This month we visited Roda, Corfu, and were amazed at all the gluten and dairy-free options on offer. As someone who has Crohn’s Disease, holidays can always be a bit of a minefield-as I really struggle with the heat- but this was one of my favorite holidays ever. There are so many options for a gluten free Roda trip-from restaurants when eating out to supermarket finds. Being dairy-free, I also found vegan options in Roda and dairy-free options in Roda too-I also discovered I could eat the feta as it was pure sheep/goat milk (it usually just cows milk I struggle with) which was a welcome surprise.
My experience of Roda with Crohn’s Disease and being gluten-free
Before I share my favorite restaurants and shops, I just wanted to share that I would 100% recommend Roda if you have Crohn’s or are traveling with any gut issues. I haven’t had the best luck with holidays and this was the first one that I wasn’t poorly at all.
Firstly, there are ample, clean public toilets all along the beach. It is a small village which means your hotel (we opted for an apartment), beach, and restaurants are all in a small radius so I didn’t need to worry about too much walking. Many of the bars offer beach service, where they’ll bring your drinks to your lounge, which was much less stressful than having to get up each time (I get so hot and bothered on holiday so being ably to lie in the shade and have drinks brought to you was perfect). It was hot (heat is a trigger for me) but there was plenty of shade. The sea is also really shallow so very easy for paddling to cool down.
However, the reason I found it the best for my belly is that the food is so healthy with so many free-from options.
The best gluten-free restaurants in Roda
Gluten-free fine dining in Roda: Roda Park
Roda Park is easily the best restaurant in Roda and its gluten-free options are incredible. It is so popular that you often need to book a table in advance, and don’t leave this one for the last night as you’ll probably want to book again. The chef is incredibly knowledgable about gluten-free and dairy-free, offering to make adaptions and even having special gluten-free desserts such as gluten-free Baklava.
I went twice and both times opted for the marinated whitebait with apple and then baked feta as starters (I shared them both with my husband). Both are absolutely incredible and learning I could eat feta was definitely a highlight of the holiday. For the main, I went for the prawns with chips one evening and the seabass the other, almost of the menu can be made gluten and dairy-free if you ask. I just can’t put into words how amazing this was!
Gluten-free lunch in Roda: The Yacht Club
A great option for gluten free lunch in Roda is The Yacht Club, which is right on the beachfront (like most restaurants in Roda). For six euros, you can get their gyros, chips, and salad deal-this usually comes with pitta but they made mine without. I am now hooked on gyros-it was so tasty that I again went back twice! The Yacht club had a good understanding of gluten-free and whilst not as many options as some places, it did the job!
Gluten-free grill in Roda: Amos
Amos is a popular grill right on the seafront (set away from the strip of the main restaurants). It is a grill so is known for its meat and fish grills and simplicity. It wasn’t my favourite choice in Roda but almost everything is gluten-free and the fish options are lovely.
Other gluten-free restaurants in Roda
A few other restaurants we visited and were really pleased with were…
-The Dolphin: Really lovely food and the British owner had an excellent understanding of gluten-free. I opted for Chicken Souvlaki and it was really tasty.
-Taverna: This is run by the same people who run The Yacht Club (it’s next door and is their evening restaurant space). I didn’t feel they were as confident about gluten-free compared with other places-there was some hesitation but the food was fine and I had no issues.
-Alexandros: This restaurant was also lovely (we honestly didn’t have a bad meal whilst we were away so I am using this adjective a lot). The waiter really spoke to me at length about the menu and double-checked everything with the chef. The roast potatoes they did me were a particular highlight! Opposite is an ice cream counter (I think this is part of the restaurant) which has a good section of vegan ice cream, including vegan chocolate and vegan vanilla.
A lot of the menus are naturally gluten-free (other than bread) since so many staple dishes are so you can’t really go wrong. Dairy-free is usually easy too-although as I say if it’s cows milk that is an issue then you can eat feta in most places. The only place that didn’t cater for gluten-free was Big Ben as she said she didn’t feel comfortable offering this due to cross-contamination (which was fair enough!)
Gluten free Roda: What are the supermarkets like?
Before we arrived, we spoke to the owner of the apartment who very kindly stocked us with almond milk and gluten-free bread for when we arrived. (although it was small, healthy-type bread and didn’t look like the most appeitising).
There are small supermarkets in Roda but are bigger ones in a nearby town if you are trying to shop more. Several supermarkets and Jo-Ann’s bakery (a few minutes’ walk from the beach) offer you the chance to order a loaf of homemade gluten-free bread for 3 euros. The delivery only comes a few times a week so you need to order in advance-we ordered on Thursday and had it on a Saturday morning. Otherwise, I didn’t spot any other gluten-free bread on the shelves.
A few of the mini supermarkets stocked gluten-free biscuits (again most shop-owners know the term so ask!) and most of the crisps were gluten-free. Jo-Ann’s bakery has a gluten-free snack section which is also very helpful. I didn’t spot anything like dairy-free yogurt or butter, but thankfully we’d packed dairy-free butter. A lot of the products had English labeling so I could check the ingredients and a few-such as hummus-were labeled gluten-free.
Overall, we had a great holiday and if you’re thinking of visiting Roda, Corfu and you’re gluten or dairy-free, I would 100% recommend it.