Barluga, Grey Street, Newcastle

My experience at Barluga in Newcastle is one of the catalysts that made me decide to create this blog. I visited with my husband, mum and her partner before going to the theatre so we were already pressed for time. When we ordered, I made the usual disclosure of "I'm allergic to nuts so will you please make sure there are no nuts in my meal nor that of my husband's". The waitress said she would let the chef know but didn't think it would be a problem.

The waitress returned 5 minutes later and announced that there were no nuts in the food we ordered but there would be traces "is traces ok". I politely explained that traces was not going to be ok. The waitress then disappeared and returned to the table to announce that the chef didn't want to serve me food.

We asked at this point what the concern was and my mum asked whether she could speak to the chef. We were told that the chef didn't want to serve us. I was shocked (and embarrassed) at this. I had only ordered a burger so I did not understand what the chef's concern was. My husband became annoyed and questioned the professionalism of the chef. The waitress said that she would get her manager. The manager came over and reiterated the same message, that the chef didn't want to serve me. Whilst at this stage we were ready to get up and leave, we were aware that there was limited time because we had wasted so long in trying to order our meals. I therefore cut to it and tried to break down the parts of the burger to establish what the concern was. Turns out they were worried about the burger bun because it was made off-site. I agreed to take the risk and 20 minutes later my burger finally came.

Needless to say, I didn't enjoy the burger nor did I enjoy 3 pairs of eyes watching to make sure I wasn't about to have an allergic reaction. The ironic thing is, I have actually ate at Barluga on 3 previous occasions and never had any problems.

However, for my most recent experience, I rate Barluga 2/5 for nut allergy awareness.