Flipping 'eck

Whose stupid idea was it to go out on Pancake Day? The only day of the year that it's acceptable to heap ice cream, Nutella, and banana onto one plate, and I found myself in rainy London, arguing with a waiter over poached salmon.

It's not often that a restaurant won't cater for my gluten free requests, often offering to cook something totally different than what is on the menu.

Not the case in Auberge, where they couldn't confirm if the poached Salmon was gluten free, because it had been cooked by a different chef in the morning. At 8pm, suddenly the thought of old fish with a possibility of added gluten didn't seem so appetising. And by then my friends, (in the spirit of those Carlsberg adverts) said if I couldn't eat there we were leaving. Probably the best friends in the world.

Just as we were about to start fighting over the last few eggs and Jif lemons and call it a (pancake) day, we stumbled across Cafe Rouge. I've never been to one before and it was brilliant when they reached into a cupboard and pulled out a gluten free menu for me! Had a lovely fresh salmon fillet with roasted veggies.

I will be having belated pancakes sometime this week and will give up going to Auberge for lent!