It is no secret that, as a family, we love Frankie & Benny's, so when we were asked to go and review their new specials menu we were delighted to go and try it out. Now I generally have a love / hate relationship with dining out with the childen, mainly because alot of restaurants consider that all children just eat chicken nuggets, chips and beans but thankfully my daughters like the F&B's menu (especially the warm dough sticks) and unusually on this occasion my eldest plumped for the pizza.
Some of the new dishes include BBQ Burger, Crab Bruschetta and Pulled Pork Pasta Bake and even though we arrived on the wrong day (the menu is actually only available Sunday - Friday), the staff were super helpful and didn't turn us away! The new Specials Menu is only £10.95 for 2 courses, so it won't break the bank and if you are anything like me, you can top up to 3 delicious courses for an additional £2.25.
As always, the F&B's food came out fresh, hot and well presented .... frankly looking good enough to eat ;-) I think that the original diner style eating experience of Frankie & Benny's is sometimes personal preference, so you either like it or you don't, but as a family we always enjoy our time at F&B's and will be returning. Dessert is usually a top priority for me but I simply didn't have room after the delicious Pulled Pork Pasta Bake so maybe I need to choose something lighter next time if I fancy a pudding.
As I said earlier, I find it increasingly frustrating when we dine out as a family to find the limited choices on the childrens menu, so I was interested to read about the new research from the Out to Lunch campaign from the Soil Association and Organix, which included Frankie and Benny's. Out to Lunch is calling for the restaurant industry to improve standards and make changes to their children’s menus. The investigation shows 66% of parents think the food provision for children in restaurants is not good enough. 21 popular high street restaurants and pubs were surveyed looking at what’s on the menu for children over a three month period, revealing that:
- 12 out of the 21 restaurants and pubs have children’s menus dominated by nuggets, burgers and sausages
- Eight out of 21 chains don’t include vegetables or salad in the majority of their children’s main meals
- 10 don’t include a portion of fruit in any of their children’s puddings
- No restaurants have signage welcoming breastfeeding on their premises
- Only 2 chains offer a children’s drinks menu free from added sugar and sweeteners
In line with the research, Out to Lunch has today issued a league table ranking the 21 restaurants and pubs to show the industry and consumers what chains are offering children.
The Out to Lunch campaign is calling on all high street restaurants and pubs to:
1. Offer all young diners the choice of a children’s portion of adult meals
2. Serve freshly prepared food, not ready meals
3. Offer free water to families on arrival
4. Offer children’s cutlery as standard
5. Make breastfeeding mums feel welcome
Anna Rosier, Managing Director at Organix says: “Four out of 10 parents (40%) told us they eat out once a fortnight or more with their families. If restaurants and pubs want to ensure business stays strong and see customers return, they need to start improving what they’re serving to children. “We want families – parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles – to help get behind our campaign to see change. Restaurants will only start improving if we start being more vocal about what we’re seeing and vote with our feet.”
Out to Lunch is asking families to carry out four simple steps to back the campaign:
- To tell restaurants what they think. The Out to Lunch downloadable Campaign Pack includes a review slip to make is easy for families to leave it behind on the table.
- To be vocal and share feedback with family and friends.
- To vote with their feet. If a restaurant is not up to scratch, don’t go back.
- To support by wearing the ‘I support Out to Lunch’ badge on their Facebook and Twitter profiles.
For a more detailed insight into the Out to Lunch league table visit www.soilassociation.org/outtolunch.
So out of the 21 restaurants, where did F&B's come? They were 8th in the league table .......
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