What a sight for sore eyes!
And the journey was only just about to begin! We were travelling to Zurich with Swiss Air. I already had an idea that Swiss Air couldn't fully accommodate my dietary requirements, and was relieved to locate Leon fairly quickly, on the lower concourse (by the way, Leon also have a restaurant at Terminal Three).
An added benefit, we soon discovered, was the presence of a free soft play area, just around the corner!! Which gave me time and space to investigate further.
An added benefit, we soon discovered, was the presence of a free soft play area, just around the corner!! Which gave me time and space to investigate further.
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| Difficult to miss this one! |
I have to say this particular branch of Leon appeared popular - it was certainly busy!
Not living quite so near to London as we used to, it's been a while since I'd visited a Leon restaurant, so I was interested to see what I'd find.
One thing I was pleased to see was that the boards behind counter indicated certain dietary requirements (i.e. 'gf' for gluten free and 'df' for dairy free) so you could see at a glance which meals might be suitable.
It was also great to see that Leon's almond milk milkshakes are still on the menu.
However there weren't that many food options open to me (both dairy and gluten free) that weren't spicy, and I wanted to avoid anything too exotic to ensure that my sensitive tummy had no reason to complain!
I could perhaps have opted for one of the salads, but so many modern salads stick Edamame beans in, which I can't eat as they're basically immature soya beans, so I didn't want to take that risk.
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| Look out for 'DF' on the menu displayed behind the counter. |
In the end, I selected the gluten free 'Bunless Burger' (chicken burger without a bun - see here) and added a side of fries (see here).
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| Dining DF and GF in the air, Leon style! |
When I opened the box, it wasn't so much a burger as a juicy chunk of chicken - which was good, in that it was quite definitely chicken and not processed, but there wasn't much salad around it so it really did require the extra side order of fries to bulk it out and make it more filling.
Personally speaking, I thought £5.95 for the 'chicken burger' was a bit on the pricey side, but The Hub just shrugged and pointed out that it was 'London prices!'
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| This is it! |
As it turned out, the fries were quite spicy. So 'Baby', normally quite the chip monster, decided against them - leaving me to reflect that none of the menu at Terminal Two was particularly suited to children (unless they enjoy spicy food and have a more sophisticated palate). Their normal children's menu looks like this, see here.
The same went for the almond cookie, which I bought to follow (see here). It was the only gluten and dairy free biscuit/cake type thing that I could see available. I quite liked it, but the slight hint of orange was not appealing to my particular little one.
That said, Leon's clientele are perhaps (more usually) hip young professionals, who enjoy food that's a bit different!
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| The almond cookie came in a candy-stripe bag |
In summary, Leon's food was infinitely preferable to the food served by the cabin crew - it was such a relief to find something that was safe for me to eat and it was tasty. However, costing over £10 in total (I also bought a cold drink) I'm not sure that I really felt that I had value for money, and as there was nothing there that appealed to 'Baby', it meant that she had no other option than the food on the plane.
BUT if it wasn't for Leon I would quite definitely have gone hungry, so I really hope they continue to prove popular at Heathrow, as I'm sure a lot of people like me will benefit greatly from their presence!
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