The family restaurant
Last weekend I had dinner with a few Spanish women that I know from a WeChat group. As we would be bringing our families and we all have young children, the organizer chose a 亲子餐厅 or family restaurant. This restaurant has the pecualirity of having lots of different play areas and all kinds of toys for children to be entertained. I had been to this restaurant once before and I thought it was expensive and the food so-so, but it was the best option anyway if we wanted to at least try to talk a bit. I was not sure if Baby A. would be very interested in the toys as at home he barely looks at them, but I thought I would just take turns with C. to walk him around if he started being annoying. I really wanted to meet these Spanish women as I had been chatting online with some of them for months but never managed to meet in person.
Let me show you first a few pictures of the restaurant. They are taken from Dianping, a directory of restaurants and other businesses that is widely used in China.
The dining area is kinda fancy.
One of the play areas. In the lower floor there is a play supermarket and also a play doctor’s office. I’m not sure what’s there in the upper floor as I wasn’t sure if adults could go up.
Detail of the supermarket. Of course it wasn’t this tidy after a whole day of children playing there.
The most complete play kitchen I’ve ever seen.
“Sand” pit. The sand was actually dice sized cubes.
Ball pit, bouncy castle and “hamster maze”.
There are also books!
It looks amazing, right? Well, I have to say… it was!! It was the first time in months that I was able to eat and chat in peace. Baby A. was super excited and played with everything while we watched him from our table. He started with the “sand pit“ (actually the dice-sized cubes were a choking hazard, but luckily he wasn’t interested in eating them). Then he spent a good amount of time in the kitchen as he loves watching people cook and pretending he’s cooking. That play kitchen was amazing, it had absolutely everything, from a bbq to a microwave to a blender that looked exactly like the real one we have at home. He also climbed up and down the “hamster maze” and played in the ball pit.
Working hard in the kitchen.
He’s usually very clingly and wants to be walked around nonstop, but this time he didn’t even remember my existence for a good 3 or 4 hours! This was worth the overpriced food and I will happily go back there when I need a break! I would also have loved this place as a child, there are just so many things to play with! But there are no places like this in my hometown and another woman said the same so I don’t know if there are places like this at all in Spain. In China, indoor play parks (not necessarily restaurants) are becoming very popular now that young parents increasingly want their children to do more than just go to class and study. And, well, for when the air is so bad that you can’t take your child to play outside…
Woaaah, such an extra restaurant, haha! I love it, it seems so family-friendly! ❤️✨
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
It was! I was able to be left alone for a couple of hours and that is priceless hahaha
Wow. That kitchen is pretty impressive. So it the fact that he played by himself for 3 hours.
My kid would have eaten the sand, I suspect.
I’m sure Baby D. would have also played here by himself for hours!
I’d give him 20 minutes, tops. Unless there were other kids around, especially older ones. He was never good at playing by himself as a toddler (or EVER) no matter how enticing the environment.
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Brilliant. And pretty to look at. Glad you got to catch up with friends, and get some “time off”. :)
The pics are nicer than the real deal, mainly because after a whole day of children running amok everything was quite messy hahaha
You did a good job. :P
What a great concept and looks absolutely beautiful and extremely clean too. Also, the chairs for the adults looked comfortable, which is nice, so you could really relax for a bit. Thanks for sharing.
It was very clean indeed! The waiters were also very polite which has always been kind of uncommon in China hahaha. Although it’s changing now.
That’s pretty high-end play areas for the children!
The price was also quite high end xD
What a fabulous place Marta and the fact you had some peace to chat to your new friends and eat is good of course..nice to have a little break knowing baby A is happy by himself or with his dad.
That looks like so much fun! The kitchen: does it come in adult size? I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere in Spain like it too. A great way for the kids to make new friends, socialise and the Mamas and Dad’s to make new friends and socialise too!
Haha I would also like to have a real kitchen like that! I was talking to the other Spanish mums and one that was from Santander said it rained there all the time but there was no indoor places to take the children!