Gluten Free Granada
Why Gluten Free Granada?
My mother and niece are celiacs so we have spent a fair amount of time researching gluten free options in Granada. Hopefully this information will be of use to others. As this sort of info changes rapidly, please email me if you find any inaccuracies and about your gluten free experiences in Granada in general, good and bad. I will update this page with more details as I get them.
In the meanwhile, have a great time in Granada, cheers
Anna Ward (owner of Casa de las Granadas)Some Spanish vocabulary
- gluten free = "sin gluten"
- a celiac/coeliac = "un celiaco"
- wheat = "trigo"
- barley = "cebada"
- rye = "centeno"
- oats = "avena"
- flour = "harina"
- starch = "almidon". This is usually wheat starch ("de trigo") but may be corn starch ("de maiz").
Look for products that are labelled "sin gluten" or “aptos para dietas sin gluten" (ie suitable for gluten free diets) or look for the international symbol of a barred wheat ear.
Spanish Celiac Card
We have found that having a printed card explaining what it means to be a celiac has been an invaluable prop. We actually laminate ours - which makes it look more official, which always goes down well.
Alternatively, here is a printable Spanish Gluten Free Card from CeliacTravel.com - who have a good selection of free cards in several languages: Click http://www.celiactravel.com/gluten-free-cards/34-spanish.html
Or finally www.celiacosmadrid.org have an alternate wording if you prefer.
Gluten Free shopping in Granada
Alhucema, Horno de San Agustin 2 bajo, Plaza Charca, Albayzin, Granada 18010. Tel: 958 289797
Take Calle Panaderos from Plaza Larga and it is off to the right hand side (turn at the aljibe - a brick water store). Alhucema is a health food shop only 5 minutes walk away from Casa de las Granadas which sells a limited range of gluten free items. It also has a lot of organic produce. Some English spoken.
Herbolario La Tienda Calle Calderería Nueva 14 Granada Tel: 958 229279
La Tienda is a health food shop on calle Caldereria in the lower Albayzin. (This is the Arab quarter that we describe in the Albayzin page). It has a reasonable selection of gluten free products including a couple of types of gluten free cakes.
The Pastry Shop slightly further down Calle Calderería Nueva also do a couple of gluten free (and nice) Middle Eastern pastries.
El Piano Calle Gran Capitan 7 bajo, Granada 18002. Tel: 646 018110. Mon-Fri 11:00-23:00, Sat-Sun 12:00-16:00 and 19:00-23:00 www.el-piano.com (website in English and Spanish)
El Piano is MUST VISIT destination. My mum calls it "celiac heaven"! It is a 10 minute walk from the cathedral or alternatively you can get any of the microbuses that run through the Albayzin and get off at Triunfo. Walk down San Juan de Dios on to Gran Capitan (both nice streets with good cafes and restaurants.) It is definitely worth making the trip if you are looking for gluten free options. All the food they prepare is vegan and gluten/dairy/nut-free (except for sesame, pine kernels and coconut). It is primarily takeaway, though you can eat standing up at the counter. English spoken. Closed Wednesday.
There is also a chemist ("farmacia", Calle Gran Capitan 9, telephone 958 272125) 2 doors up from El Piano which sells gluten free products.
Most large supermarkets sell products for special diets.
The most centrally located is Corte Ingles, Carrera del Genil 20-22 Granada. Tel: 958 223240. The supermarket is in the basement and there is a gluten free section.
Carrefour (Calle Luis Bunuel s/n, Parque Comercial Kinepolis, Granada. Tel: 958 899900) and Alcampo (Carretera de Jaén 88, Granada. Tel 958 159339, see our getting here page for details of where the latter is) both have quite large gluten free sections but are not easy to get to without a car.
Gluten Free Welcome Hamper
We are happy to provide a gluten free version of our welcome hamper with a bit of advance notice. Let us know what you would like and we can arrange for it to be ready for you on your arrival. We are also more than happy to help with any other advice on being a celiac in Granada. We realise that getting good food, without worrying about whether it contains gluten, can make or break a holiday!Ordering gluten free food in Granada Restaurants
In general we have found that staff in restaurants have not usually heard of celiacs but, having said that, eating here is usually quite straight-forward as most food is cooked from scratch and waiters have a very good knowledge of what is in each dish. If you take a printout of one of the Celiac cards from above then you shouldn't have any problems!
We have orderered gluten free food in most of the restaurants that we list on the restaurants & bars in Granada page of our site and they have been fine. Particular mention goes to:
La Entraiya (see Granada restaurants page for contact details) as they have a waitress with a family member who is a celiac so she understands.
The Parador de San Francisco at the Alhambra (Tel: 958 221440) has a special "menu del dia" for celiacs which is gluten free. (As do all Paradors theoretically, although the one at Ronda didn't seem to know anything about it!) The Parador is an expensive hotel within the grounds of the Alhambra so you can go there during your Alhambra visit. You can either eat inside or in an attractive courtyard. The price is 33 euros(tax included).
Two restaurants listed on www.celiacosmadrid.org, but that we haven't tried ourselves yet are:Restaurante Paladar, Calle Martínez Campos 19, 18002 Granada. Tel: 958 086012. Off Calle Recogidas on the right hand side towards the Camino de Ronda end. The Paladar has been recommended by a celiac friend of mine.
Asador Abades Fuensanta, Autovía A92 salida 215, 18328 Fuensanta. Tel: 958 462083. This Abades is a motorway service station between Granada and Antequera at exit 215.
Other Spanish Celiac Bits and Pieces
There is a useful detailed account from someone who went to Madrid and Barcelona and who bought various gluten free breads, biscuits etc at http://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/index.php?showtopic=37094&hl=Iberian+Peninsula
La Asociacion de Celiacos de Madrid at www.celiacosmadrid.org has a useful intro page in English which lists typical Spanish dishes that are usually gluten free. It isn't very helpful about specific places to go in Granada.
www.celiacos.org This website isn't very useful but it does have a list of gluten free places at http://www.celiacos.org/puntos_venta_granada.php We have mentioned some of the places on the list above and these are the others that we haven't tried yet. (Note : a herboristería is a health food shop.)
Herboristería, Palencia 1, Granada (Telephone 958 818300)
Herboristería, Tiburon, 6 L.6 Granada (Telephone 958 284655)
Herboristería, Méndez Núñez 7 Granada (Telephone 958 276415)
Herboristería, Avda. de Madrid 31 Granada (Telephone 958 160744)
www.celiacosgranada.org This is a website based on campaigning for gluten free hosts for taking communion (in Spanish only).
In the Suggested Two Centre Holidays section of our Around Granada webpage we mention a place to stay in Cazorla (El Molino la Farraga). This was good place to stay for celiacs as the owner's child has a wheat intolerance. She got gluten free magdalenas in specially for breakfast to my mum's delight.
www.infoceliaquia.org/restaurantes has little information for Granada but lists quite a few gluten free restaurants elsewhere in Spain, in Malaga for example.