Creating mini gourmands with new healthy children’s menus

Eating out with children tends to revolve around the same monotonous kids’ menus of burgers, chips and pasta, with seemingly little regard paid to the nutritional value of their food.

This will not be the case at 20 of JRG Dubai’s restaurants, where diminutive diners will soon be able to feast upon a wide selection of delicious homemade food, which has been lovingly prepared by top chefs in conjunction with nutritional experts at Talise Nutrition.

“Children’s palates and taste buds are still developing which means heavily-flavoured dishes may not yet be to their liking, but that’s no excuse to serve them bland, boring and unhealthy options,” says JRG Group Head Chef, Ben Tobitt. 

“Just as with JRG’s standard adult menus, our chefs dedicate a lot of time and effort into creating menus for our youngest diners incorporating tastes which will appeal to children. But we want to go a step further by giving parents the satisfaction of knowing that what their little ones will eat in our restaurants is also fresh and wholesome,” he adds.

Although still in the research and development stage with focus groups and tasting sessions planned ahead, some of the proposed healthy options on JRG restaurants include: Poached Catch of the day with seasonal vegetables at D&A; chunky fish cakes at Rivington Grill; Dahi Papdi Chaat at Naya; and Salmon with mashed potatoes, baby spinach with raisins and pine nuts a La Parrilla. 

Even dessert will be given a nutritious twist with treats such as Carrot Cake at Alta Badia and home-juiced vegetable lollipops at The Rib Room.

Current available options include: Der Keller’s kinds menu which includes choices of Chicken Salad with cucumber and tomato along with Oven Roasted Chicken with Spätzle and mushroom sauce. Italian family favourites including Pizza Margherita, a Build your own super pasta, where pasta shape, sauce and extra are chosen to a healthier option of Spiralized zucchini, red bell pepper sauce, creamy parmesan polenta, fresh basil can be found at Trattoria Toscana. Well-balanced kids menu offerings was a key focus of menu overhauls at these two recently re-opened restaurants. 

Gabriele Kurz, Executive Wellbeing Chef Talise Nutrition, Jumeirah, predicts the wholesome menu will receive the thumbs-up from parents and children alike.  

“The early formative years are a crucial time when it comes to setting the standard for our future eating habits in adulthood,” says Chef Gabriele “We should therefore be setting a good example to young diners by giving them the opportunity to experiment with a wide variety of appropriate flavours, ingredients and nutritional components when they dine out in our restaurants.”

The children’s menus, which are set to launch in early 2016 will be available across 20 of JRG’s restaurants including Tortuga Mexican Kitchen and Bar, Der Keller, Trattoria Toscana, Naya, Segretto, Zheng He’s, Beachcombers, The Ivy, Rivington Grill and D&A.