Gluten Free Cafe opens in Newport

As the owner of a pioneering gluten-free cafe, Cassi Starr thought she had a handle on finicky customers.

When she found a homeless person going through her cafe's bins, Starr thought she'd do the community thing and offer the person a complimentary takeaway vegetarian lasagne.

"I was told 'no thanks, I'm a vegan'," Starr recounts.

GFC is her Newport start-up, a venue born from an encounter with a spider: "I was bitten about three years ago and had numbness. Part of my treatment was to give up wheat."

Located on Kalinya Street, near the Newport Arms, GFC is buying in some product, including the gluten-free hot cross buns, while chef Nigel Burlington is making everything from moussaka to lasagne and muffins and desserts.

"I'm just really pleased people who can't eat gluten can have a proper cafe experience," Starr says of the venture, which is also attracting the wheat tolerant.

"The bacon and egg [gluten free] rolls are really popular with the local tradies," she says.

And the GFC name? "It stands for Gluten Free Cafe. I wanted to play with GFC, bring something positive to it. A few of the locals call us the Crisis Cafe."