The Anti Dairy Fairy

Christmas day arrived in the antidairyfairy’s house, we all managed to get through the day and thanks to my good friend Georgie the day was not as painful as it could have been. Georgie invited the four of us to her house for Christmas lunch and provided a splendid spread and lovely company and we all thank her for this. It was so strange going out to someone else’s home for lunch as for the past ** years I have always been the one hosting the Christmas dinner, it felt really wierd to get up on Christmas day and to leisurely open the pressies and then take one’s time to get ready. It was strange but for this year it was good, normality will hopefully resume next year.

On Boxing day we headed down to Brighton via Hornchurch where we stopped off at my sister-in-law’s for scrumptious bacon butties. We arrived in Brighton mid afternoon and booked into the Hotel du Vin, dumped the baggage (no, not me) and then set off for a brisk walk along the prom which was lovely.

Now, the Hotel du Vin is a super hotel,nice ambience, very comfy, good bar, the rooms are very chic and the restaurant was good UNLESS you are dairy intollerant. For my husband, myself and Sam it was easy to choose off the menu, for Ella it was a nightmare. The staff did try and be helpful by checking with the Chef to see if dishes contained dairy products and had to do so several times, only to come back each time to say ‘no sorry, that contains dairy too’. What should have been a really lovely evening was marred by this as Ella had to make do with a dinner she did not particularly want and to rub her nose in it even more, she had to sit and watch us three eat a dinner of choice. It really is not good enough that restaurants do not take into account that there are people out there who cannot eat dairy or gluten, although I have to say I do think it is easier for coeliacs than it is for lactose intolerants.

Why does everything have to be cooked in butter/cream/dairy produce. Ok so it makes it nice and rich but to have everything on a menu containing dairy is a disaster in my book. Surely with allergies now becoming more and more common it is only common sense to offer unadulterated food as an option for anyone with an allergy. Ella asked for red cabbage – nope no good it was cooked in butter. WHY, I cook it all the time at home and there is no need for it to have butter in it. We have to take some of the blame because we did not check the menu before booking the restaurant but really, there should have been options for people such as Ella. Take the desserts, there was not one dessert on the menu that Ella could eat apart from a sorbet which becomes very boring if that is all that is ever offered. It really isn’t that hard to cook a dessert without dairy or gluten or here is a really radical idea, why don’t they stock soya ice cream – very daring I know and guess what, it even comes in chocolate,raspberry and other flavours – and offer this alongside dairy ice cream. If only a minority request it then buy a few tubs and shove it in the freezer and at least it is there if required. Just think you would send someone, who cannot usually have ice cream, home happy and they would probably dine in your restaurant again, whereas if Ella is with us we won’t be dining there again!

Spent the next day wandering through The Lanes and along by the sea and generally had a lovely time. Went to Browns for dinner which, as always, was good. We first visited Browns at least 35 years ago and have never had a bad meal there so it is like an old friend.

We are now home and peddling water until NYE. I always find this such an anti climax with all the stress of feeling that one has to go out but as usual we have succumbed and will be putting our gladrags on and celebrating.

Anyway to all those out there who have visited this post I wish you a happy and healthy 2007 and hopefully a wealthy one as well.

ADF.