If you live or find yourself in North London and want to eat the best gluten free pizza, then head to Stingray in Tufnell Park!
UPDATE: PERMANENTLY CLOSED
Restaurant: Stingray
Location: Tufnell Park (North London)
Address: 135 Fortess Rd, London NW5 2HR
Nearest tube station: Tufnell Park (Northern line)
Opening times: Monday – closed, Tuesday to Friday – 5pm to 11pm, Saturday & Sunday – 12pm to 11pm
Phone number: 0207 4824855
Food: Italian cuisine – gluten free pizza, pasta and more (even gluten free beer)
Gluten free status: very well informed about gluten and cross-contamination. They even use a different oven just for gluten free pizzas!
Bonus: They also do takeaway!
Stingray is a brilliant Italian restaurant located right next to Tufnell Park tube station and at a walkable distance from Kentish Town, Gospel Oak, Archway and Upper Holloway.
While it may look ordinary from the outside, don’t let that fool you. The food is delicious, uses great quality ingredients and the staff are friendly, helpful and knowledgable about gluten. It has a cool, cosy, rock bar vibe going on which we loved and feel would make it a good place to go for a drink as well.
Is Stingray safe for Coeliacs?
Yes! They have an extensive gluten free menu that includes proper Italian stone baked pizzas, pasta, starters and side dishes like potato skins, olives and fried calamari. They even have banoffee cream pie for dessert!
And as I mentioned above (and further down below), they cook the pizzas in separate trays and in a dedicated gluten free oven so it’s safe to say Stingray are on the ball when it comes to cross-contamination. The words “gluten free” also feature prominently on the front page of their website. It goes to show that catering for us is something they don’t only take seriously, but we must make up a good enough chunk of their customers. 🙂
Honestly I can’t recommend this place enough. If you live or find yourself in the area, Stingray is a must. And it’s well worth the detour for those who live far.
Click {here} to see the full menu.
I actually discovered this restaurant a few years ago after stumbling on a review by The Gluten Free Foodie in which she praised their gluten free pizza. At the time they also had a branch in Highbury (which has since changed name so I presume they are no longer affiliated?). Since I live closer to that one, my boyfriend and I grabbed our coats and headed there without an ounce of hesitation!
Obviously. I mean, proper Italian stone baked pizzas are a rarity in the gluten free world! Quite a few restaurants, especially chains, do ‘gluten free’ pizza these days, but unfortunately many of them are also highly questionable from a cross-contamination perspective (yes I’m looking at you Pizza Hut and Dominos)… I love pizza, but not when it involves playing Russian roulette with my intestines. lol
So we were pretty excited about Stingray at the time! And getting well ahead of ourselves, imagining our new pizza takeaway filled life as if we had just been born again (or travelled back in a time to pre-gluten free days). haha
We questioned them and it all seemed safe so we ended up leaving with two huge take-away pizzas. And let me tell you, they blew us away! The best gluten free pizzas we ever had! They were so tasty, the crust was perfect and as a big bonus, the pizzas were massive. Finally a restaurant that doesn’t serve baby size pizzas for quadruple the price!
So you can imagine our disappointment when we read, right after eating, that many had been glutened from this Highbury branch. And that they used the same trays and oven as gluten containing pizzas. And that actually they didn’t recommend this place for Coeliacs at all. Some said the Tufnell Park branch was ok, but there was contradictory info out there and the jury was still out. Thankfully I was fine after, but we couldn’t take the risk again and were so very sad about it.
BUT, fast forward a few years to just the other day. I’m not sure why I randomly mentioned Stingray to my boyfriend and how we should check it out again, just in case. And thank god we did because we were in for the best surprise! Not only does the Tufnell Park Stingray have a great extensive gluten free menu, but they’re actually very well informed about gluten and cross-contamination these days. So much so that they even use a separate oven just for the gluten free pizzas! How amazing is that?
So we went for dinner yesterday and wow, this visit is for sure the first of many more to come!
We shared some olives as a starter which were yummy.
Followed by an American Hot pizza for me (tomato base, mozzarella, pepperoni and jalapeño) and a Capricciosa one (as seen below) for my boyfriend (tomato, mozzarella, ham, artichoke, olives and egg). Both were absolutely delicious and look at how big they are!
I can’t wait to go back and try more from their menu. I live dangerously close so I suspect it will inevitably happen very, very soon! haha
Our pizza takeaway filled dream life can finally come true. 😉
For more info check out their website {here}
Enjoy!
Note: I think there are other Stingrays around London, I’m not sure how many, but they’re not all safe for Coeliacs. This review is about the Tufnell Park branch only.
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This place is a hazard to coeliacs and gluten eating people health
Let alone that the stuff is rude they have no knowledge of coeliac disease and how serious it is. I think things have changed considerably since last year. Please stay alert if celiac.
Oh no, I’m really sorry to hear about that. Which Stingray did you have a bad experience with? And what food had you eaten?
To my knowledge, only the one in Tufnell Park is safe for Coeliacs. I’ve been ordering from them for a few years (my latest one was last week) without problems. Having said that I’ve only ever eaten the pizza (which they told me are cooked in a separate oven to avoid cross-contamination) and don’t have any first hand experience of the other gluten free options.