A restaurant in York has celebrated its tenth birthday by becoming the first eatery in the country to go 100 per cent vegan and gluten-free.

Chefs at El Piano, in Grape Lane, have been handed an even longer list of banned ingredients after owners of the former vegetarian restaurant decided to go one step further.

Eggs, dairy products, meat, wheat, rye, barley and oats are all now off the menu, but the restaurant's co-director Sally Marshall insisted their dishes were tastier than ever.

She said: "The food is now accessible to most people who have any kind of food intolerance or dietary difficulty, but that doesn't mean it's not exciting and tasty.

"We have worked really hard to make our new menu really diverse and interesting. Lots of people get the idea that vegan and gluten-free food is like dead grass and straw, but that is not the case at all."

Meals are served in biodegradable pine boats, with customers having the chance to choose a selection of main dishes at £3.95 each.

They include the restaurant's speciality, Thai Thai - a spicy coconut cream with red pepper, baby potatoes, lime leaves, lemon grass and wild rice.

The new menu was launched on Monday and puts York on the map as having the first restaurant in the UK to be totally vegan and gluten-free.

Sally said: "We've done our research and we don't know of any other restaurant in the UK to be 100 per cent gluten-free and vegan.

"A large proportion of our clientele have food intolerances and it's great, because they can choose anything they like off the menu."

El Piano is now getting ready to go continental with a brand new sister restaurant due to open this March in Granada, Spain.

Sally said: "Our senior director, Magdalena Chavez, has lived in Spain and it was Spanish influences that originally inspired her to set up the restaurant in York. It's really exciting that she can now take it back to its roots.

"It will be a take-away version of El Piano in York and will also be 100 per cent vegan, gluten-free and nut-free."

A gluten-free diet must be strictly followed by sufferers of celiac disease, which is estimated to affect one per cent of the population. People with the skin disorder dermatitis herpetiformis must also stick to a gluten-free diet.