The Vittles Kids London Restaurant Guide
Vittles writers share 75 recommendations for where to eat with children in London.
Welcome to Vittles Kids, a special series of features, essays, opinion and a guide about feeding children at home and in restaurants. Today, we share 75 recommendations – and a useful map – for where to eat with children in London.
A note from all of us at Vittles: it is impossible right now to think about the subject of food and children without also thinking about the forced starvation of children and adults in Gaza, as part of Israel’s ongoing genocide. There are many individual projects you can donate to, and we would encourage you to donate freely to those you know. The Sameer Project is currently raising funds for tents, food and water in north and south Gaza and you can donate via the links below.
As every parent and carer knows, the ways a restaurant can be ‘child friendly’ is as varied as the needs of the child (and the adult!) themselves. Some restaurants are simply set up to cater to families, like dimsum parlours where each baby is treated as if they’re visiting royalty. Some have particularly good changing facilities, or won’t roll their eyes when you ask to bring a pram in. Some are particularly good at changing menus in response to allergens; some have kids menus that offer fussy children some dignity.
Here is a London guide to 75 places, including multiple branches, of restaurants that cater well to children: from independents to chains. They are all useful for different situations, but what all of them share is a sense of hospitality that is responsive to the very specific needs of a hungry adult and even hungrier child.
Contributors: TA – Tim Anderson, EA – Edwina Attlee, MA – MiMi Aye, HC – Holly Chaves, EC –Emily Chung, IC – Isobel Clarke, AC – Adam Coghlan, LG – Laura Goodman, RI – Rukmini Iyer, CJ – Cordelia Jenkins, AKK – Adrienne Katz Kennedy, BLW– Bethan Lloyd Worthington, LM – Lizzie Mabbott, RMJ – Rebecca May Johnson, MM – Marie Mitchell, IOC – Isabelle O’Carroll, MAS – Mohammed Ali Salha, OS – Olivia Sudjic, MT – Melissa Thompson, LT – Luke Turner, TV – Tamara Vos, KZ – Karla Zazueta, JN- Jonathan Nunn
Central
Café François
Café François is a relaxed, grown-up place to eat that magically welcomes children (and dogs), and a lovely antidote to the exceptional busyness of Borough Market. The service is excellent and there are frites galore, a stunning dessert counter and stylish baby-changing facilities. At lunchtime, it's full of mothers with remarkably well-behaved babies in prams and young children (mine behave themselves with the promise of a macaron for pudding; I behave in anticipation of a chocolate éclair). I love the courgette fries, gougères and rotisserie chicken. – RI
Cafe Murano
Cafe Murano in St James’s has a good-value kids’ menu (as do all three branches) that includes generously portioned homemade pasta or chicken Milanese and ice cream for £10. On arrival, staff will present your children with crayons and things to colour in, and will also indulgently check in on them (and you) through the course of the meal. My daughter’s three-year-old dignity was outraged when a waiter patted her head (it's the curls, they're too cute), but this was a small price to pay for truly excellent food in smart settings. Also, the baby-changing facilities are good. – RI