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

Depends of the ages being targeted really.

Our local play cafe does a 'graze box' which goes down so well. I like it because if my toddler doesn't eat it all there we can take it home and I don't feel like I've wasted money. It's quite reasonably priced (£5.50ish?) but you do have to pay a play free on top.

It includes 4 finger sandwiches (choice of cheese, ham, jam, chocolate spread), 2 mini cocktail sausages, box of raisins, 2 little caramel shortbread squares, handful of pom bears, a sausage roll, some marshmallows, apple slices, frube yogurt, choice of drink (fruit shoot, juice, water, milk).

If we go to a restaurant I like small portions of adult dishes.

I would love smaller portions of adult meals -
fajitas, curry, pasta dishes, cottage pie.
For lunch I’d appreciate sandwiches with the option of sides that include fruit and vegetables, omlettes, beans or eggs on toast and jacket potatoes.
I would like to see kid sized cakes or biscuits if it’s a cafe too

My kids love vegetables so more of those! Hate the default is nuggets and the only 'veg' is chips or beans. Some sort of tasty risotto?

Mine was fussy when younger too. He didn't like the children's menu food, didn't like soft sliced bread or any kind of potato, or banana because of the textures. He would eat a chicken or falafel wrap, or a curry. There are different kinds of fussy.

Vegetables! Cooked carrot sticks, broccoli florets, peas, sugar snaps, green beans etc.

Plain chicken breast or other meat fillet, eg pork fillet with apple sauce

Couscous/potatoes/plain pasta

That would all be amazing and very welcome. Hate that everywhere serves fried food and no veggies for kids!

top tip- squash the sandwich as flat as you can get it so the grated cheese doesn’t drop out, so flat that it has essentially reformed into a slice 😛 obviously using the back of a spoon/a knife/clean hands)

I followed a kids play place on Instagram which has sadly shut down now (different end of the country to where I live). They had a “toddler tapas” menu which I thought was genius and I wish somewhere round here did that for DD rather than the deep fried beige everywhere seems to do.

don't get me wrong, I don’t mind a bit of deep fried beige but sometimes it would be nice to have some healthier options on offer!

my DD favs are always ham/cheese sandwiches, tomatoes, cucumbers, pom bear type crisps, hummus, carrots, raisins, crackers, breadsticks, melon, flapjack, etc.

I’d be well chuffed if somewhere offered a little plate full of any of that.

for older kids, I guess you’d need something more substantial.

The thing is, this woman is running a cafe, not a private chef service.
Outside of MN, most children like at least one kiddy food like fingers, nuggets, sausages etc, so they are pretty much guaranteed sales with little wastage (which is a cost to the business).
How many portions of pork fillet in apple sauce, sushi and sugar snap peas might be left over and wasted, losing the business money?
My advice would be picky plates, sausage and chips type stuff, plain sandwiches and stuff on toast, then offer half portions of adult meals on the menu. Even the fussiest eater should find something to suit. And the MN children who refuse to eat anything so banal can fill their boots with adult food.

Still water and decent quality orange juice cartons.
Pick and mix is brilliant, my two like going to Morrisons cafes as they can pick which parts of an all day breakfast they want.

Makesure there’s dairy free cheese for the CMPA brigade

Mine is quite niche but the ability to blend things down, my little one doesn't eat and is tube fed blended down food (rather than prescription milks). Being able to go out and order him something from the menu would be so lovely because it is such a normal thing to do.

Agree with half plates. We asked for this in Italy when DD was small. Completely normal and cafés were happy to oblige.

Clean food (or at least a clean option) ie not just tomato pasta 🙈

To be fair my son will alway just choose chicken nuggets, chips and sweetcorn and I let him as he’s more likely to sit nicely if he’s got something he wants to eat. To be fair I prefer it when they’re homemade/made with proper chicken rather than out of a bag of 100 for £1 and would happily pay a bit extra for better quality.

I also don’t understand the whole no fruit shoot thing….my son only gets one when we eat out so he’d be distraught if wherever we ate didn’t sell them!

No son loves "picnics" so a savoury one of ham, crudités, bread sticks, etc and then a fruit one as just a selection of chopped up fruit. He's been happy as Larry as that.

For my youngest, it would be some fresh pasta and a homemade sauce, soup and a sandwich.

I'm always annoyed going out when menus don't offer children vegetables (cooked or raw).

Some reward for reasonable behaviour just before a child leaves.

It's nice when a lollipop or a few sweets arrive with the bill, but it should be for everyone regardless of behaviour. Behaviour management is for parents, not restaurant staff.

Reasonable behaviour should be the norm, doesn’t need to be rewarded.

No that's weird

Toddler meze (houmous, cheese, crudités, ham slices, olives, bread, etc.)
Avocado or houmous on toast
Cheese on toast
Yoghurt & topping pots
Healthy-ish homemade snack bars - similar to nakd bars or something
Apple & peanut butter slices
Oatmeal (if open for breakfast)
Pesto pasta
Bagels with cream cheese
Fruit bowl snacks - bananas, oranges, etc.

Basically just listing what my 2yo loves 😂

Kids love pizza usually, so you could small kids ones and bigger ones? Garlic bread, baked chicken/ rice, sweet potatoes, ratotouille, lasagne (veg/meat) all can be served in little portions. Crudite/meat/cheese plate?
And those ice cream machines with a few different toppings the kids can add.

Jam sandwiches
Plain pasta with no sauce
Half jacket potato
Small portions of adult menu items
Milkshake cartons, tap water
Options for tailoring items, i.e. mix and match or no sauce or items put on the side

veggie / halal options for children

People saying ‘Lollypops’ with the bill …

No lollipops. They are so dangerous !

Pitta and breadsticks
Cheesey chips
Choc au pain
Mini muffins - choc, blueberry
Crepes
Hot choc (mint,orange)
Milkshake blended with real fruit

Food that kids like ie chicken nuggets, fish fingers, mac and cheese but healthy ie hidden veg.

GLUTEN FREE CHOICES!

DD is gluten intolerant and kids menus are always fill of fish fingers, burger, pizza, pasta and chicken nuggets.... She sometimes gets a choice of ham, egg and chips. Fine. Also sausages, but probably 90% of kids menu sausages have gluten in them.
Both always seem to have chips!

Even a fair choice of non gluten containing ingredients would be good.

She enjoys;

Ham egg and chips
Salad sticks and hummus
½ jacket potato and salad
Omelettes - cheese, ham, mushroom, tomato etc
Soup and gf roll with butter
Curry and rice