AIBU to think that pubs/cafes with a kids' menu should include a plain cheese sandwich? (light-hearted... ish)

[FranklinDelano]

So many times I have stopped for lunch at a pub/cafe with my toddler and even those with kids' menus are all 'fish and chips' 'macaroni cheese' etc which he'll just pick at. My son eats well and a wide variety of foods but some lunchtimes he just wants his favourite - a cheese sandwich.
Not one in fancy bread with artisan chutney and chips for £6.95.
Not a flatbread pizza.
Not a 3-course kids' meal with ice-cream.

Just sliced bread with butter and sliced cheese. Carrot sticks a bonus. And preferably no more than £2.50.

Who's with me?!

Agree with you. Sometimes just a sandwich is great, they don't need a bloody fruit shoot and ice cream included in a cafe lunch.

And whilst on the subject I really wish places that offered a kids menu were a bit more specific around what age it's suitable for. Saying upto 12 is not helpful if it arrives sized for a 4 year old and your child is 10. Or similarly you order a child's burger for your 3 year old and it arrives the size of their face!

Someone mentioned Pret as doing plain sandwiches. While they do a sandwich with just cheese or ham in, they ruin it by using granary bread. My kids will happily eat wholemeal, but they loathe “bits”.

We have the opposite problem, dc can't eat bread or dairy - try going to any cafe in museum, zoo or kids attraction, they all do those lunch boxes with cheese or ham sanwhich.

Surely you could just make one at home and bring it with you?

And eat it in the cafe Teaches? That would go down well.

Totally agree! When DS was a young child he was incredibly fussy and that would’ve helped so much. Even now as a teen he doesn’t like ‘posh’ sandwiches or meals and would rather have a plain tuna mayo or cheese sandwich, whereas cafes like to add pesto or sauces which he hates!! Thankfully he eats staples like pizza, fish n chips etc.

I went to a place once, it had nothing "kiddish" on the kids menu. No chicken nuggets, fish sticks, spaghetti, cheese sandwiches. What it did have was steak and avocado, hummus and seasonal vegetables, croquet monsieur and seafood linguine. I got up and left.

Dust no. Sit on a bench and eat it.

And if it is raining? Or you just actually want to have lunch in a cafe? Obviously you can just take something from home, but there are reasons why that might not be practical or desired.

Agree! And please, no fancy kettle chips on the side of the sandwich. Just bog standard ones

YES!!

Having two autistic kids with a tonne of sensory/food issues I'd love more places to offer simple food/sandwiches. DS1 would eat a cheese sandwich. DS2 would eat a jam sandwich.

There was a little cafe place near where we used to live that you could order toast at and then - for another 50p or something - you could get a little Nutella sachet thing. It was one of the few places we could take DS2 and actually have him eat.

I want this for grown ups too. I'm veggie and fussy. I like a plain sandwich- maybe some onion or a drop of pickle - none of your goat shit or roasted mushrooms or falafel and banana. Just an honest sandwich.

Agree that Pret is great as there has always been something we will all eat!

@DustandRubble @TeachesOfPeaches you'd be amazed how many people believe it's acceptable to BRING their own food to a caff.....

I'm with you! I have one ds who will ONLY eat plain sliced cheese sandwiches, and won't eat grated cheese sandwiches either (he calls it the weird sticking up cheese)
I hate these fancy kids menus!

I really want a cheese sandwich now!

I find the opposite with Pret, there's never anything simple in there I can eat. I always end up with a croissant and they're always dry and burnt. I hate going in there.

Why not just bring your own food, or go home to eat? If a restaurant doesn't have the food I want to eat, and DH or the DC if they're with me, then I won't go there. They're entitled to put whatever they wish on the menu and I'm entitled to eat where I choose and order the dishes I like. I wouldn't complain about a restaurant's menu; I'd just go elsewhere (including my own home).

Mixed feelings about this one.
If you go to some artisan cafe you'll get artisan food just the same as if you go to a sushi place you'll be hard pressed to find a plain cheese sandwich!
A plain and simple cafe will have loaves of cheap white sliced & big blocks of 'cheese' to cater for the cheese sandwich lovers.

To everyone who says just bring your own food:
I wouldn't dream of taking a picnic into a cafe, but I don't want my daughter's extreme fussiness to mean (as it mainly does now) that eating out is off the table altogether.

I meant bring your own food to eat on a park bench or similar, not in a restaurant.

LockedOut I know, but that would mean that eating out (in a cafe/restaurant) is still out of the question due to DD's fussiness. It would be nice for that not to be the case

All these people suggesting bringing your oen- can you really not imagine a scenario in which you hadn't planned to eat out, but find yourself in a position where it's much more convenient, or that you don't want to carry around enough food for everyone's lunch/dinner/both all day, or that an adult might want to eat a meal from a café even if their child doesn't, or that in the deep midwinter, having a sandwich on a bench somewhere is a hugely unappealing prospect?

For my Adult (Autistic) DD, a plain cheese sandwich would be her choice if out and about. She was gutted when Tesco stopped selling them in all of their branches. It wouldn't be so bad if, like the tuna one's, you could just peel off the cucumber.

Lockedout as chain eating places take over every high street, this means that not serving something like this, means that Carers often struggle to find places to take their Clients for lunch out.

It's a shame that independent cheap Cafes are becoming rare. They used to be in old type markets/shopping Centers, but as Counsels are 'tiding up' the high streets, they are being replaced by more trendy/chain establishments.

DH and I and dd like eating out. Ds has food issues a mile long but will be content to have a drink with us in a cafe, and usually I'll have a sandwich for him - as he has a drink and the rest of us are all eating, I've never had a complaint.
Sometimes I just ask if they can give him some bread, without chili, rosemary etc. Seeds are fine. And a big tip when staff can comprehend this kind of thing and not say put slices of cucumber or parsley all over it.

Kudos to the lovely staff at Strawberry Hill House who brought a plate of sliced brown without any fuss or patronising comments. They were really lovely on a day when my children weren't.