The Lilac Scrapbook: Casa Italia, Liverpool

(press invite)

One of my latest #NWBG menu tasting events was at the famous Casa Italia, Liverpool's oldest Italian restaurant. Located on Stanley Street, it has gingham table cloths and a queue that's always out the door. A gang of 10 of us headed there on a Monday evening, grabbed a nice table upstairs and began drooling over the menu...

I've recently been cutting out gluten, as you might know, so I was really intrigued to try out the Casa Italia gluten free menu. I'd read online beforehand, and it says that pretty much any of their pizza and pasta dishes can be made gluten free. You can imagine how excited I was, then!

Casa Italia gluten free starters

The section of the menu dedicated to starters and breads didn't mention anything about gluten free options, but I asked the waiter if the cheesy garlic bread could be mad e GF. And it could, so I practically burst into tears on the spot because it's been so long since I've eaten cheesy garlic bread.

When my gluten free cheesy garlic bread arrived, it was incredible. Like, really soft and really cheesy and hot and garlicky and uhhhhh. Honestly, 10/10 would recommend. If you're looking for gluten free food in Liverpool, I recommend Casa Italia based on this alone!

Casa Italia gluten free mains

Like I mentioned before, most items on the menu can be made gluten free. I opted for a pasta dish, feeling like pizza might be a bit excessive after the cheesy garlic bread. They only actually have one variety (shape?) of gluten free pasta so no matter what dish you opt for, it'll be with a certain type of pasta. I went for 'Lumaconi Pollo al Forno' - pasta with béchamel sauce, chicken and mozzarella.

I'd ordered the large portion which was maybe slightly ridiculous, but I did manage most of it because it was SO GOOD. Perfect pasta (not too hard like gluten free pasta can be) and so much cheese, with succulent pieces of chicken. You get a decent amount of meat too, not like these restaurants that give you about 3 tiny pieces of meat in an entire pasta dish...

So, would I recommend? Wholeheartedly! The staff at Casa Italia are so completely lovely, and the food is so genuinely tasty, and I love how conscious they are about allergies (there's an entire allergen guide on the menu, and they have a separate vegan menu too). With gluten free Italian food that's that good, I'll definitely be back very soon.

Where do you think does the best gluten free food in Liverpool? Let me know!