This week, with my morning sickness slightly dissipating, I managed to take a trip into my nearest city: Birmingham. I blogged a few years ago about how great Birmingham was for gluten-free (and you can see my post on that here) but hadn’t been into the city in a while so thought I’d revisit it again for a day of shopping and an evening of food with my blogging pals Emma and Mel.
I was set a challenge by Hotels.com-who have hotels pretty much everywhere, including of course hotels in Birmingham (should this post convince it’s worth a visit!) to take snaps of my day to show what England’s second city is all about!
First stop was Birmingham Bull Ring. Health-conscious folk like me will love the HUGE Holland and Barrett that is now there. It’s one of the biggest I’ve ever since and was a welcome surprise as I hadn’t seen it since it had been upgraded to a superstore. I was so excited as I managed to pick up one of their 25 Days of Cleaner Beauty Advent Calendar in the Black Friday sale (for less than half-price!) I’d share the link but it’s sold out! But needless to say, I was very pleased and it should help me continue my aim to use more natural skincare.
Next up, I nipped to Selfridge’s food hall to pick up a treat for me (and me again!)
The food hall in Selfridge’s is pretty diverse (with a Yo Sushi, a pret and many more restaurants) but it’s also home to a section of Borough 22: gluten-free and vegan donuts! I’d tried them before but was pleased they’d got TWO new flavours available (so obviously tried them both).
I tucked into the cereal one on the train home but I ended up completely forgetting about the chocolate one and it went stale! So disappointed by that!
Next, I walked over to Grand Central-which is a great place to eat and shop in Birmingham. One of my favourite places is Oliver Bonas (Which is located on the ground floor of Grand Central) but alas I couldn’t find anything that suited. I then headed over to Pho to meet my favourite blogging ladies for a catch-up.
Pho is one of my favourite ever places to eat gluten-free in Birmingham (you can read my full review of it here) but it had been a good year or so since I’d last visited. I was thrilled there were as many fab options as ever before.
Let’s talk about the fact they have gluten-free prawn crackers for one! We shared a few different starters between us (rice rolls, pork meatballs and chicken wings) and then I tucked into my usual: a steaming bowl of chicken noodle soup which was the best thing ever considering the rainy, cold weather which greeted me on the journey to Brum.
It really didn’t disappoint and I’d 100% recommend Pho for anyone who is gluten-free; there is so much choice!
By then, I was pretty tired (welcome to pregnancy life) so I met my husband to get the train home. Unfortunately, our train was cancelled and all other ones delayed! We ended up having to go to another station-but thankfully my donut kept me company and I was still in good spirits by the time I arrived home!
It was great to go back to Brum and discover some new finds (as well as revisit my old favourite!). I hope I’ve inspired you to visit too! If so, this post on 25 things to do in Birmingham might also be worth a read!
The spending money was gifted by Hotels.com, but all views are my own.
