Chancery Rosewood and the Hope of a Gluten-Free Croissant

Chancery Rosewood and the Hope of a Gluten-Free Croissant

Having walked past the old American embassy for years wondering what it was going to become, we were very pleased to see it open as The Chancery Rosewood just after we moved back to the country. And we found an apartment a stone's throw away in Belgravia.

It's a beautiful building, and our experience of drinks and dinner (my husband, not me — obviously) had been pretty beautiful too. So it was naturally near the top of my scone quest hit list.

The management were lovely on email when I asked about gluten-free scones. They agreed to make an exception by serving us just the scone course of afternoon tea in their tea room, Jacqueline's.

The First Visit

The regular scones came out for my husband and they looked good — although, in his words, "tiny" (common in places where they'd normally be part of an afternoon tea rather than served alone). They were light, well risen, and he tells me tasty.

The gluten-free ones served to me looked similar, but the comparison ended there. On picking one up, it was heavy, dense, and had that claggy, overly gummy texture. Not the worst I've been given, but not exactly nice either.

Fortunately, I had my emergency homemade scone in my bag so as not to ruin the afternoon. Everything else — the room, the service, the tea, the people-watching — was lovely. The scones just missed the mark.

The Honest Review

A few days later I received the usual automated follow-up email asking for a review. I know these things are helpful for hospitality establishments, so I clicked the link and filled it out. I gave five stars for everything other than the food, and just left a comment along the lines of: "lovely, but the gluten-free scones were inedible."

I didn't expect to hear anything further.

The Reply That Started a Conversation

A couple of days later I received an email from the manager. Not a copy-paste apology — a personal one, with a note that he had spoken to the chef, who had been experimenting with the recipe for some time.

He caught me at a good moment, and I started typing a reply rambling on about how most places overcompensate for the lack of gluten-induced crumbliness with too much xanthan gum. How I'd been experimenting at home and gotten to a recipe I'm pretty happy with — the secret being a little psyllium husk and a little less xanthan gum. And how I'm always disappointed when I go out.

I apologised for rambling and said it was nice to hear the chef was trying to improve things. But didn't expect to hear any further.

The manager came back a few hours later. He'd just spoken to the chef again, and they'd like to invite us back for scones and champagne, on the house, so we could test the improvements.

I booked us in for our first free Sunday.

The Return Visit

We had to skip the champagne, for obvious reasons. But we were serenaded with a traditional tea ceremony by the tea sommelier, which my husband enjoyed thoroughly. I, the poor English person that I am, detest tea — especially green tea. But my chosen infusion (fresh mint and ginger) was delicious.

The service staff were again polite and attentive, delivering the scones promptly.

And, wow — the recipe really had improved. The texture was much lighter. They didn't spring back in my hand. The knife slid through them like a regular scone. There was no spongy, claggy mouthfeel. The taste had improved too — not too sweet, with a hint of butteriness so as not to dominate the cream and jam.

My husband, having tried one to compare to his regular scones, said that if he'd eaten the gluten-free one without knowing, he wouldn't have noticed. Side by side, there was a slight difference in texture, but his was still pleasant. I'm more discerning than him, and could still tell it was a gluten-free scone — but only by the smallest of margins. Miles better than any other gluten-free scone I've had. And, quite frankly, better than a lot of regular scones out there too.

The Chef Came Out

Halfway through, the chef came out to our table to ask how it was.

He told us he'd been experimenting with the gluten-free scones for months, and this must be his thirty-something attempt at the recipe. He talked us through the experiments — the flour blends, the binders, the rest times, the bakes. He told us about his time running a patisserie in France, where they'd had an excellent gluten-free range, which he'd had no problem re-establishing here in London. But scones were proving tricky, as a non-native English baker. We compared notes and agreed: he's almost there.

He also sent out a complimentary patisserie for us to try — a pink sugar rose perched on a pistachio dome — which my husband devoured with appreciation. Another small touch in a long list of small touches.

He also mentioned, in passing, that they used to do excellent gluten-free croissants.

The most impossible of gluten-free bakes. The only thing I consistently crave. I've never seen a gluten-free croissant that looks or feels anything like a croissant — usually more like heavy, stodgy bread.

Gluten-free croissants are the holy grail of coeliac baking because of the lamination process. The layers rely on the gluten structure to give the croissant its identifying flake. None of it works the same way without wheat.

I told him: if he perfects the gluten-free croissant here, I'll be in every single weekend. My husband nodded encouragingly, looking for any excuse for a weekly trip to the Chancery — as well as anything that might help me gain weight.

Why This Matters

For those of us living with chronic medical conditions and serious dietary restrictions, eating out is something we rarely get to do. And although exciting, it's also anxiety-fuelled. So often, things go wrong. Instructions are missed. We're left with nothing, food we can't eat, or — more often than not — plain, uninteresting, sub-standard food.

We're usually treated as inferior beings whose experience doesn't matter. So it's a huge deal to encounter a manager and a chef who actually care, and who want to create something genuinely nice for gluten-free guests.

The service was already excellent. The scones now are too. And this experience means I have somewhere I can go when I want to meet friends or take guests out, and actually participate — rather than watch on while everyone else enjoys their food and I have nothing.

If you're gluten-free and you live in or are visiting London, this is the place.

I'll keep updating the scone quest as we work through more London hotels. But for now, the Chancery Rosewood is by far the best.

---

This is a personal account, not a paid review or a partnership. Just a happy customer who's found a rare thing and wants other gluten-free eaters to know about it.