What items would you like to see on a child friendly cafe menu?

[EatingCalamari]

Asking for a friend who is revamping the menu for her child friendly cafe.

What items would you like to see on offer for your children?

TIA

DD an adult now, but when she was a child we yearned to find places that served kids' meals with a choice of veg other than the ubiquitous peas or baked beans, both of which she loathed.

Half sized portions of adult food. No need for anything special

That is a genius idea. DGS and I would be thrilled with a sharing plate.

Healthy ones! Roasted veggies and lightly breaded wingettes, chopped fresh veggie salad (petite dice the veggies so they get a bit of each veg in a bite), yogurts, bite size fruit cups.

Some vegetables. Cucumber, pepper and carrot sticks or peas and sweetcorn. With all meals.
I'd prefer small portions off adult menu rather than different things, but maybe also make clear if there is flexibility on what is included in specific things.

Smaller portions of adult food.

Our son hates peas and baked beans, which virtually every eating out meal contains for children, he’s also a vegetarian, so it wasn’t unsual for chips to be the only thing he could actually eat on the childrens menu.

Oh god, we once went to a family-friendly pub that served the perfect-size child’s version of a fry-up… in an oven-hot cast iron skillet?! FFS

Agree with the smaller portions of adult food
I always thought it would be good to have a list of things that can mix'n match like sausage, egg, slice of bread, ham, portion of sticky rice, cucumber and carrot batons - you could easily charge £1 each and make it worthwhile and kids can list a few things if they don't like the set meals.

My kids’ (4 and 8) dream cafe would serve a “build your own lunch” type thing where you can add items for £1/2/3/4 a time depending on the item… toasties, eggs, pasta, beans, sausages, chips, veg sticks, fruit portions... That, alongside half portions of adult options, would cover all bases.

The option to have plain pasta as my kids don't like the sauce.

The picky bits is a good idea too as my kids won't eat sandwiches but like things like breadsticks, ham, little sausages, cucumber, carrot sticks, tomatoes etc

Option to have pasta or rice instead of chips with nuggets etc. My child won't eat any type of potato but needs more than just the nuggets

Smaller portions of real food, not the rubbish that is usually on "Kids' menu".

This 100%!

Children's size portions.

For pre-school aged kids:

Scrambled egg on toast.
Beans on toast.
Sausages on toast
Mini soup.

For primary aged kids:
Choice of protein - chicken nuggets, fish fingers or veggie sausage / grilled halloumi
Carb - baked potato, mash (or chips)
Veg - sweetcorn, peas or carrots

For older kids:
Same as above but bigger portions.

My son won't eat anything breaded, meaty (unless I disguise it in mash) or baked beans so I often just order him an adult meal or a few sides he will eat. As kids menus are generally pretty rubbish!

Id love things like toasties, fruit, little bags of crisps, flapjacks. Or, if its hot food, fish pie, beef bourgignon, pizzas, risotto, pasta dishes.

Good size portions too, kids meals are often over priced and tiny, another reason why I opt for an adult meal!

Can I just say something to those posters making smug comments about their children were not used to kids' food so they didn't like it?
I am afraid it's just good luck, not your marvellous parenting.
I did everything right with my three - all homemade, ate what we did, no processed food etc. All three were very fussy eaters when they turned two or three and my daughter is still incredibly fussy now at 17. I am a foodie, I had my own food business and I have written professionally about food.
So although it's great your children are not fussy, prefer adult food and shun fish fingers and chicken nuggets, spare a thought for those parents who are not blessed with such accommodating offspring.

Half portion of adult options please 🙏 Hopefully easier to cater for than specific kids options?!

My DS (14mths) would be happier with a little plate of pie mash and peas than he would chicken nuggets etc 🙈😅

Cheese sandwich and a yoghurt are the 2 things my kids always hoped to find in a cafe.

A local one often did a plain cheese sandwich, then started selling individual munch bunch yoghurts, so that's the one they'd beg to go to.

My kids hated mayonnaise and most sandwiches seem to include it.

Smaller versions of adult portions of everything.
Milkshakes
Squash
Milk
Water
Fruit shoots
Apple juice

@Katypp - mine is really fussy. He won’t touch anything breaded. It’s because mines fussy I would prefer different food, for us that would be plain pasta, crossiant, yogurt, mini fruit platter maybe. I have on many occasions ordered him nuggets and chips, or fishfingers and beans to try when out, won’t even try. Would rather starve.

Yes my fussy eater would actually be able to eat a fair bit from a picky bits especially if it's all separated.

I think that's why variety and flexibility is so important on a children's menu. Everyone has a better time if the children can be sorted with minimal fuss!

Peanut butter sandwiches.

Food has been covered but also please consider colouring sheets and little pots of crayons. The places near us that had those a) DS begs to go to and b) I buy a second coffee because he’s occupied even though he’s inhaled his food in ten seconds.

the other thing is please don’t change the kids’ menu too often! The number of times we went back to a particularly naice cafe because DS wanted whatever he’d had the last time, only to find it wasn’t on the menu anymore.