Category Eating out with kids
Deal Beach Parlour
I have a massive predilection for old fashioned Kentish ice cream parlours with their sweeps of retro chrome and mirrored tiling. It doesn’t matter at all that it’s February and I can’t feel my hands, there’s nothing like a strong cup of tea and a marshmallow-y vanilla oyster (Mr Whippy ice cream wafer sandwich) consumed […]
Boat House Cafe, Bognor
I recently had a week away on the South Coast, near Bognor Regis in Sussex. We had blistering gorgeous sunshine, kiddie tantrums and excessive ‘parental recovery’ wine in the evenings, as we congratulated ourselves on keeping our kids out of trouble for yet another day. The landlady that rented us our cottage wanted £100 extra for […]
Brown and Green Cafe, Crystal Palace
(My son’s table manners don’t exist yet.) What would we do without this place in Crystal Palace? Especially those of us with kids? Honestly, there aren’t many eateries for people with chaotic, shouty offspring to go for a meal where you are NEVER judged for being audacious enough to eat out WITH YOUNG CHILDREN. Uptight […]
Nostalgic eats to keep you rocksteady
I like avocado toast and matcha lattes as much as the next greedy food enthusiast, and I do genuinely find food trends exciting, but sometimes I just want things to stay THE SAME. I feel bereft when traditional restaurants and caffs which had been doing great things for years change hands and get their soul […]
Hungry Hippo cafe, Norwood Park
I find myself on a blasted heath in South East London. Not quite – just dragging myself and the kids about in yet another playground in Norwood Park on a bleak, wintry day. The wind is whipping at my face, the clouds loom heavily and my kids are beginning to whine. We’re all hungry, and […]
Crystal Palace Park Cafe
UPDATE March 2018: This cafe has now finally been knocked down and is being rebuilt. It will be run by local cafe maestros Brown & Green. Crystal Palace Park Cafe in SE London, unlovely in concrete, is being knocked down at the end of February 2016 to make way for a new two-storey events centre […]
Restaurant Chez Marie The
Have you ever wanted to have lunch alongside a bunch of French farmers? Rub shoulders at the buffet with some ruddy-faced tractor drivers? The restaurant Chez Marie Thé, in the small village of Ploerdut, Southern Brittany, is just the place to do it. It’s a fascinating eye opener into just how seriously the French take […]
West Norwood Feast
It’s amazing isn’t it, the ability to live up just up the road from something quite fun and amazing and NEVER visit it. Us Londoners are skilled at this – we have all these museums and theatres and parks and statues in our wonderful capital and never bother our arses to explore even a tenth of […]
Maltby Street Market & Monty’s Deli
Everyone who comes to London gets told about Borough Market as a foodie destination. I’ve got fond memories of Borough from its early days, but it has become a victim of its own success, gridlocked with daytrippers. You’ll easily pay £10 for a punnet of olives and you have to queue for absolutely bloody […]
Streatham Common Cafe
Note: this cafe has now changed hands. I am heartbroken, because we have lost some truly great cafe heritage. Gone are the beloved Formica tables, strong coffee and cheery San Remo family. I wonder where they are now? Sometimes I have days where I’m so stressed out by the noise levels created by my own family […]
Toast & Butter 