Hotel launches healthy new menu for minor diners

Children can enjoy a taste of fine dining with a healthy flavour thanks to the new kid’s menu at a hotel in Lancashire. Alistair Tasker, the head chef at the four-star Lancaster House Hotel in Galgate near Lancaster has teamed up with nutritionist Sarah Garton to produce a choice of meals that are as good for kids as they are to eat.

With growing concerns about children’s diets in the UK and the consequences for their long term health the hotel decided to overhaul its kid’s menu in time for the school summer holidays.

Out are the salt-packed sausages and chicken nuggets that perennially appear on children’s menus. In their place are delicious dishes such as salmon, broccoli and pasta bake and mini chicken Kiev filled with Lancashire cheese and leeks.

Sarah of Lancaster-based Nutritional Vitality says: “Children’s menus are often highly-processed and include many harmful ingredients that can lead to long-term health problems as well as fairly immediate effects to their blood sugar, which in turn can cause huge variances in their moods and energy levels.

“I think children deserve to be given nutritious food as opposed to the highly salted and sugared foods one often finds in many restaurants and pubs.”

Young diners can now choose between main courses like fishcakes on a bed of spinach or homemade burgers with potato wedges and salad.

There are still plenty of kid’s favourites on the menu, such as spaghetti bolognaise and fish dippers but Alistair and Sarah have used healthy ingredients such as brown rice, wholemeal pasta, fresh fish which is high in Omega 3's and oven baked potato wedges instead of the ever-popular but hugely harmful chips.

Tasty but healthy puddings include banana split, flapjack, raspberry and apple crumble and summer berry crepes. Alistair and Sarah have used the natural sugars from the fruits without the need to add extra sweeteners and colourings, which are the key cause of blood sugar problems and subsequent hyperactivity in children.

Head Chef Alistair Tasker says: "It was a real challenge producing a menu which ticked all the boxes in terms of good nutrition. I wanted to produce a menu which also reflected adult tastes and gave children the option to have more ‘grown-up’ meals, but at the same time offered a choice which was still very appealing to them.

“Having tested these meals I'm confident there has been no compromise in flavour. In fact, the flavours are much deeper and intense. Using only fresh and local ingredients helps too because it prevents the need for freezing.”

Sarah Garton says: "It's refreshing to work with a chef who actually is willing to embrace the true concept of Healthy Food and not just disguise their menu with misleading, "faddy" statements about nutrition. At the same time, I understand that kids don't want "Rabbit Food" and Chickpeas.

“Healthy eating can be tasty. It's more a matter of replacing certain ingredients and ensuring the essential minerals and vitamins are present in their meals".

The new children's menu will be available in the hotel's Foodworks Restaurant and Sandeman's Bar for the summer school holidays and will be available permanently from then on.

The Lancaster House Hotel is a stylish and family-friendly hotel on the doorstep of the Trough of Bowland, Lune Valley and the Lake District.

More information on The Foodworks can be found at Thefoodworks.co.uk. For more information on the Lancaster House Hotel visit Elh.co.uk.