Fabulously family-friendly yet glamorous neighbourhood restaurant, The Crooked Well has launched a Tea Time Menu for parents and children to enjoy from 3pm ‘til 6.30pm every weekday.

The restaurant, which is located in the heart of Camberwell and focusses on locally sourced and seasonal ingredients, is perfect for families to visit for an after school snack, or mums to meet for an afternoon chat over toast and tea. The Crooked Well prides itself on its delicious food and laidback ambience – even four-legged friends are welcome!

Honouring the age old institution of proper British tea, The Crooked Well will offer a do-it-yourself ‘Crumpet Station’, where guests can toast their crumpets to perfection and add lashings of butters, English fruit jams, or Marmite after a hard day at school!

See you there!

The Crooked Well

16 Grove Lane,

Camberwell

London

0207 252 7798

www.thecrookedwell.com

Opening Times:

Mon: 17:00—00:00

Tues-Thurs: 12:00—00:00

Fri-Sat: 12:00—01:00

Sun: 12:00—23:00

Bake a Halloween tree with the kids this weekend.

Get your mini skeletons and sparkling spiders in the mood for partying with this gorgeous Halloween cookie tree.

Preparation time : 1 hour

Cooking time : 12-15  minutes per batch

Ingredients:

350g plain flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp ground ginger

115g butter

175g light brown sugar

4 level tbsp golden syrup

1 medium egg, beaten

2 tbsp milk

To decorate :

250g icing sugar

Food colouring

Writing icing

Makes 30 cookies

Heat the oven to 190C(170C fan) gas 5. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ginger. Add the butter and rub until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, stir in the sugar.

Add the golden syrup to the dry ingredients with the egg and milk.  Mix until a dough forms then turn onto a floured surface and knead until smooth.

Roll out on a lightly floured surface about 5mm thick and using Halloween novelty cutters cut out about 30 shapes, gathering up the scraps and re-rolling them for more cookies.  Carefully transfer to baking trays.

Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until golden.  Cool 1 minute then if wished, using the end of a plastic straw, make a hole in the tops of the cookies so they can be hung on a tree.

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add just enough cold water to make a thick glace icing.  Remove portions of it to another bowl and add orange food colouring for the pumpkins and black for the bat wings. Spread over the cookies and allow to dry.

Using writing icing pipe faces on the pumpkins and outline the bat wings with white writing icing.  Allow to dry before hanging on the tree.

Tie ribbon or raffia through the holes to hang from some branches anchored in a plant pot weighted with stones.

If you do not want to hang them, do not make the holes and just place on a tray and hand them out for trick or treats.

Recipe by Lorna Rhodes. With thanks from www.lylesgoldensyrup.com

If you’re planning to host a party check out NetMums Halloween party food special for easy, child-friendly recipes.

Tucked around the back of Fulham Broadway on Farm Lane, My Dining Room is a new gastropub with a wonderful lunch menu and a great attitude towards little ones.

Food blogger Katie (Feeding Boys and A Firefighter) and I, along with our crew of four boys under the age of five, made a noisy arrival to the My Dining Room after an incident with a wasp en route. Despite the racket we received a warm welcome from the kind staff who ushered us to a lovely table, complete with separate small sized table for the minis and sting relief cream was magically produced for Sam’s sore finger.

With four starving kids to feed we ordered fast. Both of us never leave the house without a Santa’s sack of distractions, so after the apple juice had been half drunk, half spilt and the drawing games abandoned we brought out the Nintendo and offered iPhones to distract the boys. Feeling mellowed around the edges after our delicious summer cocktail, shaken up by the charming French head bar man – a summer sangria for me and cucumber cooler for Katie –  we could properly relax and savour the experience.

My Dining Room chef Vingaudas Raulinaitis has created a menu based on traditional home recipes with a modern twist. The ingredients are sourced locally and organically with information about the meat and fish detailed on the menus. We picked the great value Summer Special Offer of two courses and a free cocktail for £15.

To start I chose the tender and smoky marinated filet of mackerel with avocado salsa and the trio of gnocchi with baby vegetable fricassee for main. The gnocchi was packed with flavour and served with delicious cuts of summery vegetables, all in a light herby sauce. My only criticism was it was a tiny bit soupy and could have done with a hunk of bread to mop up the sauce. Foodie Katie picked the perennial favourite tomato and mozzarella salad followed by the beautifully presented and equally light and tasty salmon and haddock fishcake.  Not being able to resist a pudding we tucked into an Eton mess and the crème brulee – both wickedly naughty and worth it!

Amazingly, mini gourmands are invited to eat for free and the kids menu doesn’t disappoint. On  offer are typical child-friendly meals such as chicken nuggets, pasta and hamburgers but all made from fresh local and organic ingredients and beautifully presented. There was no problem adapting a main meal to kids size for one of the boys, and all four of them enthusiastically dug into a mix of fish and chips, pasta and spaghetti bolognese making a huge mess, which the staff effortlessly cleared up.

