Heathrow’s Terminal 3 was my venue recently for a coffee as I met a friend for a quick catch up before waving her goodbye on her way back to New Zealand. As is often the case, I struggled to find a dairy free cake to go with my coffee. If you are there to say ‘Bon Voyage’ chances are neither of you will want to hang around for long, especially with the cost of short term parking fees. Wondering what would be available for visitors to Heathrow I took the opportunity to do a bit of further research on behalf of awkward eaters.
The number of food outlets landside isn’t extensive and I didn’t hold out much hope of finding somewhere to eat to suit most food allergies or intolerances. At the Costa Coffee, gluten free snack options are available, but nothing suitable for my dairy free sweet tooth so I made do with a sweetened soya latte. I checked out the sandwiches and wraps and found that there were a few possibilities here unless you are wheat and gluten free. The prawn mayo, BLT and egg sandwiches made no mention of dairy and the chicken and bacon signature sarnie is dairy, but not soya free. I asked for an allergy information list and the counter assistant showed me a multi-paged document which seemed to indicate that, aside from the sandwiches, the only dairy free foods were plain bread and toast!
The Three Bells is a large, welcoming and comfortable looking pub style venue. The barman quickly put me off any notion that anyone with intolerances or allergies might be able to eat, as all food is prepared off site, but he was charming and friendly as he sent me on my way.
I finally headed to the Leon Restaurant. There I found a multitude of wheat and gluten free options including lovely looking cakes and a very tempting pecan tart. Dairy free sweet options were less obvious and there was no mention of soya milk as an alternative for drinks even though it was available. Asked about this, Italian born manager Matteo confirmed that this information would be included soon. The staff couldn’t have been more helpful and lovely assistant Natasha even posed for a photo next to the cookbooks promoting the Leon brand. Vegan savoury options are abundant and price wise Leon’s is perfectly reasonable.
Conclusion – if you need gluten free, dairy free, veggie or vegan food head straight to Leon. They are cross contamination aware so you should eat well and safely. My experience was that they are very welcoming to awkward eaters and if you have additional queries they will do their best to help. Their website is also very useful (www.leonrestaurants.co.uk) and you can check out options in advance. You can then say your goodbyes, wish your family or friends a safe flight and leave before the car park fees start to mount up.
By Gilly Weaver | 16th January 2013