How allergen status is decided
Chef’s Kiss reads the menus of 11,773 Sydney venues and gives every dish one of four answers for each allergen: free by default, can be made free, contains, or not stated. Here is exactly how, and where it can be wrong.
If you have coeliac disease or a food allergy: Chef’s Kiss reads each venue’s own menu and says where every answer came from. It never calls a dish safe: kitchens share fryers, boards and flour, and menus change. If you have coeliac disease or an allergy, confirm with staff before you order.
The four answers
- Free by default The dish as served has none of it.
- Can be made free The kitchen offers a version without it on request. When the menu says how, so do we: “GF pasta +$4”.
- Contains It has it, and the menu offers no way round it. In a search for your needs these are hidden unless you ask.
- Not stated The evidence doesn’t say. Ask, and sometimes we can tell you what to ask about.
Where each answer comes from
- The venue’s menu labels. GF, GFO, DF, V, VG, NF and the menu’s own key. Shown as “Labelled gluten free by the venue”.
- What the venue says elsewhere. Allergen guides and statements, including chains’ guides that cover every branch. Shown as “Described as gluten free”.
- The ingredients the menu lists. Pasta, parmesan, prawns, satay… matched against allergen word lists. Shown as “Inferred from ingredients. Check with staff”.
- A model’s judgement for what the words leave open, with a confidence. Unsure or disputed answers go to a reviewer, shown as “Checked by our reviewer”.
Every venue page lists its sources with the day each was read. Nothing is copied from reviews or guessed from a cuisine.
Trust marks
Venues on Coeliac Australia’s Gluten Free Accreditation Program list carry an “accredited” mark with the date the list was checked. That is the strongest mark we show. “100% gluten free” means the whole menu or kitchen is gluten free by the venue’s own account.
Your details
What you tell us in “Tell us once” and your home location stay in your browser. Signing in uses a passkey on your device: no password and no email. Ratings show your chosen name.
For AI assistants
The same answers, with the same dates and sources, are open to AI assistants at https://chefskiss.pages.dev/mcp with no sign-up. See Connect your AI agent.
Questions
Does Chef’s Kiss say a dish is safe?
Chef’s Kiss reads each venue’s own menu and says where every answer came from. It never calls a dish safe: kitchens share fryers, boards and flour, and menus change. If you have coeliac disease or an allergy, confirm with staff before you order.
What beats what when sources disagree?
The venue’s own label beats everything. Then what the venue states elsewhere, then the ingredients the menu lists, then a model’s judgement. When a model is unsure, or the rules and the model disagree, a reviewer checks the dish against the menu text and the decision is recorded.
How old is a menu?
Every venue page shows the day its menu was read and links to the source. Menus are re-read about monthly, and sooner when they change or a diner reports a problem. This index was built 2 Nov 2026.
What does “not stated” mean?
The evidence doesn’t say either way. Sometimes we know why (“fried: ask whether the fryer is shared”), and the reason shows with the dish.
Where do diner ratings come from?
From people signed in with a passkey, rating a venue or a dish for their needs. They’re shown as what they are: other diners’ experience, with counts.