Mama in the City

Yesterday I hauled Ben and his car seat into the Zip car and we hit the road from downtown to the north part of our city for a lunch date. There is nothing like a nice summer day lunching with a girlfriend! Our date was to meet up with a friend and her baby girl B at Munch Family Restaurant (formerly called Babyeats). The thing that got me excited about this restaurant was that they offered a baby food menu and had a play area for tots. Reason enough to make the trip from downtown. I felt good knowing I could bring my loud boisterous baby boy and we wouldn't get the stare down from fellow dining patrons if he decided to sing!

The scene was mum's lunching with their tots or mum's with babies and young children who were meeting up with a friend. The cool thing is that everyone seemed to be having a stress free time. I was really looking forward to the baby food menu, especially because you are asked to not bring in outside food for your baby. I was curious what they would have to offer and had high expectations. You might have read about what Ben likes to eat here.

I was disappointed that the baby food options were applesauce or carrots but we ended up going with carrots. The actual baby food was so so and a very small portion for a baby. We also ordered yogurt and the portion was still really tiny too. I was hoping for some thick creamy full fat yogurt but what we got was a little watery and hard to spoon into a baby's mouth because of the consistency.

I liked that Munch served wine and had a full menu to choose from. My friend and I both ordered the same thing: a free run chicken, double-smoked bacon and avocado with chipotle aioli served open face on a nice toasted foccacia with a side of salad. Sounds delicious doesn't it? This is how it goes: pretty tasty, nice choice of bread, excellent crispiness of the bacon, chicken a bit dry, salad just okay. Nothing fantastic to rave about: it was all just okay.

However, the absolute best part of our experience was the great play area for children! It made the experience and is probably what would bring me back if this city mama decided to make the trek again. There was a good choice of age appropriate toys for babes up through toddlerhood and older. Bring up the quantity and quality of food and I would be giving it more top marks. Next on the list of baby friendly eateries to try is Little Nest in Vancouver.