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

Looks good to me. My six year old would be quite happy with that.

it’s a shame it wasn’t visible before you made the booking, but I think there’s sufficient variety there so you may need to accept that you need to bring along your own supplemental food if your children are particularly fussy for whatever reason.

Op this is MN so ofc most posters will say their DC would eat it and finish it off with a sparkling water!
YANBU, most children wouldn't it eat.

I think this is unnecessarily ridiculous really.

You genuinely think most kids wouldn't eat burgers, kebabs and crackers?

Or Chocolate mousse and milk & cookies?

YANBU, most children wouldn't it eat

I mean that's just not true though is it. McDonalds have made multiple billions off the fact that must children eat burgers.

Admittedly they've used restaurant speak to try and make it sounds fancy though.

It's hard to read properly but I do think my children would try most of that. I think it's one of those menus that the descriptions are deliberately done to sound very fancy, but it could be described using much simpler words.

Looks delicious, Matilda is for anybody not just kids and you obviously didn’t check what you were booking. It includes burgers, all be it posh ones!

This. Most children would eat that wouldn’t they?

Ask for a different option. Most kids would eat this as most kids eat the same food as their parents, don’t they? Appreciate if your kids have a limited diet they’re not catered for here.

It’s basically burgers, crackers and pudding! Why wouldn’t ’most kids’ eat it??

What nonsense. Most kids I know would eat burgers, pavlova, chocolate mouse and cookies and milk. How many kids do you know that would tuen their nose up at that?

Mine would have eaten most of it.

My eldest GC 11, would eat it all. The 9 year old would find enough to try.

My kid would. Many won't eat anything but beige crap. <shrug>

@AnneLovesGilbert

food being age specific isn’t a British thing, it’s a certain subset of the population thing. My dc ate adult food from the start, salt free and mashed at first obviously. Also drank sparkling water with a slice of fruit - completely normal to think of dc are old enough to be a hospitality box, they can eat normal food

I don’t think it’s massively adventurous. Crackers, steak on a stick, cheese pastry thing, hummus, burger, mix of desserts. Most kids would manage at least some of that.

Ask them for plain sliders. And pudding.

Or nip into pizza pilgrims first and suck it up...

Mum of asd teen here. And I've spent years feeding him pizza early and then he would sit quietly while we ate better food somewhere nicer.

They’ve just worded it to sound posh.

I would however have expected more drinks options.

It's the menu language - most of those ingredients will be invisible. One of my kids would eat all of it but the burger, because she doesn't like burgers. One of my kids has ARFID so all bets are off. The third is very picky but would eat the churros, the potato puffs, and the chocolate puddings. And he'd give the burger a go and it could go either way on the day. So that menu is feeding a child with so many reservations about food he used to be under the dietician, which feels like some sort of win.

It’s a fancy way of saying crisps (the crackers) , pizza (Parmesan churros, tomato and Parmesan sauce) and burgers (the sliders)

My kids would eat this.

But you do tend to find even though the show is aimed at children, the hospitality isn't. My friend and I took our girls to see frozen the musical for their 5th birthdays, and booked the afternoon tea at the theatre royal Drury lane for before the show thinking it would be lovely for them and when we got there realised we MASSIVELY misread the situation. They were the only kids in the room, the food was very much aimed at adults and the atmosphere was quite refined. The staff did make a huge fuss of them and they did a really good job of behaving and eating the food but it was a fairly stressful experience!

The only thing missing really is a child-friendly soft drink that isn't water. You'd expect perhaps orange juice, lemonade or Coke. The ginger thing might've been OK back in the days when 'lashings of ginger beer' was a childhood favourite but it seems to be out of fashion now.

The other things are just beef skewers, beef burgers, lamb and veg with fancy names.

It's not a particularly exciting menu in my view - I wouldn't be over the moon with it, but it's not inedible.

Chocolate mousse is surely something most children like!

My kids would also have eaten that. Well, except the truffle mayo, they both hate truffle for some reason. I think it just sounds like strange food because of how they have written it.

Too much pickle and odd stuff. Not much for vegetarians. Not for me or kids.

My autistic DD would eat at least some of that. In my case DS would be more of an issue as while he eats most things he can’t stand cheese and is allergic to eggs which doesn’t leave much!

My kid wouldn't sleep. At all. She would eat everything. I consoder myself an expert on sleep and a novice at food. Because I had an easy eater.

So yes, mine would have eaten it.

And she wasn't given anything but milk and water until school age so would have drunk water. She is 15 now and still asks for water at restaurants, even when told she can have anything.

It's not magical. Kids all over the world eat curry or kongee or horse sausages. Because that's what there is.