Giraffe World Kitchen is a UK based restaurant chain that shares delicious dishes from around the world. If you're playing it safe you can order a burger but there's plenty of choice for adults and kids who are feeling adventurous. We visited the Southbank branch of Giraffe restaurant, London to find out just how good the food is and how kid-friendly it is.
Is there a children's menu at Giraffe?
The Giraffe kids menu is one of the better ones I've seen.
My heart always sinks when every option comes with chips (the toddler will eat the chips and nothing else), consists of white bread ham and cheese sandwiches or even contains such "healthy" options as pizza and chips together (actually seen this week!).
Just to be clear - Giraffe DOES have things with chips on the menu. They're skin on fries however, which just makes them a bit more nutritious. Every dish that comes with chips has the option to order an alternative eg sweet potato fries, jacket potato wedges or slaw.
There are also a number of other dishes for the more adventurous child eg katsu chicken and quesadilla. R, 7, was tempted by the katsu chicken but ended up predictably ordering a burger, as did Miss R, 6.
S, 3, had pasta pomodoro, which is always his favourite.
I also really liked that the menu items are priced individually so you don't feel tied into ordering your kids a dessert if you don't want to.
Two more good touches were that they had lovely activity sheets that kept my older kids going until the food arrived and that the waiter brought us over a supply of wet wipes without me asking.
If you've ever watched a three year old serve themselves spaghetti with tomato sauce you'll know why these were needed!
Is Giraffe baby friendly?
We visited the Southbank branch of Giraffe in London. There's not much space for buggies at the table but they do have a large buggy park at the front of the restaurant.
The staff were very accommodating when we visited and I'm sure would have a solution if you had a sleeping baby in the buggy that you didn't want to move. There are plenty of high chairs and a changing table in the toilets.
What about adult food? Is there a good vegetarian selection?
There are some lovely options from all around the world at Giraffe. My husband, who ate a chicken noodle dish with gua bao buns on the side, said that his food was some of the nicest he's ever had in a chain restaurant.
In terms of vegetarian food I thought the options were varied and interesting. I had the kati roll, a curry made of cauliflower, chickpeas and pomegranate in a nan bread. It was REALLY good.
Other options included vada pav, spicy potato fritters in a burger bun, a super salad, enchiladas, a rice bowl and an Indo-Coco curry. I was surprised that the Indo-Coco curry is the only vegan option but I am hoping and expecting that this will change very soon.
Vegan dishes aren't marked on the menu but you can check online before you go or ask your waiter to help you.
How were the desserts at Giraffe?
I was far too full to contemplate dessert but my younger kids had ice cream and R shared this rocky road sundae with his dad. By all accounts it was extremely delicious. There certainly weren't any leftovers!
If you like this you might like this review of Arthur Hooper's restaurant or this review of tibits Bankside.
Read some of my other restaurant reviews for more kid friendly and vegetarian friendly restaurants in London.
Disclaimer: We received a free meal at Giraffe World Kitchen in return for this review. All opinions are honest and my own.
If you like this you might like my review of MOD pizza, ASK Italian or Le Comptoir Libanais.
Monika Dabrowski
I have to try to find this restaurant near where we are, sounds good!