Chapter IV is an easy child friendly option....

Chapter IV
180 Latrobe Tce
Paddington 4064

Contact:  
T ~ 0447 283 741        
F ~ https://www.facebook.com/chapterfourpaddington


We stumbled on this local cafe when we were out walking recently on a Sunday afternoon.  I remember when we first moved to the area about 15 years ago and it was the well known Flower Cafe, that sadly closed.  Then years later it reopened as The Hamptons, and then something else in between, before it recently relaunched as Chapter IV.

Just a short stroll up from the Paddington Antique Centre, this quaint little cafe is perfect for brekky right through to dinner.  The food is amazing, the service is very personable, the balcony at the back has gorgeous city views, and there is a dedicated kids' space!!




The menu is easily adapted and suitable for kids.  The sweet potato chips are amazing and the salt and pepper calamari is delicious!!  Our children couldn't get enough of that.  The milkshakes are enormous for kids, and so there was no chance that they would be finished, but the smiles on their faces as the milkshakes came out were priceless!!  Very aesthetically pleasing for little ones!!


In fact all the food is beautifully presented and ridiculously delicious.  Great for dinner with a couple of families, allowing space for the kids to play afterwards while you finish your meals and have 'adult chat'.  BYO alcohol if you are keen on a wine with dinner, with just $4 corkage.

I really want to support this cafe and I hope you will too.  I would love to see some longevity in this location as it is a magic spot and such a quaint end of Latrobe Tce.  Venture up there this weekend and enjoy a child friendly dining option.  xx

Mexican has arrived, and so much more to come!!

Guzman Y Gomez ~ GYG
In the new High St Eat Precinct
Toowong Village
9 Sherwood Road
Toowong

Contact:  toowong@gyg.com.au

It was Mexican madness at Toowong Village last Thursday with the opening of GYG and the free burrito day...that's right, free burritos all day from 11am to 8pm.  Apparently there were in excess of 5,000 burritos given away!  But I think the atmosphere, the excitement, and the crowds were not just about the burritos, but about the dining options still to come.  

GYG is the first cafe to open in the new 'High St Eat' dining precinct at Toowong Village - something that the area of Toowong has long been wanting.  Not only is it good for Toowong, but GYG is the first of the Mexican chain to open in the Western suburbs, along with many of its fellow cafes yet to open that don't already have a presence in the Western side of Brisbane .

The signage on display indicates that other well known names to open before the middle of the year include:

• Grill'd - the very popular gourmet healthy burgers.
• Tibetan Kitchen - a Brisbane institution that I frequented in the Valley during my uni days in the 90s!  A great healthy meal reasonably priced.
• Stellarosa - from brekky to dinner, coffee to pizzas, great food anytime of day.
• San Churro - churros dipped in chocolate...yum!

Image below is an artist impression of the new High St Eat precinct copied from the Toowong Village website:

All the new dining options are extremely child/family friendly, with kids menus or options for the little ones, plus most are licensed so you can enjoy a beverage at the same time.  The new precinct stretches along Sherwood Road and looks up to High St, with internal and alfresco dining.  I can envisage myself meeting friends there for lunch or coffee with the kids or tow, or heading there as a family for dinner.

I think this new High St Eat precinct is one to keep an eye on for family friendly options.  Stay tuned...

A Day Trip up the Mountain that the Kids will Love!

Jones Tea Rooms

Corner of Mt Nebo Rd and Fernlands Rd

Mt Nebo

We were getting a bit of cabin fever with the recent rain, so after getting the boys' haircuts at Aldos at Brookside one Saturday morning, we decided on our way home to keep driving.  We ended up on Mt Nebo Road and heading up the mountain.  It was all safe and high, so no flooding issues in this area.

We made several stops along the way - the lookouts would be very different on a clear day, with no doubt amazing views, but the kids liked that we were high enough to be immersed in cloud cover which gave the outlook a different perspective.  Really beautiful and a little bit eery.  Westridge was probably our favourite lookout, with a short boardwalk to overlook Wivenhoe Dam….or glimpses of the dam through the cloud cover.  Pretty cool.

