolutely love scallops and can’t cook them myself so if these are suitable for me I forget about anything else on the menu. The waiter went through everything that was safe and adaptable and there was quite good choice. This was so perfectly cook, delicate and melt in the mouth.
Main course – Guinea Fowl
Again there were a number of options I could choose from but I opted for something I wouldn’t normally have. It was so delicious and I wolfed it down. Other safe options were three different fish dishes and the roast beef.
Dessert – Souffle
There were a number of desserts that I could choose from (always a highlight is fruit is not the pudding!) but they really excelled themselves with this souffle. Mine, is dairy free and is in the front of the photo. Lilija had the normal one, and they were not 100% sure how mine would turn out but the chef wanted to try to do it for me. Well let me say, it was a triumph.
So I would highly recommend going here. Do let them know about your allergies ahead of turning up and remind them again when you arrive. They were really switched and very kind with my endless checking and questions. It’s a pricey option but well worth it if you want to treat yourself of someone else. Since it was my birthday we decided I was definitely worth it!
We had a wonderful time and our waiter also had allergies himself with further put my mind at rest. He checked everything and reassured us at every step.
I would definitely go back again for a special occasion. Top marks Geogio and the Locanda team.
Thank you for keeping me safe.
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