Here’s Where Kids Eat Free This Half Term
Keeping the kids entertained for an entire week is expensive enough before you factor in feeding them. Thankfully, a handful of London restaurants are making things a little easier this October half term, with free meals for little ones alongside plenty of family-friendly menus and activities. From genuinely free three-course meals to sushi-making and dinner with a film, here’s where to take them.
Kids eat free
Pan Pacific London
Pan Pacific London has one of the better deals if you’re dining with particularly little ones this half term. At Straits Kitchen, children aged six and under eat free from the children’s menu, while those aged six to 12 get 50% off the full à la carte menu. It means you’re not restricted to somewhere overtly child-focused just because you’ve got the family in tow. There’s also a dedicated Children’s Afternoon Tea if you want to make more of an occasion of it.
Where: 80 Houndsditch, London EC3A 7AB
Website: www.panpacific.com
Bread Street Kitchen
Gordon Ramsay is making family lunch considerably cheaper this half term, with one free meal from the Ramsay Kids menu for every adult main ordered at Bread Street Kitchen. The offer includes plenty of familiar favourites and a sweet treat to finish, while the adults can stick to the restaurant’s British classics. Better still, it runs every day at selected branches, so you don’t necessarily have to engineer your plans around a weekday.
Where: across london
Website: www.gordonramsayrestaurants.com
Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill
If half term involves Oxford Street, Bond Street or an attempt to exhaust everyone with a run around Hyde Park, Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill makes a useful refuelling point. Kids eat free Monday to Friday during October half term, with one complimentary Ramsay Kids meal for every adult main ordered. The grown-ups, meanwhile, have the restaurant’s steaks and grill classics to work through.
Where: across london
Website: www.gordonramsayrestaurants.com
The Italian Greyhound
The Italian Greyhound is getting the whole famiglia involved this half term, with kids eating free from its dedicated Bambini menu. There’s considerably more choice than the obligatory chicken-and-chips situation too: little ones can go for tomato and buffalo mozzarella pizza, rigatoni carbonara or chicken Milanese with potato fritti, followed by ice cream or sorbet.
Where: 62 Seymour St, London W1H 5BN
Website: www.theitaliangreyhound.co.uk
The Broadcaster
If you’re heading west this half term, The Broadcaster is keeping things pleasingly simple: order an adult main course and you’ll receive one children’s meal for free. Its location opposite Television Centre also makes it an easy one to work into a day around White City and Shepherd’s Bush without having to make lunch the main event.
Where: 89 Wood Ln, London W12 7FX
Website: www.thebroadcaster.co.uk
The Lighterman
This is a particularly good one if you’re already looking for something to actually do with the kids. The Lighterman has partnered with Lightroom for its new family-friendly Larger Than Life show, with one free children’s meal for every paying adult main course when you show a valid Lightroom ticket. The offer runs from 24th October to 1st November, so you can do the exhibition and lunch without trekking halfway across London between the two.
Where: The Lighterman, 3 Granary Square, London N1C 4BH
Website: www.thelighterman.co.uk
Michael Caines at The Stafford
Even Michelin-starred dining is getting a little more family-friendly this half term. At Michael Caines at The Stafford, children aged 12 and under can eat free from the children’s menu when accompanied by an adult ordering a main course. It’s available at both lunch and dinner, with one complimentary children’s meal per paying adult, making this the smart option if you’d quite like the adults to enjoy half term too.
Where: 16, 18 St. James’s Place, London
Website: thestaffordlondon.com
ASK Italian
ASK Italian is making half-term considerably cheaper for families this October, with up to two kids eating free for every adult main ordered. The offer gets children a full three-course meal, complete with a babyccino, and runs from 9th–31st October, so it covers the whole school break and then some. There’s also a new autumn menu if the adults need convincing, while from 23rd October the kids can finish with a suitably chaotic S’mores Dessert Pizza topped with toasted marshmallows, Biscoff crumb, vanilla gelato and chocolate sauce.
Where: across london
Website: www.askitalian.co.uk
The Cinnamon Collection
Indian food is a good shout when you’re trying to feed the whole family, and this half term there’s an even better reason to book in. Kids aged 12 and under can eat for free with a paying adult at three of Vivek Singh’s London restaurants: Cinnamon Kitchen City, Cinnamon Kitchen Battersea and Cinnamon Bazaar Covent Garden. There are plenty of gentler options for younger palates alongside the restaurants’ usual modern Indian cooking, from colourful chaats and biryanis to grills and comforting curries. Just note that the offer doesn’t include The Cinnamon Club.
Where: across london
Website: cinnamonclub.com
More half-term foodie offers & activities
L’oscar London
L’oscar is going after the full half-term stay rather than simply lunch. Children stay free, with no charge for additional beds in family suites, and there are plenty of Halloween extras thrown in. Kids receive a Toy House Passport with challenges to complete around the hotel, alongside Halloween welcome drinks, hot chocolate and sweet treats before bed and a themed breakfast each morning. One for turning the school holiday into a London sleepover rather than another afternoon desperately searching for an activity.
Where: 2-6 Southampton Row, London WC1B 4AA
Website: www.loscarlondon.com
The Brush
Dinner and a film becomes considerably easier when you don’t have to organise the film yourself. The Brush at The Hoxton Shoreditch is putting on complimentary family cinema screenings for diners throughout half term, with Coco and Frankenweenie among the films showing in its cinema room. There’ll also be face painting and Halloween biscuit decorating during the week, making this one you can stretch into a proper afternoon out rather than simply another lunch.
Where: 84-86 Great Eastern St, London EC2A 3JL
Website: artotel.com
Sticks’n’Sushi
If your children are more interested in making lunch than sitting quietly through it, Sticks’n’Sushi is running its Kids ’n’ Sushi masterclasses over half term. Designed for children aged eight to 12, the 90-minute classes teach them how to slice, roll and shape sushi, from hosomaki and nigiri to a Halloween-ready pumpkin-shaped salmon onigiri. Tickets start from £40 and include a soft drink and goody bag to take home.
Where: across london
Website: www.sticksnsushi.com
Drake & Morgan
Drake & Morgan has teamed up with children’s cookbook author Annabel Karmel for a new menu designed to cover pretty much every stage of childhood. There are first weaning purées for the smallest diners alongside French toast fingers, glazed chicken bites and vegetable bolognese for older children, with dishes available for kids up to 12. It isn’t a freebie, but it’s a useful one to know about when you’re trying to find somewhere that works for several different ages at once.
Where: 6 Pancras Sq, London N1C 4AG
Website: www.drakeandmorgan.co.uk
