Ella's Kitchen Weeney Restaurant

Today Nate and I were lucky enough to go to Ella's Kitchen's weeney restaurant. Nate was one of the oldest children there but it didn't stop him enjoying himself. This was a little adventure for us as we had to travel up on to London on the train and I managed to lose a memory card (found now) on the journey. 

The first thing I noticed when I walked into the restaurant were the decorations, sorry rubbish phone pics coming up as I didn't have my camera at this point. There were lovely child friendly decorations with lovely low fence to keep the babies in the play area, it didn't keep Nate in as he easily climbed over it. In the play area there was music playing, the music was about veg and fruit and then soft food toys, shakers, a tunnel and the best bit for me were the plants. There were plants for sniffing so lovely smelly herbs like sage, rosemary and citrus fruits like lemons. 

 

Here is Nate empty all of the fruit and veg from their baskets

 

 

Nate having a look at the smelly section, he took a particular interest in the lemon and lime.

 

The choppy fruit and veg which could happily have kept Nate entertained for hours

Nate was also introduced to a whole aubergine, we often cook with lots of different vegetables but I have never thought about showing Nate the whole vegetable or letting him explore it before it was cooked. Nate has not stopped talking about aubergines since leaving, I'll have to get him to help me cook next time we are making something with aubergines

After we'd spent a little time in the play area we were encouraged to move to the restaurant area. On the tables there were numbered red boxes, under the lid there were tablets for the babies/toddlers to order their own dinner. I really loved this idea.

You had to choose the age that was most appropriate for your child.

 

 Then pick your main course by choosing  a picture that appealed to you. After you had picked your main course you chose your dessert by the same process. The pictures were really engaging and illustrated exactly what they were going to receive. I would quite like an adult experience at this restaurant. 

There were also nibbles from the new snack range which went down a treat with Nate, his favourite were the tomato and fennel seed crackers and he quite enjoyed the apple and cinnamon nibbles.

Organix Mighty Soups

As part of our lovely bundle of foods from Organix were some Mighty Soups, the Mighty Soup we tried was Sweetcorn and Noodles. 

At the minute Nate loves sweetcorn so he was really happy to have a soup containing his favourite. As you can see from the picture the soup isn't a smooth soup but one that has bits in, encouraging children to chew. 

It was enjoyed here (I had a little taste and it was nice although a little bland for my adult taste buds) and Nate has his own soup at nursery when the others are having a food he can't have.

Allergy/Intolerance notice

Dairy Free Soups - Tasty Sweetcorn and Noodles

Hearty Root Beans and Veg

Gluten Free

Hearty Root Beans and Veg

None of the soups contain a nut warning although I have not contacted the manufacturer to check they are nut free.

Chocolate steam buns

I have quite a few things to write up. The nice weather has really got my creative juices going. We love Char Sui Bao here and I wanted to make something using the bread outer as I wasn't confident that I could make the Char Sui the same. I decided on Salmon, so I cooked the Salmon in the oven and filled the Bao with a mixture of tomato, cucumber and cooked courgette. The outcome was lovely however, I wanted something sweet.

Salmon Bao

I had an idea, we always have chocolate and I had coconut cream. So I melted a tablespoon of chocolate chunks and added two tablespoons of coconut cream to the melted chocolate and used this mixture to fill the Bao dough. Steamed the bao for 10 minutes and they were ready.

Over flowing chocolate Bao.

Recipe

I used this recipe for the Bao dough. For the chocolate filling:
3 tablespoons of chocolate
6 tablespoons of coconut cream

Melt the chocolate however you would normally, I used the microwave method 30 seconds, stir, 30 seconds, stir etc until melted. Then stir in half of the coconut cream, once it has been stirred in add the rest of the coconut cream. Divide the dough up into 24 balls. Take one ball and make a big hole add a teaspoon of chocolate/cream mixture and then pinch together carefully. Try not to let the mixture touch where you are going to pinch the sides up as it won't close properly. Steam for 10 minutes, I only have a little steamer so steamed them in batches of two. Let them cool down slightly and eat.

None of these buns made it to the next day or to dinner for that matter, they should have a slightly coconutty taste but it shouldn't be overpowering. I'm sure the coconut cream could be swapped out for normal cream for those who aren't dairy free.

Yummy!