Saturday, 12 March 2016

This gluten-free foodie's pre-travel checklist

Moving city calls for a lot of life admin. It's a logistical test that has challenged even this spreadsheet-loving planning enthusiast. 

Lists. So many lists.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Ross and I are moving to Sydney for two-year secondments. We have spent the last week packing our belongings, moving out of our apartment, finishing up at work, saying goodbyes, flying across the ditch, and acquainting ourselves with a new city. 

Of course, we are super excited about our Sydney adventure. But there are lots of things about New Zealand that we will miss. The people, for sure. Plus there are a lot of things about living in Wellington that we we are sad to leave behind, too.

This photo was taken during my last run along the Wellington waterfront. 

One thing that we will miss about Wellington is the food, not to mention the coffee. And this is hardly surprising, given my prolific blogging about it. 

So, to make sure we experienced all of our favourites before leaving, we have been working through our gluten-free foodie pre-travel checklist - arguably the most important list of them all. And being homeless after we handed over our keys means we have had the perfect excuse to do it.

Ross and Liz's pre-travel checklist - gluten-free eats in Wellington

  1. Dinner at Long Xiang. This was so good we did it two nights in a row.
  2. Cocktails at Alice for a last strawberry doddle (avoiding the biscuit sticks).
  3. A visit to Capital Market for delicious Korean food and treats from Miss Kangsta's gluten-free bakery. The chocolate chip cookies are my favourite; Ross goes gaga over the strawberry and cream cheesecake. 
  4. Weekday breakfast at Mixed Business for top-notch gluten-free bread and hash browns.
  5. Dinner at Great India for the best onion bhajia in town.
  6. One last lunch at Pita Pit - my number one low-FODMAP lunch option. 
  7. A celebratory dinner at Royal Thai on our last night in Wellington.
  8. Followed by decadent gluten-free desserts at Library. 
  9. Breakfast at Ti Kouka, eating from their exciting low-FODMAP menu.
  10. Lunch at Neo, where they serve buckwheat pancakes made of happiness and dreams.  
Our last night in Wellington, celebrated at Royal Thai.

Caramel-peanut popcorn and vanilla bean sundae from Library.

Buckwheat pancakes from Neo, served with banana, greek yogurt, and cinnamon-crusted almonds.

As I'm sure you can imagine, we had a lot of fun sampling these goodies before flying out. 

And now that we have arrived in Sydney, the eating out continues - and so too do the logistics. 

We are having lots of great adventures over here and we have found some mind-blowing gluten-free options, too (although, I'm not going to lie, I'm starting to crave meat and three veg - emphasis on the veg). 

But then that's a post for next time... 

Our descent into Sydney.

2 comments:

  1. I think you should comment on your airline meals with Air New Zealand - any photos?

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    1. No photos, sorry. But the gluten-free airline meal was disappointing - the underwhelming and predictable chicken-and-tomato-sauce combo. It was shame because the rest of the flight was great. What always makes me sad is when everyone else gets ice cream and I don't, even though it is gluten free! It doesn't take that much to customize meals, instead of having the current everything-free option, taste included. Rant over. :)

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