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 kids would have eaten all of that to be honest. Burgers and kebabs are pretty standard? I appreciate some kids are fussy or ND and it’s surprising they don’t have a plainer option.

The main is burgers. I'd have said that's pretty child friendly!

Isn't it just a fancy way of saying crisps, hummus and burgers?

Honestly - I wouldn't eat any of those things, let alone kids with issues. Why can't anything just be plain and ordinary any more?

This thread is pretty peak mumsnet.

1 out of 3 of my stepchildren would have scarfed it down. The other 2 would have eaten the cookies. Even now in their 30s they prefer a plain burger while having a much broader appetite now.

my 4 nephews an nieces would have been polite but pushed it all round the plate.

As many replies have said, it's far too much red meat and insufficient meatless choices with the only fully plant-based options served cold. It would have seemed pretty good for the average neurotypical child in, say, the 1970s (the spread, not necessarily the descriptions - a lot of it is finger food) but it's shockingly eco-hostile and health-unconscious today. I'd still eat the crackers, churros, and cold hummus bowl and whichever of the desserts appealed, though.

My kids would try everything and scrape the bits off they didn’t like (1 ND, 1 NT) but I’d probably not have booked hospitality tickets prior to seeing the menu just in case. I’d have booked last min buying standard resale tickets or just not booked until there were tickets available for a convenient show.

Id email and request adaptations- burgers minus the relish, skewers minus sauce etc, and take snacks along.

I think if you have fussy autistic children you don’t book hospitality unless you know they will cater for your DC needs, or you accept you have paid more for the tickets but you really wanted them and just feed the kids before/after.

Feel you pain. Ds1 would easily eat these and would have since being young.

Ds2 (2) has allergies and is ridiculously fussy. When we eat out, the only thing he will eat is chips or fish fingers 😭

To be honest if your children are very fussy and only like very plain food (I'm assuming) then it was a pretty slim chance that any menu that came as part of a hospitality package was going to be suitable. It was bound to be something fancy.

I think I would have decided against it at that point and maybe booked tickets for the show instead.

Yeah my kids wouldn’t eat any of that either, you’d think they’d have a choice or at the least a very plain option!

There is not really a very substantial vegetarian option - that isn't great.

Otherwise it looks fine. I understand that it probably isn't great for children with very restricted diets, but I guess that's probably true of most places. I'd have thought that most NT children can eat normal food, can't they?

I wouldn’t eat much of that and I’m 58!

The menu is certainly suitable for nearly all children, but perhaps not those with any form of eating disorder.

I don't understand why posters couldn't work out the menu. The OP cut and pasted it into the original post.

Because a lot of people don’t want ‘plain and ordinary’? If I’m paying for a hospitality package the last thing I’d want is ‘plain and ordinary’.

To be fair it's hospitality at the royal Albert hall... People might whinge if it was fish fingers and oven chips?!

£250 per ticket to watch the Matilda movie with orchestra music 😳

I watched a movie at The Apollo Hammersmith with orchestra music for £5.

OP cut and pasted it in a few minutes later. The first few people couldn’t see any menu at all.

Not a problem for most kids if you phrase it differently. 1 if my autistic children would love it because they like strong flavours (won't touch a chicken nugget or beige food). The other wouldn't eat things with sauces but would devour the seaweed crackers. And my NT child would want me to wipe the sauces off the burgers before they ate it. The NT is actually the fussiest eater.

Tbf, it does say on the booking site "family friendly menu".... for £250 per person! The cost of a family holiday to go and watch a film!!

Disagree.

I think it's a great menu. A delicious menu.

Obviously, it's a menu for grown ups, but that's because it's a hospitality menu. It's fancy.

That doesn't mean children can't eat from it. It just means picky children and childish adults (and, yes, neurodiverse people) will shy away. It's got fancy crisps, cheese twists and burgers. They're not going to serve Monster Munch and chicken nuggets!

So; crispy things. Kids eat quavers, wotsits , loads of crispy things, loads of kids like garlic bread, they won’t know it’s black garlic etc.

Parmesan churros = cheese straws

Then bits of grilled meat on a skewer

Mini burgers

Exactly. Most of it quite appealing to kids as it will be small and nibbly.

How old are DC? Mine would. Sliders just means burgers!