Any mother of a five-year old will tell you, that kids at their best of times are as fixed as adults can get in their food preferences, sometimes even more.
They know what colour, shape, size they want something on their plate to be, they are clear of what is too hot (Mine just holds his mouth wide open to the fan!), too spicy (A shriek is most likely around the corner!) or too ‘not-nice’ for them. Thankfully when I took my little fellow along with his new best friend and his mum who is my new best friend, to sample California Pizza Kitchen’s kids’ menu, they seemed to have already made these considerations for us.
Everything on the menu has been seen before. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing cause familiarity works with my kid more at this stage than culinary experimenting.
From the pasta options in the regular white (Alfredo), red (Arrabiatta) and green (Pesto) variations of sauces, to the pizza offerings of BBQ chicken, Hawaiian, Veggie Delight etc. What was interesting was the Grilled Chicken Breast served with mash or fries, which would perhaps be enjoyed by a slightly older six-to-10 age group, but it was disappointing for our vegetarian friends that there wasn’t a similar main option for them. The very decisive five-year-olds finally went for a pasta each (white sauce with mushrooms and broccoli for mine and red sauce with the same veggies for his friend) with a milkshake each (strawberry and chocolate) which deserve special mention! Yummy, creamy, frothy shakes can do for a kiddie meal what an iPad playing their favourite cartoons can’t!
At the end of the mains and having ordered our desserts, we took a little tour of the bustling open kitchen and the kids squealed at the sight of a real wood fire oven which made for a nice break from the table. Back in our seats, our desserts arrived, and they were absolutely the highlight of the evening! A warm American butter-cake dripping with syrup and vanilla ice cream had my son wanting to put his whole face in it and the Hot Fudge Sundae with gems (genius!) was all his friend could look at with shining eyes for a whole half hour!
What really stood out in the evening though was the attentiveness and kid-friendly vibe of the staff and crew of California Pizza Kitchen. They genuinely seemed to delight in having little reviewers running around their tables and causing great chaos and were very flexible with their menu to cater to these rather firm, little palates.
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