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

My DD would eat a lot of that but she eats anything. I do know some children that would struggle with that though. It’s not a typical “kids menu” but if you look past a lot of the restaurant jargon it doesn’t seem as intimidating.

Completely see how ND children may struggle however.

Is the quoted post I included not showing?

So basically it's crackers and hummus, burger sliders, and desserts. My kids would eat all of that. But think hospitality is aimed mainly at adults.

I haven’t said anything about beige food on this thread. You have though, a lot!
I will make one correction though… ‘Random Stuff that most people you know outside of MN don’t eat on a regular basis’ 😉

In honour of this thread I made chicken pesto pasta for tea. But in true MN style I did make my own pesto.

I think it’s fine as well and as others have pointed out, it’s just restaurant speak…

maybe something you can try at home is giving your home meals a fancy name?

broaden their experiences…

Plenty of people have been terribly superior that their children would eat this but wouldn’t eat anything on a traditional children’s menu - as if those are the only options in life.

But as you haven’t then why are you picking up on it? You seem determined to come back on every comment I make - why is that? What are you expecting me to say? That im wrong and you are right and everyone would universally love the menu? And that ND children would automatically eat it? The OP is concerned for her ND child.

I am permitted to think the whole menu sounds like shite, and that some ND people woulf find it too much, just as you are all permitted to think it is run of the mill food that everyone would love to eat.

Its basically mini burgers. Besides, does it matter if you only got the tickets to watch Matilda. If you had seen the menu beforehand would you have not gone?

Or they would simply stop eating 'safe' foods too if they start having more unfamiliar names. It really depends on the child, especially if they already have such a limited diet.

With some children, the priority is just getting food in to them and safe foods are better than not eating at all.

The OP is concerned for her ND child.

No, OP didn't ask about her children. She already knows that her children won't eat much of it.

She asked whether neurotypical children / children in general would be likely to enjoy it. Read the OP again.

Literally the only thing I’ve kept coming back to is you repeatedly insisting that everything on the menu is ‘garlic and spice’. It’s not. That’s just a fact. There are many flavours on there, very few of them are ‘garlic and spice’. That’s all!
I know the menu won’t be ‘universally loved’. There isn’t a menu that could be offered that would be ‘universally loved’. I imagine there would be many people who wouldn’t like your preferred menu, too. It’s a VIP experience at the Royal Albert Hall, so they are not going to be serving ‘every day’ food. That would be crazy.
The OP said that she didn’t believe the menu was suitable for children. I believe that to be untrue. You believe differently. That’s fine. That also doesn’t make the food ‘wanky’, and it also doesn’t make it all ‘garlic and spice’.

And again…

You don’t agree with what I have said - fine. What are you expecting from me? Obviously you can pick up on my comments and tell me I’m wrong till the thread fills up if you want but I’m not sure what the purpose of that would be?

As you didn’t like my description I did revise it to Garlic
Spice
Random Stuff that most people outside of MN don’t eat on a regular basis

Which you then ‘corrected’.

Go for it if it makes you happy 🤷‍♀️

My kids would like about 70%, I think it all looks delicious.

I suspect the reality would be something akin to M&S part food.

Take some healthy snacks with you that they like, but ask them to try.the menu. It will be an exciting evening and they might, just might, find it interesting. Good luck and have a great evening.

I'm 77 and to be honest the only thing on the menu I would eat is the fruit dessert..and nothing on the drinks menu either.looks like you will be taking a bag of snacks with you and promising them something to eat before or after the event..that they can eat..good luck.

Not all foods given are ‘safe’ but easier on the parent not to have to fight to get something into the child.

My friend’s child chucks a major wobbly if she can’t have 2 minute noodles every night from mum (dad isnt in the picture). She isn’t Autistic but learnt how to play her mother from a young age.

I grow cucumbers and gave her some with dinner one night. She ate them because I grew them, and because mum wasn’t there serving them up… hmmm.

however that is an aside and the suggestion to ‘try’ using different names is a suggestion for the OP. Trying something is better than not trying at all.

Again, it largely depends on the child and just how restricted their food intake is. Your friend's child also doesn't have any additional needs but OP's children do so it's also a different situation.

My own child wouldn't have touched the cucumbers no matter if I was there or not and would genuinely rather go hungry than eat cucumbers or anything that isn't part of his limited diet.

I obviously don't know the details of OP's children's diet and how limited they are but for my own child it isn't about what's easier, it's about him actually eating anything at all because that is what is important. He needs to eat, what he eats isn't important at this point.

I appreciate it may not be at that point with OP's children. Who knows. It can really vary.

There is absolutely nothing on that menu that isn't suitable for children.

I don’t think children normally get hospitality tickets to be honest. Most musicals have a minimum recommended age of 6. I have only seen Matilda before I had kids, plenty of adults go on their own. Having said that, they are basically mini burgers, so would they not eat a plain burger with the potato hash puffs?

@AgileSloth

its gonna cost a fortune! Hospitality tickets, bag of snacks, meal out before or after the show… 🤯

Why is it OK for you to judge other people's food choices as so weird and wanky that you would rather cover your hands in shit than try them, but not OK for anyone to judge your "normal" food?

This such a nonsense, circular, meaningless argument.

Of course, for those who will not eat from this menu, this menu is not suitable.

You could say that about any menu or any food ever.

But it's just food. There is nothing intrinsically odd about any of it. The fact that it might be unfamiliar to some people doesn't make it bad or weird or wrong to offer to people, many of whom will enjoy it.

You can't please everyone all the time. Should we only serve food that everyone would eat? What is that food, exactly?

You do undersfsnd the shit comment wasn’t literal?

I am judging the food because I think it sounds like I would find it inedible. If it is to people’s liking then great.

But people like to judge the person if they deem their food choices to be too narrow and say they are immature.

There is a lack of understanding that everyone has a different view of what is ‘standard’ food dependant on their upbringing, age, culture, location, etc.

Like the PP who was genuinely confused what someone can eat if they didn’t like garlic.

I have apparently offended people on the thread by daring to have a different view so I know exactly how a list of my foods will go. 🤣🤣🤣

And it doesn’t make those who wouldn’t eat it weird/wrong/unsophisticated either