We were guests of InterContinental Melbourne The Rialto for the purposes of this post.
The InterContinental hotel chain has recently released their Planet Trekkers menu. This menu was developed by Park Lane InterContinental chef Theo Randall along with leading children’s food expert Annabel Karmel. We were invited along to give it a try and, given our foodie experiences with resident picky eater (Riley), I cautiously – but optimistically – accepted.
I will say right off the bat that the InterContinental at The Rialto is one of Melbourne’s best known hotels, set off beautifully by this glass atrium that is its core and overlooks the Alluvial Restaurant down on the lower level. We dined there.
Apart from offering choices of food, the menu also had lots of activities, puzzles and jokes to help keep the kids entertained – and it worked! For the entire meal! That’s impressive in itself.
The menu is available to see online. As you can will, there’s a ‘small’ and ‘large’ plate option. As our kids are older, we opted to order from the big plate selection (they forwent sides as we adults shared ours with them).
Riley ordered ‘spaghetti bolognese with hide and seek veggies’. I was a little nervous because he complained about the vegetable aspect. However, he cleaned the plate. Ate every scrap. He was so impressed (“That was delicious”) he declared it to be the best he’s ever had – including my own *sob* – and made sure the waiter was told as well.
Keira ordered ‘yummy mini beef burgers’ and here they are – the side of ‘fresh salad’ might not have appeared as I’d imagined, but she ate the carrot. And the burgers had some green on them as well. Both of these dishes were $12 and I think that was reasonable.
On to everyone’s favourite – dessert!
Both kids ordered the ‘chocolate brownie ice cream sundae’ and, for $8, I think that’s great value for money. There were a lot of blueberries on that plate! Happy with that fruit factor.
When we went on our recent road trip, we stayed overnight at a place and ordered room service. The kids menu served nothing but the ‘browns’ – deep fried nuggets, fish, chips, chicken tenders etc. Gross. It can be hard to find a place that not only serves nutritious food, but at a reasonable price. Honestly, I love this menu: the principles surrounding it’s creation to how it has been rolled out across the world. It adds a ‘family friendly’ tick, and that’s quite an achievement. The staff looked after us wonderfully, the locale and ambiance was great. We left full and content.
Highly recommend! If you’d like some more information, go to their website.