The roadside waterfalls along the way were impressive too.  I am sure this is just resulting from the heavy rain we have had, but they were beautiful.

We stopped at Dr Red along the way -  the wine tasting house on the side of the road where you can overdose on antioxidants at the same time!  I never knew that purple carrots were high in antioxidants, nor did I know that they could be included in wine!!  We bought the purple carrot shiraz, which will be a fun talking point when we next catch up with friends.  The kids tried the non-alcoholic blueberry punch but they weren't big fans of it.  I have heard the ginger punch is nice too, but our kids were not keen.  Still a fun place to stop and on a clear day the view from this place would be spectacular!

Then there was lunch….we went to stop at the main cafe up there called Boombana, but because of the rain they said they were quiet and decided to close early….so we drove on.  We stopped at this little place on the corner of Mt Nebo and Fernlands Rds called Jones Tea Rooms, and it was a delight - nothing fancy but a very welcoming place to stop.  The older lady in there is a real character - dry but funny.  We ordered toasted sandwiches for the kids and burgers for us - simple food but the meals were enormous and perfect for a rainy day.  The pricing was really reasonable too.  While we waited for our food, the lady gave us cups of bird seed to go outside the cafe and feed these amazing looking birds.  The kids loved it!!  Of course GG is a Mary Poppins fan, so the song 'Feed the Birds' was being sung a lot at this time and then got stuck in our heads all afternoon!

The lady makes all her own chutneys, jams, lemon butter etc, and the walls are adorned with crocheted and knitted creations displaying awarded ribbons for workmanship and quality - all for sale.  It was like stepping into the CWA.  With a fireplace in the corner I think it would be fun to visit in Winter.  Apparently a popular stop for cyclists in the mornings, with hundreds arriving for coffee all at the same time, so I am sure it would get busy at certain times, but when we were there we had the place to ourselves….possibly rain related!

The cafe and property is for sale - she proceeded to tell us that after 53 years on the mountain, she needed a change.  So next time we visit it may be a completely different experience, but worth checking it out.  The drive overall was lovely and with all the stops along the way this kids didn't have a chance to get bored.  

Child Friendly Plum Tucker

Plum Tucker Café + Eatery
Shop 1/ 5 Enoggera Tce
Red Hill, Qld 4059

T: 07 - 3369 0610
W: http://plumtucker.com.au/

Open 6am daily for brekky and lunch.  Open for dinner Friday and Saturday nights.

Child Friendly Snapshot:
A gorgeous bustling café that has room for a pram when dining outside, or inside when not so busy.  You can even bring your dog if dining outside.  The food is fab and the kids menu is excellent and reasonably priced.  Service is so friendly, and they are quick to bring colouring pencils to the table to keep your little ones amused, or have the kids colouring table in the corner if they need more space for their artistic works.

This is a regular for us, if we go early enough and can get a table to accommodate all 6.  One day I will remember to actually make a booking, rather than just turning up!!  It is a busy spot, so bookings are recommended.

Our kids love the eggs and soldiers off the kids' brekky menu (kids menu shown below) - a healthy breakfast that I could clearly make a version of at home, but it's great for those Sunday mornings when you just want to go slow with no cleaning up.  The adults' menu is simple but delish and the food is fresh and made from scratch. 

You get the overwhelming sense that the Plum Tucker team love to create good old fashion food with the freshest produce.  You also feel like every time you walk through the door they are happy to see you.  It is such a welcoming vibe, even when you have four young children in tow!!  They definitely make families feel at home.

I would absolutely recommend Plum Tucker for your next family dining outing.  Have fun!

Child Friendly Sunday at Lick My Spoon and Eagle Farm Markets

Lick My Spoon
1/160 Racecourse Road
Ascot
T: 3268 6023
Open 7am-3pm daily

Child Friendly Snapshot:
Pram access? Yes
Kids' menu? Yes - excellent.
Play area? No, but a kids corner with books and toys that can be utilised in that space or at the table.
Activities at the table? Yes, as per the above comment.
Room for kids to move around? Yes, but not really a place to let your kids run wild.
Child friendly atmosphere? Yes
Prices? Normal cafe prices.

