A Child-Friendly Restaurant for Grown Ups

Little Stars and Friends here in Frankfurt is the kind of restaurant every mother imagines opening. You know, it’s the kind of place where you can bring the kids and relax while they wander around and play. It’s elegant, but there is nothing breakable, dangerous or fragile. In my dreams the food is tasty and healthy and grown up. And, most importantly, no one complains about the fact that there are children there, they are just accepted lovingly… even when their behavior is less than stellar. That point, is especially important to me as I once almost got into a fist fight with a tipsy patron at a traditional Frankfurter restaurant when he complained that my child was crying (it had been a stressful day for all of us).

This weekend, Sabine Tabrizi brought the dream to life and it really is the antithesis of McDonald’s. The world should take note because I (and lots of other people) would like to see a restaurant like this in every city, in every country in the world.

The concept, the press release says is “a restaurant where children can be children and parents can really relax.”

We entered restaurant for our Sunday lunch with high expectations. At least, my husband and I had high expectations. The kids were impressed with the inflatable bouncy castle immediately outside. The lounge, a relaxing area for afternoon coffee, is decorated with hybrid furniture that is half bed, half arm chair. Children’s furniture for little tea parties is equally elegant. From there, we pass a gift shop with merchandise we could all easily ignore and entered the dining room.

The first impression was one of dread that the concept so many have cherished for so long is impossible to achieve.

“It’s stinky, Mom,” were the first words my son spoke. Like many small children, his sense of smell is very sensitive and he did not like the scent of beef being grilled that wafted out from the open kitchen. The first thing I saw were the lit candle centerpieces in the middle of each table. If there is one thing I cannot relax around is a lit candle in the same room as my children.

After that, it got much, much better.

The menu cheered us up immediately. Billed as “fast food niveau” the food is organic, local and prepared by well-known chef Mirko Reeh. My son and his father had grilled chicken breast on top of a mild coconut milk curry with a side of mashed potatoes. The sauce can be served on the side for the comfort of suspicious little taste buds. Our son ate three bites and pronounced himself full. The baby and I shared grilled salmon with the most carefully prepared seasonal vegetables I have ever tasted.

That wasn’t enough for our daughter. While I don’t usually breastfeed my toddler in public (I cut her off public nursing at a year), I did here to enable the afternoon nap and it was a positive experience. No one gave a shocked look or a tsk tsk. We were just a family out for Sunday lunch and breast milk was an accepted part of the menu.

While we were eating, other small children wandered around, said hello and socialized during the boredom of adults eating and talking. It was a very comfortable atmosphere.

“I’ve often thought of doing this myself,” said Sara, another family diner. “The only thing it’s missing is a little corner where I can leave her (little daughter) to play while we watch and eat.”

“It’s in the city, which is just perfect,” a mother named Amaia told me. “You don’t have to bring the car or travel anywhere.”
There are other advantages to come. A babysitting service will open on the floor above the restaurant on Thursday, so that you can eat in peace or go to a doctor’s appointment. A small kitchen there will cater birthday parties and other celebrations for children.

It wasn’t a perfect experience. As with all very, very new restaurants, the wait staff are still learning the ropes and systems are being perfected. The young waitresses obviously don’t have children of their own and need to learn to serve children their drinks in plastic glasses, and perhaps their food on unbreakable dishes, so that parents can really relax. And, the fore-mentioned candles have got to go.

That said, before we’d even finished eating we were talking about when we’d come back and who we’d bring with us…which pretty much says that the dream is alive, workable, and operating in Frankfurt.

There were plenty of high chairs and one of the best-equipped change rooms and family washrooms I have ever seen. There was also a lot of room to move a stroller around. There may even have been too much room. After I nursed our daughter to sleep, I put her in her stroller and wheeled her behind her dad saying, “There’s your daughter.”

Then, I took our son to jump in the bouncy castle while he finished his beer and settled the bill. When he joined us 10 minutes later, he’d forgotten our daughter sleeping peacefully inside. Perhaps we all relaxed a little too much.

Little Stars and Friends is located at:

Börsenstraße 14
60313 Frankfurt am Main
Tel: 069.2108598-0
Fax: 069.2108598-29
kontakt@littlestars.eu