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Food

05th Sep 2017

Finally! One of Dublin’s most popular restaurants has a gluten-free menu

Not a grain in sight!

Gillian Fitzpatrick

Ah yes, the woes of eating out and being gluten-intolerant.

Scouring menus in advance; asking for amendments to dishes; resolutely avoiding Italians eateries. It ain’t easy being gluten-free in a wheat-filled world.

Which is why the grain-averse among us were oh-so happy to see that one of Dublin city centre’s best-loved spots has now launched an entirely celiac-friendly menu.

Enter The Exchequer D2, which is currently serving its gluten-free dishes seven days a week.

On offer are the likes of cured salmon with cucumber and wasabi dressing, hake with asparagus, mussel and garlic sauce, and a steak tasting board including bavette, flank and featherblade.

Desserts include a lemon cheesecake and a coconut panna cotta.

So suffice to say that head chef, Marty Montgomery, knows his stuff.

Around 45,000 people in Ireland – or 1 percent of the population – have coeliac disease, which gives us a higher percentage of sufferers than anywhere else in Europe.

However, giving up gluten has also become increasingly popular in recent years… regardless of whether you have an intolerance or not.

For example, a study from University College Cork and reported on by independent.ie found that for every 10 people buying gluten-free foods, just one had coeliac disease.

There have also been recounts of chefs becoming irritated by customers insisting on gluten-free meals solely because of dietary preference rather than any sort of medical intolerance.