With the fab weather at the moment, Lick My Spoon is a lovely start to a lazy child friendly Sunday.  Located at the end of Racecourse Rd, Lick My Spoon  is a child friendly breakfast and lunch cafe just opposite the Eagle Farm racecourse.  With parking right at the door, this is an easy outing for any sized family.

We arrived without a booking, and got a table outside straight away.  The service was quick and accomodating with particular attention paid to the children which was lovely.  The kids menu is really good, but not cheap at $10 each for 4 children.  However, the boys loved their bacon and scrambled eggs, and the girls loved their french toast - they ate everything on the plate, so money well spent I think!  They also loved the freshly squeezed orange juice...delish!  I had the omelette which was massive and I could not finish it, but it was really tasty.  Mike had the bacon and egg burger which he said was excellent.  The coffee was great and fast to the table, as were our meals.

When the kids started to get a bit restless, they went and chose a book and a toy from the kids corner and that gave us all a bit more time to finish brekky.  There were plenty of children in the cafe, but it didn't feel like a playground.  It was relaxing and well managed with fast service and a well stocked kids corner.

Afterwards we wandered over the the Eagle Farm Markets held at the racecourse every Sunday.  Fruit and veg, specialty/deli food items, flowers, artwork, clothing and other goods  - a really lovely mix in a great enviroment surrounded by the old buildings inside the grounds.  There is a lady there who sells beautiful dresses for young girls.  I don't know her and only came across her stall when we went there recently.  But I have bought 2 dresses from her already, and have ordered some others.  So cheap at $25 each and all homemade out of gorgeous materials!  Her business is called Nanny Ethel Treasures and you can view her dresses on Facebook.

Also at the markets are pony rides, a jumping castle, Bumbles the Balloon Clown, several buskers/djs and lots of space to let the kids have a run around.  It was a lovely Sunday, making the most of this sensational Brisbane weather at the moment!!  I would definitely recommend it for a child friendly family day out.

A Good Wrap - child friendly and green friendly.

We are renovating our house at the moment, and so my regular past time is going through home decorating magazines. Recently I was reading House and Garden Magazine and came across a story titled Mothers of Invention, featuring a series of mums who have started new and innovative businesses and have been able to successfully balance this with family. I think having more balance in our lives is what we all strive for, be it with work, our partners, children, downtime, personal fitness etc. So of course I was drawn to the story for some personal motivation.

There were so many of the ideas that I loved, so I might go back and reread and feature others down the track, but this one really took my interest and motivated me to go to the website immediately. A Good Wrap is a great idea for school lunchboxes, doing away with glad wrap, sandwich bags and all those other disposable lunch wraps. A Good Wrap has created a reusable lunch wrap made from cotton and nylon. It can be simply wiped out with a cloth or put through a cold machine wash. The range of patterns in the fabrics are limited at this stage but gorgeous all the same. And they are all secured with velcro so really easy for kids to open. Our 4 year old triplets often find it hard to open some plastic containers when they are at pre-prep, so these will be so much easier for them.

The best thing about it is that the large sized sandwich wrap is only $12!! See here. So not only is it Eco friendly, cutting down on the rubbish in the playground and in our landfill, but it also will save you a heap in not having to use as much glad wrap. A lot of schools these days require nude food, so this also works brilliantly with that policy. I thought I might go for the bundle special. Seems to be child friendly, eco friendly and wallet friendly!!

Coffee Club Kid Friendly....

Just got the inside scoop on the new Coffee Club at Flockton St Everton Park.....apparently in the first week of February they are installing a play area for kids similar to what you would see at McDonalds. I haven't seen it myself, but we will definitely do a trip there in Feb and check it out, so I will let you know how we go. Flockton St has become a very child friendly precinct with the Swim school, Everton Park Hotel and now Coffee Club with a play area....watch this space for the play area update....