Eating out ideas for dairy/egg/nut allergic 2 year old not involving chips...

[londonmum123]

Do they exist??

My dd (2 and a bit) loves to eat out with us but we're really struggling to take her anywhere without resorting to chips at every meal time. We've recently got back from Center Parcs (chips and chicken nuggets most days) and just been in Kew Gardens today (crisps and pineapple..) so uninspiring (and unhealthy!).

I'm trying to be brave and eat out (always have snacks in reserve) but I find the options terribly disappointing. What does everyone else do?

Thanks is advance

Chips are an old standby for us too and DS1 is only allergic to dairy :)

I'm not as brave as you and mostly we take our own food, but we have started going to an Italian restaurant we know and there he has pasta with a plain tomato sauce. Might be worth a try for you?

DS (aged 4) anaphylactic to milk, wheat, eggs & nuts and to be honest I normally take food for him with us as I worry about cross contamination and simply not being taken seriously (but that's my problem and I hope that one day I'll feel a bit braver!). However, Frankie and Benny's have always been very good about gluten free for DD (aged 10) so would imagine they're kids pasta might be an option for your DD but you would need to check that it doesn't contain egg (there's nothing my DS can have accept the side order of veg which they let us have for free and I add my own tin of tuna or slices of ham). Also, the Harvester are very good - you can ask to see the allergen lists for all items on the menu plus you can even check the allergens for specific menu choices on their website. The kids' 4oz steak with wedges and beans is one of the few meals I've ever let DS have in a restaurant and he loved it!

nandos might be worth a try - yes, chips are an option, but you can have rice instead. coleslaw also ok for dairy, as dd1 can eat it.

dd1 can't have gluten and dairy, dd2 is dairy free. it works well for us (we get a whole chicken between the 4 of us, and assorted sides - rice, peas, corn on the cob, and chips)

they are very good at allergies, and answer any query efficiently - they bring out the folder for you to check all ingredients for each dish, and take it seriously.

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply.

Weta pasta and a tomato sauce is a great suggestion - John Lewis made it especially for DD a while ago and I had forgotten about that since all the Italians we have been too recently use fresh pasta (maybe I should carry dry pasta in my allergy bag too?!)

babybarrister what a list you have to avoid - puts me to shame. I'm vegetarian so hadn't thought about burgers/kebabs and always assumed burgers were bound with egg so hadn't even explored. Will check out GBK or something similar next time we are out.

freefrommum completely understand the cross contamination worry. We were in a restaurant recently and, after exhausting the chef with "do your sausages contain milk/egg" type of questions, were assured that dd's sausage and chips(!) were dairy/egg/nut free. However, they turned up with green beans smothered in butter... FFS. I was livid. I wouldn't risk eating there again as don't imagine cross contamination is high on their list of worries. So pleased you managed to find a meal your DS loved.

Nandos, my kids have the corn on the con instead of the chips.

Baked potato and beans

Pizza without the cheese

Chain pubs quite often have a roast dinner option for kids.

Generally I find if you stick to chains they are good at providing allergy information.

"fish fingers"

Doesn't anything covered in breadcrumbs contain egg? I use egg to get breadcrumbs to stick.

My son has the same allergies as your DD and we go to pizza express and strada a lot, the new pizza express kids meal is great:

• dough balls without garlic butter

- spaghetti Bol without cheese or pizza without cheese (not the creamy tomato sauce pasta though).

There is now a pudding of dough balls (again - but hey they love them) with nutella - take a little bar of dark chocolate and put chunks inside the dough balls instead of the nutella (yum!)

Try looking at the adult menu and asking to go a bit off menu if necessary, I have found people are generally quite helpful.

Bon appetit. ...

Lovely, lovely, lovely. Thank you all.

Fish fingers are generally fine - the posher they are the more likely they are to contain eggs IME

Fish fingers are generally ok, the commercially made ones rarely contain egg it varies though, so need to check before ordering.

Try wagamamas. DS2 (2) loves just about everything on the kids' menu (all served with rice or noodles).

None of the noodles (ramen, soba or udon) should have egg in them. Soba noodles are made of buckwheat, while udon and ramen noodles are made with (ordinary) wheat.

Does wagamamas count as Asian? they are pretty good with allergy info in my experience. But I agree with BB that there's no way I'd take DS to a proper Asian restaurant.

Because there's too much use of sesame oil and nuts for my liking and I would be terrified for DS, not that I have anything against Asian restaurants! Just thought I'd clarify!!

Watch out for the bread if you have burgers in a bun - often the bread contains milk.

Meatballs and burgers do sometimes have egg to bind them - more often the meatballs so burgers are more likely to be ok but you still have to check.

If you get spaggetti rather than other pastas this tends to be the one everyone uses from dried and doesn't usually have eggs ( but still check and I know not ideal for a 2 year old)

We don't have the dairy but have the eggs nuts and also fish and sesame so I have never dared go to anywhere remotely Asian.

Oh and just to say - if peanuts are ok don't worry but some places use peanut oil for frying so that is another thing to check as well as what else they fry in the oil.

Most places are great if they are cooking the food and I have been invited to go and talk to the cook before now to find something DS could eat.
On the other hand the number of burgers coming out in buns with sesame seed on them after I have said he was allergic..... ( usually not in the UK though)

Wow I am reading enviously about all these places in the UK... we live in Luxembourg (and were in France before this) and nowhere has ingredients lists or anything, or much idea about cross-contamination etc. Think I will pick your brains next time we visit the Uk and attempt taking DS1 out somewhere!

One other idea that I have used on holidays is to seek out vegan restaurants. There is a site called Happy Cow where you can put in the city and it will give you a list of (usually one or two) vegan restaurants. I took DS1 to the one here in Luxembourg and we also did it in Cologne - felt a bit out of place as it was all very hippy and we were probably a bit too straight, but DS1 was so excited to be able to order anything off the menu. Obviously nuts would still be an issue but I think they tend to be more allergy-aware anyway.

Love Wagamamas.. will check out the kids' menu.

Oh to go into a restaurant and order anything off the menu... thanks for the Happy Cow tip Weta, will investigate now.

DamselInDisarray - wagamamas huge success thanks, they even tolerated my giant pram and screaming twins!

we have the same allergies in our family and Giraffe have always been fantastic (may end up having chips though!)... but the staff are always kind, well trained and take requests in their stride

agree with Nandos being good too, or Pizza Express...

Will keep checking this as would love to find other eating out options
How was wagamamas for nut allergies? Dd2 is also allergic to sesame so we've never given it a go... would like to though!

Yo Sushi do a good information booket and definitely don't have chips. You can even watch them making the food which might be useful.

DS has seseme and nut allergies and have eaten at Wagamamas. They have a big book of ingredients so easy to know what to order.