To think that this menu isn’t suitable for children?

[Mummyofabear]

A few months ago I booked to take my children to Matilda in Concert at the Royal Albert Hall this month (October), I had to book hospitality tickets because those were the only tickets left at the time of booking. And then today have been sent an email with the hospitality details and this is the menu! They don’t have a separate children’s menu either even though Matilda is a family event! AIBU to think this menu isn’t suitable for children? My children have autism and are very fussy so the only thing that they will eat on this menu will be the desserts but even then I don’t think there’s much on this menu that most neurotypical children would eat either? In my opinion it’s not suitable for families or children even though it’s supposed to be a family event!

I’ve copied and pasted the menu below incase the image doesn’t work:

Snacks (served pre-show):
Black garlic polenta crackers

Seaweed tapioca crackers

Canapés (served pre-show):
Glazed beef skewer, chimichurri

Parmesan churros, tomato and Parmesan sauce (V)

Cold Bowl (served pre-show):

Pumpkin seed houmous, maple-roast pumpkin, pomegranate, pickled pumpkin ribbons, mint oil

Sliders (served pre-show):
28-day dry-aged beef patty, crispy bacon, tarragon and chive aioli, confit garlic,
served with potato hash puffs, truffle mayo

Moroccan-Spiced lamb slider, grilled onions, sumac mayonnaise & pickled cucumber,
served with buffalo cauliflower

Dessert canapés (served during the interval):
Mango, passion fruit, coconut pavlova

Millionaire's chocolate mousse, salted caramel, vanilla sablé

Milk and Cookies

Drinks:

Trebbiano, Rubicone, Novità
Sangiovese, Rubicone, Novità
Estrella Galicia 4.7%
Ginger bitters (soft cocktail)
Sparkling mineral water
Still mineral water

And we didn’t have pasta until I was a teenager - what’s your point?

My kids would love this! I'm so utterly fed up of the sausages/spag bol/pizza/burger /children strips-nuggets combo which seem to prevail on children's menus.

Contact them. They may be able to offer pizza or plain sliders etc instead.

Again, the OP didn’t say ‘it’s not suitable for ND children’. She said ‘it’s not suitable for children’.
And also again, I am a person outside of MN. So are the people I know. Just because you don’t personally know many people who will have tried those foods, doesn’t mean that many people outside MN will have tried those foods.

That different people and different experiences exist, and your life experience isn’t the only life experience? And therefore just because you don’t like something, doesn’t mean that most other people won’t?

There is nothing and for that price I can see why it’s so wanky. I suppose it’s the assumption that having that kind of money to spend on this would mean the kids already have a wide and varied diet of everything spicy and garlicky.

You do realise that you are a picky eater?

Have you actually contacted them OP? If you have a child with SEN who has a limited diet, it’s perfectly reasonable to contact them to ask for adjustments.

this pisses me off, kids should eat more than McDonald’s and plain pasta. Respect your child, introduce them to a range of foods and get a grip.

We've never entertained fussy eating, always served the same as we eat, talked positively about food and encouraged them to cook and eat with us.
Yes we also did all the right things and were rewarded with one extremely fussy child and two who have also had periods of refusing to try anything.
It's not your superior parenting it's the fact you have been lucky and have children who are not fussy, simple as that.
And a word of warning to those trilling about their fabulously adventurous two/six/nine-year-olds - all of mine ate everything until they were two. And the periods of fussiness came as late as 11with one of them - so don't count your chickens!

It could be suitable, depending on how much garlic and seasoning.
If too strongly seasoned people, including children, could be put off.
Still water, and a less spicy cracker could be useful additions.
They would offer some choices for people who have special dietry requirements, Op.
Inquire about those.

No but if someone doesn’t like spice or garlic, then they are basically fucked.

I would expect a dining experience to include a variety of different tasting foods.

I would definitely call them. They do kids food and plainish sandwiches on their box menus so it's not like they don't have other food available.

If someone doesn’t like garlic wtf do they eat anyway?!

I'm sure they provide tap water. I think those crackers aren't too strong, just some black pepper.

Or spices?!

I agree with you @Mummyofabear Mine dc would not have eaten that as kids, and they were pretty good at eating different things. Tbh, I dint think they’d like it now!

both NT btw

That is a variety of different tasting food though! ‘Spice’ isn’t homogenous, all spices taste different. Each of the dishes on that menu will have a very different flavour.
Unless you mean that the menu should, by default, include something very plain?

You do realise my diet is restricted because I’m AuDHD? But don’t worry. I wouldn’t inconvenience anyone when going out by expecting to eat. I had to cancel an entire weekend away with some friends because they had booked a couple of restaurants which served nothing suitable.

OP’s children have a restricted diet due to being ND which is why she asked the question.

If I was given this I’d be like “why am I being given a kids menu?”

except for the lamb and buffalo cauliflower, that’s a bit more adult

My son is AuDHD and so is my husband.

I would expect a couple of more plain options as well. Not everyone likes garlic, and that’s quite a lot of the menu. And many people don’t like spicy food in general.

If you are paying such an obscene amount of money for a meal, you would reasonably expect them to cater to most people as standard

stuff that does not contain garlic. As I said upthread, I do like garlic but used to avoid it when I would be working the next day because people getting NHS rehab where I had to support and manipulate their bodies didn't need to get a faceful of garlic breath. Nowadays I am retired but i still avoid garlic when I have got an upcoming dentist appointment.

I know bloody hell. A glazed beef skewer with chimichuri is basically beef with a sauce you can dip it into - tell them it’s like a beef burger without the bread. Garlic polenta crackers won’t be that strong. It will be like a normal cracker. Churros will taste like cheesy waffles. Pumpkin is exciting because it’s Halloween. Potato hash puffs are basically posh chips.
rhis is v kid friendly dressed up as being posh because it’s the v and a 🤯

You could have just used toothpaste…