Not too many months ago, we happened to find ourselves near the beautiful town of Great Malvern and in need of a late Sunday lunch. Much to my surprise, given how small I’d assumed this town was, I discovered through a hurried internet search that Great Malvern itself hosts an ASK restaurant and quick glance at their online menu suggested that we’d be able to feed our dynamic duo there without too much hassle. It doesn’t fail to amaze me that we consistently find ourselves enjoying the food at Italian restaurants given their regular gluten-laden fare of pasta and pizza, but I suppose it should really come as no surprise given how many allergy-friendly foods we found on our recent trip to Italy. They almost always serve a chicken dish in one form or another, so whilst it is near impossible to get M a portion of plain rice to accompany his meal, risotto being their main rice offering, we are happy to eat there and I often recommend them on to others in the allergy community.

As always the children ordered their perennial favourites when we eat anywhere that has Italian food on offer. G opted for a gluten- and dairy-free pepperoni pizza with extra goats cheese, whilst M had his usual dish of grilled chicken breast and cucumber. Our waiter made sure he fully understood our allergy requirements as well as making a note for the kitchen and checked their allergen menu to make sure that everything we had ordered could be safely prepared for G and M. We’ve taken to ordering adult-sized portions of meals for both children these days and the generous amounts that arrived were more than enough to satisfy my ravenous pair, with both clearing their plates in impressive fashion.

As ever the allergy-offerings for dessert were poor and G was disappointed that they didn’t serve a gluten-free garlic bread or dough balls for a starter, something she’s become addicted to whenever we visit Pizza Express. We enjoyed our first meal at ASK and it’s always great to have another safe restaurant in our back pocket for future meals out. The Great Malvern restaurant is set in a beautiful location and we had a table looking out over the fantastic view from the upstairs windows.

G’s marks: 7/10              M’s marks: 7.5/10