*This post was originally published on my old site on Nov 11th, 2016* 

As a family we don’t eat out much.  Even though we really enjoy it we can rarely afford it as we always think we should be spending money on other things so we only really do it on special occasions.  When I saw Jamie Oliver at the beginning of the summer saying that kids could eat for free at any of his UK restaurants for the whole of the summer holidays I wanted to go.  

Unfortunately we never made it over the summer so when I saw his Instagram post that they would be doing the same offer for half term I was determined we would go this time and what better opportunity than to make it a nice family meal out with Matteo’s parents who were over visiting from Italy for 10 days.  

The Nottingham restaurant is set in a beautiful old building which was actually a merchant’s townhouse and has three floors including the cellar which houses the toilets which have been done up with period features.  We were sat at a round table for 8 people in a semi-private room off one of the main rooms.  This was great for the kids as it meant that when they had finished eating they could get up and walk around without bothering other people eating.  

The boys got some free activities to keep them occupied while we waited for the food, although that wasn’t long as the service was very efficient and we barely had time to translate the menu for Matteo’s parents and choose what we wanted to eat!

The waiting staff were so friendly and helpful, not batting an eyelid when I asked for one of the boys drinking straws to be changed as Oliver was adamant he wasn’t having a red one when Ethan had a blue one!

Matteo and his Dad had a Burger, his Mum and I went for Pasta and the boys chose Spaghetti with Meatballs. The portion size for the boys was quite big but they did really well.  For pudding they chose the Creamy Chocolate Organic Ice Lolly.  Matteo’s parents had the Chocolate Brownie and I had the Orange Polenta cake.  Everyone enjoyed their food, even Matteo that is hard to please when it comes to food having worked in restaurants in the past. My pasta and cake were delicious and something I would definitely order again.

All in all we had a lovely time.  It’s a very child friendly place and somewhere I’d recommend to other parents.  I’ll certainly be looking out for another offer during the next school holidays.

Thank you for reading x