Recently, we went to London England for about a month. The weather was pleasant enough with some hot days thrown in, with a whole lot of rainy, gray and gloomy weather, it's England after all. The good thing is I have my family there, so it is always fun to visit. Mostly we ate home cooked meals, some of which were made by my extended family. I am grateful to them for keeping my children's food allergies in mind when cooking, asking me questions and clearing things up, if they were confused, to avoid any disasters. My kids are allergic to dairy, egg, wheat, fish, nuts, vinegar and lentils. Some of them are severe but I have been lucky enough not to worry about cross-contamination. Only when they actually ingest a said allergen or touch it do they get a reaction.

Occasionally, we went out to eat. This is a review of three of the places we went to and what my children thought of each place. When going to eat out, anywhere, I have to keep in mind the following two things to select a place to eat:

The place has to be halal

The place has to be halal Do they offer allergy friendly options or have items on the menu that can be eaten by my kids.

I will not be mentioning cross contamination, since it is not an issue with us. Also all of the places we went to were halal. Those of you who do not know what halal is. Halal is the process of meat preparation as prescribed by Muslim law.

Disclaimer: None of the restaurants mentioned claim to be allergyfriendly. Please consult the restaurant before deciding to go there.

Red Iron Burger

This restaurant is situated in Uxbridge. It was the longest distance from where we were staying, which was in South London. It took us about an hour's drive to get there. However, the food is worth all that traveling. It is an upscale fast food joint serving burgers and non burger items such as nachos and wings. It also has a few vegetarian options as well as desserts and milkshakes. However, I did not see a kids' menu.

Most of their menu have the top eight allergens like gluten, dairy etc. They do have a sign near the cashier stating that you should notify the server if you have any allergies or intolerance. So I asked the server and they said they were able to serve the meat patty without the bun along with fries. The patty is only meat and spices. I did not opt for the wings as they are covered in some type of sauce which almost always have vinegar, which my kids can't have.

Kids' Opinion

Kids found the patty a bit bland on it's own and also a bit big to finish off. Offering gluten free buns would be a good idea.

SteakOut Meat House

As the name suggests it is a steak franchise, there are various locations around England. They offer a wide variety of steaks from meat to poultry to seafood. They also have some vegetarian options available. There is also a kids menu. I ordered Chicken strips, from the kids menu. This was the only option that did not contain any of the allergens, only chicken and seasonings with a side of fries and Fruitshoot juice bottle. This was also the nearest and cheapest of the three meals. However, I did not see any allergy warnings.

Kids' Opinion

They were able to finish off their plates but did not comment whether they liked it or not.

Affogato

Affogato is located in Norbury in South London. It is more like a breakfast cafe. It offers a wide variety of breakfast and brunch items as well as burgers and salads. They serve an all day breakfast and then lunch from 11 am on wards. It also has a kids menu and also an allergy sign on its menu.

So I was able to discuss with the server and they suggested the sirloin steak as nothing on their kids menu was allergy friendly. My daughter also ordered a Fentimans Rose Lemonade which was ok but there smoothies are a real treat.

Kids' Opinion

My daughter wanted to go back there again as she enjoyed her meal very much.

So to conclude, we found that Affogato to be the best out of all three, because of the location, their taste and smoothies, even though they worked out to be a little more expensive than Steakout.

Disclaimer: None of the restaurants mentioned claim to be allergyfriendly. Please consult the restaurant before deciding to go there.