When it comes to eating out L is pretty easy-going, I literally can’t think of anywhere that we wouldn’t go with him. That being said, if he has a choice, he will only ever pick one of two places, Turtle Bay or McDonald’s (the lure of the Happy Meal is strong).
Turtle Bay is his clear favourite, which always goes down well with both myself and husb. The food is delicious, the 2-4-1 cocktails during the very long happy ‘hour’ are calling and the kids menu is always brill. I wouldn’t have honestly said it needed changing, so I was surprised to hear of the revamp to the menu when I wrote about it and the fab half term offer they were running. Now that we’ve actually got round to trying it I am seriously impressed and so was L.
They’ve added some new dishes and popped some dessert options on, which in all fairness they had always been missing. The guys at our local restaurant were always more than obliging and would happily just dish up a couple of scoops of ice cream for the kid, despite it not being a menu option, it’s nice to now have it on the menu, alongside a fruit salad option or chocolate brownie.
I love that all the kids options now come with veg sticks and dips as a starter. When you eat out with kids they don’t tend to be the most patient, so to be able to almost immediately pop some food in front of them is very, very useful! It also means we can enjoy a starter and a main ourselves, without feeling like we have to rush for fear of the kid running out of food.
My favourite thing is the addition of two size options, smaller portions for Tiny Turtles and larger portions for Bigger Turtles. This is so simple and missed at nearly every other place we’ve ever eaten with him. Strangely there is a massive difference between the amount of food a five year old needs in comparison to a ten year old, so it is nice to see it catered for!
There are also mocktails, though L skipped these and asked Roly, our fave waiter due to his total awesomeness, for a Pineappleade, though I’m pretty sure he had already guessed what he’d be drinking!
Not only is the menu choice larger but the menu itself is bigger too, with more colouring in and more fun thanks to snakes and ladders, right there, ready to be played.
Turtle Bay is a favourite of ours because it’s such a great place to take kids and serves actual adult food. The laid back vibes and relaxed atmosphere, couple with amazing decor and great music makes it ideal. L adores the place, he even said today that he missed it and wanted to go back, how cute. Not many places is it not only acceptable to have a little dance at the table but encouraged.
Just in case you didn’t guess, we all loved our meals, child and adults alike. I had the Hallo Halloumi burger and husb went for the Brown Chicken Stew. L enjoyed a chicken and cheese wrap. We were all very well fed and spoilt for choice.
Disclosure – we ate at Norwich Turtle Bay for free in return for an honest review of the kids menu.