Food’s most fearsome critics are still learning to use cutlery, so mini menus get a makeover
FORGET the might of Matt Preston or the acerbic wit of Anthony Bourdain, the most fearsome food critics are still learning to use cutlery.
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FORGET the might of Matt Preston or the acerbic wit of Anthony Bourdain, the most fearsome food critics are still learning to use cutlery.
Children have no qualms about telling you what they don’t like which is why Acre Eatery’s head chef Gareth Howard enlisted a mini taste-tester when writing his children’s menu.
Howard says the big challenge for eateries serious about providing tasty and healthy meals to young diners is nailing the dishes kids want to eat and their parents are happy for them to eat.
“The owner’s nine-year-old son Jake certainly had an idea of what food he should be eating, so we tested the menu on him first and he gave a pretty harsh critique,” Howard says.
A pork burger got the thumbs down, with Jake declaring kids don’t want to eat pork burgers, they want beef burgers or pork skewers. So skewers, a chicken breast slider and sustainable fish and chips, all served with garden bits and chips, found themselves on the menu.
Beetroot crisps were knocked down in favour of baked sweet potato fries and cucumber sticks swapped for carrot sticks. Penne with homemade tomato sauce got the thumbs up.
As part of Harvest at Camperdown, Acre is surrounded by vegetable gardens tended by Pocket City Farms and Howard believes that gives kids confidence to try new things. Parents point out vegetables growing in the garden which kids see on the menu and the Little Chefs and Little Farmers classes for children on Wednesdays and Sundays cover everything from baking focaccia to worm farming and learning to read recipes.
“Kids are easily influenced and will absorb what you teach them,” Howard says. “When they can pick the food and cook it they are more likely to like it.”
As a dad of three kids under 12, Ben Varela, is an expert in what they will and won’t eat at home, but the Public House Management Group’s executive head chef says eating out is a different matter.
The kitchens of The Royal Hotel, Paddington, and Woollahra Hotel serve up mini beef sliders, grilled salmon and teriyaki chicken noodles, but it’s not always what kids veer towards.
“Sometimes when we go out, they do just want schnitzel and chips and there’s nothing wrong with it. You want to create a parent friendly menu that kids want to eat,” Varela says. “Salads for kids don’t sell. Parents love the idea but kids don’t. As much as you may want them to eat the healthy option, they won’t.”
But while schnitzel and chips and fish and chips are still the most popular kids’ meals at his pubs, they offer better nutrition than past versions, he says. With parents concerned about added sugar and salt, soft drinks with kids meals are a thing of the past, side salads are served with chips and sausages are organic.
SYDNEY’S BEST KIDS’ MENUS
Various locations, CBD
Healthy meals such as king salmon baked in a bag and a pasta sauce that’s hiding seven kinds of vegetables. Meals come with a salad and drink and each one contains at least one portion of a child’s recommended five portions of fruit and veg a day.
Little kids from $9.50, big kids from $12.50 and all kids eat free during the school holidays.
BENNELONG
Sydney Opera House
Kids tagging along to a special occasion? They don’t have to miss out on fine dining, with a two course childrens menu for $50. Think roasted lamb cutlets, vegetables and roasted potatoes followed by vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.
1821
122 Pitt St, CBD
Kids don’t have to miss out on a Greek feast. Two of their most popular dishes, BBQ lamb shoulder and beef eye fillet, come in children’s portions. The shoulder is $25 instead of $39, the filled $30 rather than $57 and a kids portion of hand cut chips is $10 versus $14.
BONDI’S BEST
39-53 Campbell St and Shop 8, 75-79 Hall St, Bondi
Sustainable seafood meals such as healthy sushi, fish and chips and fish with steamed greens are offered as kids meals, all priced at $9. Also, kids under 12 eat free with every adult meal purchased before 5.30pm weekdays.
FRATELLI FRESH
Various locations
The new childrens menu includes pan fried chicken scallopini strips ($12) spinach, ricotta ravioli ($10) and healthy sides including broccolini but the bestseller is a simple spaghetti served with butter and parmesan ($9). On Sundays, kids eat free.
BEACH HOUSE
2 Awaba St, Balmoral
You can get all the comfort food favourites here, including baked lasagne with homemade bolognaise sauce, a beef cheeseburger with chips, penne pasta with napoletana sauce and parmesan cheese, grilled chicken and chips and lightly battered flathead served with chips, all $13.
DA ORAZIO PIZZA + PORCHETTA
75 -79 Hall St, Bondi
These are made the traditional way, the dough is risen for 48 hours and then cooked in a wood fired oven. On quiet afternoons, kids can also jump into the kitchen and make it themselves. The 20cm pizzas, which come in a kid-friendly bunny shape, are available in Reginella ($12), tomato base with mozzarella and basil, and Prosciutto ($14).
No 1 WILLIAM ST
Australian Museum, 1 William St, CBD
Take the kids to visit the Australian Museum and then take them upstairs to the roof top cafe where the $10, animal-themed lunch boxes include either a chicken strips and chips or a sandwich, gingerbread man, seasonal fresh fruit and a fresh juice.
COOGEE PAVILLION
169 Dolphin St, Coogee
You get a dish, a drink and a scoop of gelato for $21. There’s orecchiette pasta with bacon, peas and parmesan, prosciutto pizza and smoothies with coconut water, almond milk, banana and peanut butter.
THE NEWPORT
Newport
There are smaller versions of adults meals, such as pan fried snapper and steamed greens and beer battered flatheads with chips and tartare sauce, both $12, and 300ml kids-sized smoothies for $8, such as Strawberry Orbit, coconut water, almond meal, banana and strawberries.
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