We were greeted by the friendly host, Ben who seated us and introduced our waitress. Both staff members chatted directly to the children which is refreshing as often they are overlooked and this can make them feel uncomfortable.
Each child was given a children's menu, which as well as displaying the meal options also folded out into a huge activity poster full of colouring, wordsearches quizzes and other activities. To accompany this they were given a funky stackable crayon (which I have to say I was a little bit jealous of!)
The new Cafe Rouge Children's menu offers children under 10 a starter, main dessert and soft drink all for £6.95. There is plenty of choice available perfect for both fussy eaters and the more culinary adventurous child.
Drinks orders were taken quickly and the children's starters of warm fougasse finger and crudites were brought out for them to nibble on while we all perused our menus.
Ben was spoiled for choice and eventually settled on the Poulet Goujons which were served with frites, peas and sweetcorn.
Elizabeth loves pasta, and her usual favourite in restaurants is macaroni cheese, here she had the choice of pasta with cheese sauce, pesto or tomato.
Both meals arrived with really generous portions and looked very tempting, even to Daddy and I! Elizabeth was delighted that the cheese came in a separate pot and she could sprinkle it in her self. She is asserting her independence at the moment and this was ideal.
"Mine, all mine!"
As you can see the food was so good that Elizabeth wouldn't even let me have a taste of her pasta! Despite getting as much pasta sauce on her face than in her mouth she finished the generous bowlfull off which is quite an achievement for her.
Ben enjoyed his also clearing his plate but that's less surprising as he very rarely leaves food! His goujons were made good quality chicken and he let me pinch a couple of frites which were really tasty and not greasy at all.
In contrast to the generous portions of food the drinks were a little small which meant that both children were thirsty again part way through their meals but I was pleased to find that children's drink refills were just 75p each so I didn't mind ordering them another.
In between courses both children were kept thoroughly entertained by the children's activity pack, Elizabeth carefully coloured in all of the pictures while Ben completed the wordsearch and unscrambled the hidden phrases. I was impressed how a single activity pack as able to capture and keep the attention of both children despite the age gap.
The benefit of eating in what is traditionally a more grown up restaurant is that my husband and I get much more of a choice of food. Being a vegetarian and a rather fussy eater with it, I find that in many places that cater for children, I'm limited to a singular vegetarian choice. That certainly wasn't the case with Cafe Rouge, after rather a lot of deliberating I settled on the goat's cheese and beetroot herbed pastry tart with house salad which was delicious, while my husband thoroughly enjoyed his hake fillet in beer & mustard batter with pea shoots, frites and tartare sauce.
Both children declared that they had just enough room for dessert so had a browse of the children's dessert menu.. Unlike many set children's meal options in restaurants, Cafe Rouge offer a really good variety with five options including six different flavours of ice cream with a choice of three toppings, crepes, profiteroles, fresh fruit salad or an ice lolly.
After a few changes of heart Ben decided to go for chocolate ice cream with jelly beans and Elizabeth chose the chocolate crepes. Not to be outdone Daddy and I also treated ourselves to desserts going for the hot chocolate fondant and the chocolate, banana & praline cake.
We enjoyed a lovely family meal in a really friendly and relaxed atmosphere. The food was delicious and although the restaurant had a 'grown up' feel to it, the staff catered to the children wonderfully, chatting to them and really taking an interest in their day. The children's menu offered quality food at great value and complimented the adults choices well.
It was great to be able to eat at a restaurant that had high quality food and not feel like our children were out of place. We would thoroughly recommend Cafe Rouge to families and will be returning in the future ourselves!
“I am a member of the Mumsnet Bloggers Network Research Panel, a group of parent bloggers who have volunteered to review products, services, events and brands for Mumsnet. I have not paid for the product or to attend an event. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity”.
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