Gluten Free Restaurants/ Cafes

[Leila_Gatrad]

I'm visiting Castara Bay in a couple of weeks and looking for some advice on helpful Restaurants/ Cafes, which are suitable for a gluten-free diet.
In the UK I get away with just eating options which don't use flour, like rice or potatoes instead of pasta or bread, but I'm aware that there seems to be quite a lot of bread etc in the Trinibago food.
Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations so we don't have to eat at our villa the whole time and the others in our party are able to enjoy the local cuisine!
Thanks in anticipation!

[Andy K]

Leila,

i am not aware of a restaurant in Castara or in Tobago at all, which would specialize on gluten-free cuisine.
(If anybody knows better, please correct me).
But you don't need to worry. Tobago (Creole) cuisine does NOT use flour very much. Preferred staple food is
"(ground) provision", like cassava, yam, eddoes, potato, dasheen, plantain and of course rice.
Only trini-indian dishes will necessarily have flour products like dhalpourie or paratha roti.
At an indian restaurant or food outlet you may still ask to get you curry served with rice instead of paratha roti.

At Penny Savers and Morshead supermarkets you will definitely find gluten free products which you can prepare
at your accomodation.

[Leila_Gatrad]

Thanks for the response, I didn't realise there was such a difference in the cuisine between Trinidad and Tobago!
I'm looking forward to eating currys, stews etc; I was just concerned about 'hidden gluten', as I often encounter in the UK, used as thickener or in stock etc.
It was also helpful to know that I will be able to buy GF products on the Island, now I have more space in my suitcase for more shoes!
Will report after the hols to let you know what a fab time we've had and how yummy the GF food was!

[Rachel Crew]

If you buy any local soup, just be careful to check as it's common to get dumplings and/or macaroni in home-made soups.

Flour isn't commonly used as a thickener. Often dishes are "stewed down" with coconut milk

[Rachel Crew]

Just to mention too, that you will not find the range of gluten free products that you are used to in the UK (especially none of the "parbaked" bread products), so you may still want to squeeze those in your suitcase if you need them.