I don’t know about you but eating out with the kids anywhere other than the big M can feel like a right hassle. Cameo is 2 and a half, Marlo is 14 months and the fear of eating out is REAL. But the thing is, me and Chiino LOVE eating out. It’s been one of our favourite things to do over the last 10 years and I don’t want it to stop. So we’ve decided to bite the bullet and find some child-friendly spots in Nottingham. Amazingly, just at the right time, Côte Brasserie launched its new children’s menu and activity packs. We were intrigued so bravely, we took all four of us along to Côte Brasserie West Bridgford, Nottingham,
First up, it’s a gorgeous French restaurant. Somewhere I probably wouldn’t have taken the kids for fear of being a little too loud and a little too… basic fish finger eating kinda folk. But let’s just cut to the chase. We had a fab time and we made it out alive, in one piece and actually, with hardly any stress at all. Chiino and I gave ourselves a massive high 5 when we left, although to be honest, it was all down to Cote Brasserie.
As soon as we were seated with our menus, the lovely staff handed us over the new children’s activity pack. Now, I’ve never seen a pack like this before. Usually, there’s just a bit of paper and a pencil or two right? Well not here. It’s all packed away in a tidy air-mail looking envelope addressed to A Very Special Guest. It’s a lovely gesture and straight away Cameo’s interest was peaked at this little gift.
When you open the envelope, it’s a little activity book. The book opens up into a large page with 4 characters to colour in. (Yep… colouring pencils provided) There’s also a page of stickers so you can turn the food images on the page into characters. Stickers are literally one of Cameo’s favourite things in the world. He got straight to sticking things on his face and then onto the paper. It’s real-life guys! Then on each page there little puzzles etc which is great for older kids. Cameo and Marlo were just chuffed with the colouring and the stickers. It made ordering the food and waiting for the first course to arrive really easy.
The kid’s menu is great. It’s a menu full of properly cooked food. It isn’t and doesn’t’ feel like fast food. I feel like in some lovely restaurants the kid’s food still very much feels like fast food. But not here. For the kids’ starter, you could choose from a range of fab things including Calamari – which I didn’t think Cameo would like but he LOVES. (I know this because I had Calamari to start and he obviously had to have some). We got the boys The Bread Basket for starters because we knew it was an easy thing they could eat, we knew they’d have a little bit while they were still playing with their activity packs. The bread was obviously delicious and Marlo really enjoyed how soft the sourdough baguette was.
There’s also a great selection of kids main meals to choose from. From simple, great food like sausage and mash to Poulet Grillé (which is chicken breast with a wild mushroom and thyme sauce). We opted for Haddock Goujons which came with chips and peas. One of the things that really impressed me was the children’s cutlery. It’s not often you get a kids size knife and fork in a restaurant so we thought this was fab. The Haddock Goujons were a hit with both boys and they even ate the peas! We had steak for our mains and oh my word, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.
Finally, for dessert the boys had ice cream. A favourite choice which they both ate in silence like absolute angels. You can’t beat good ice cream to finish off an amazing dinner.
Overall the food was amazing. I mean perfect. The portions were generous and the food was cooked perfectly with the seamless amount of seasoning. It all tastes so fresh and the boys genuinely loved theirs too. The food was cooked fresh and you could really tell. The activity packs really made a difference to our family meal. It felt less stressful and the boys had a lot more patience than usual because they had something new to keep them entertained.
We’ll definitely be going back to Côte Brasserie and we’ll actually be taking the boys back with us. Even we’re surprised!