Both of us agreed it was a extremely successful lunch out. We managed to chat, enjoy our food and the boys were all happy. The atmosphere was relaxed and informal and we felt spoilt and well looked after by the staff. It was a stark reminder of how much nicer it is to eat out in glamourous places rather than troop into the obviously ‘child-friendly’ places which are often bland and hectic experiences.

Also on offer are children’s cooking classes lead by the head chef which are available every other week from 21^st July. They can also be booked for groups of to ten people as a fun alternative to the usual birthday party.

My Dining Room
18 Farm Lane, London, SW6 1PP 020 7381 3331

You can see all the pictures of our meal on Katie’s blog.

One of London’s grandest restaurants La Chapelle is now welcoming families at the weekend with a gorgeous Sunday lunch menu complete with a proper kids meal. The vibe will be relaxed with Sunday papers and plenty of traditional board games and toys on offer to entertain adults and the kids.

Tucked in the heart of the City between the towers of Broadgate and busy Spitalfields market, La Chapelle launched last November to instant critical acclaim. It’s owned by the Galvin brothers, Chris and Jeff who cook beautiful French bistro food.

La Chapelle is in St Botolphs Hall, a former Victorian girls’ school chapel which the brothers gutted and restored.  The setting is absolutely stunning, with high vaulted ceilings and a spectacular modern glass mezzanine dining area.

The Sunday three course set menu features delicious options such as veloute of English asparagus with truffle Chantilly, roast shoulder of new season lamb, red cabbage and potato fondant and Kentish strawberries, creme fraiche and chopped pistachio. Sunday lunch is priced at just £24.50 per person, with a children’s menu available at £9.50 for two courses.

Accordion player Fifi La Mer also performs once a month during Sunday lunch, forthcoming dates are: Sunday 1st August, Sunday 5th September and Sunday 3rd October

Skip church and head to La Chapelle for a treat. The bowler-hatted door man alone is bound to make a lasting impression on the kids. Fabulous food in a spectacular setting where kids are warmly welcomed too – what more could you ask for on a Sunday?

For more information go to Galvin La Chapelle

As the World Cup kicks off, we’re anticipating that mums up and down the country will be waving goodbye to Daddy and his help as the average male becomes glued to the small screen for the 4-week duration.

Since most babies and toddlers are less easily entertained, rather than getting frustrated and taking up hoovering around Dad’s feet, hiding remote controls and other horrible habits, we’ve compiled a quick guide to things to do during the World Cup.

Babysitting? No Problem!

Capitalise on the evening games by exchanging full TV and living room rights for baby-sitting duties (funny how when Dads stay in alone with kids it is ‘babysitting’ but not the same for mums!) and go out. At the movies, check out the style in Sex and the City 2, admire Russell Crowe in Robin Hood, watch Ben Stiller’s first serious role in Greenberg and pack the tissues for the weepy romance Dear Juliet.

Things to Do With the Kids

Lazy Lunches
For World Cup widows, this is the month to book dates with old friends in child-friendly restaurants. Gorgeous gastro pub The Bolingbroke in Battersea will be a World Cup free zone so the perfect place for a meet-up. The tot-friendly pub has a delicious kids menu, toys and games to keep them entertained and plenty of space for buggies. Plus it’s in the perfect position for after-lunch shopping on the mummy-friendly Northcote Road.

Visit a Theme Park
Bound to be emptier during the big games, this could be the golden opportunity to visit LEGOLAND Discovery Centre in Manchester or LEGOLAND Windsor both of which have a programme of activities to keep kids busy over the World Cup.

Go Shopping
Usually busy shops empty out during the England games and the semi-finals onwards so book in a shopping spree. Ikea is rewarding the non-football watching shoppers with a £10 giftcard for every £100 spent in store on England match days in June and July. You can combine football with shopping at the huge Bluewater shopping centre in Kent where they’re showing the first three England games free of charge for all the family in their Showcase cinema.

Soft Play Centres
Geared for families, while the kids romp around on the slides and in the ball pit Dads can keep an eye on the games on the TVs in the adult zone. This way you’ve got your partner present if not wholly for a family outing. Gambado in Beckenham, Chelsea and Watford or Eddie Catz in Wimbledon, Putney and Newbury will be showing all the big games.

Footie + Spa + Kids Club = Everyone Happy?
And… for the best of both worlds, BFB featured Retallack Resort in Cornwall will be showing all the England matches, as well as others, on a big projector screen in their bar. The perfect location for Dad’s with tots in tow. Retallack offers crèche and kids club and children’s adventure playground to keep kids busy while Dad is watching the footy! Plus there’s a spa for mums who want to take their eyes off the ball!

Any Other Ideas? Add them below.