Family Friendly Restaurants

Earlier this week we headed to the Corn Exchange in Manchester to eat at Vapiano. Vapiano is an italian restaurant with a difference, to begin with everything is made fresh on site including the pasta. Each person eating is given a smart card that allows you to order and pay for all of the food you eat which makes eating out as a group a lot easier. Unlike most restaurants the atmosphere is very relaxed and you are able to choose where you want to sit and move around if you want to as well. This is due to the fact that you order your food from the chefs who then cook it fresh for you whilst you wait (apart from pizzas were you are given a buzzer to go back when it is ready). This is great because it means you can add or remove any ingredients that you dont like.

To start we ordered a large Antipasti for the four of us to share and a strawberry and spinach salad which was absolutely delicious.

When we were ready we then ordered our mains. Alison and Elizabeth ate from the kids menu which was just under £5 and gave them an option of pizzas and pastas. The portion sizes were very generous and as things got made fresh Alison was able to choose her favourite toppings for her pizza and Elizabeth was able to choose spaghetti over other types of pasta.

Being able to choose exactly what you want in your meal is great for food allergies, intolerances and even if you are on a diet. I was able to order a chicken pasta in a tomato based sauce with lots of vegetables and lots of chilli, just how I like it.

The portions were so generous that I was unable to finish my pasta which means I also opted out of pudding although both kids felt the need to tell me how delicious they were.

Although ordering four different dinners from different areas of the restaurant could of been a bit of a nightmare we found that it worked smoothly. In fact being able to get your food cooked fresh for you as soon as you want it means that Vapiano is a brilliant destination when you need a quick, healthy meal so would be perfect destination for food whilst out shopping or before you to do the cinema or to see a gig at the Manchester Arena.

As well as the convenience aspects to Vapiano it was the freshness of the ingredients that really stole the show. Having fresh bread, dough, pasta and sauces cooked on site on the day made the food far superior over any other italian we have reviewed. It is also the reason that I know we will definitely be back to eat at Vapiano soon.

If you are heading to Vapaino before 30th April there is a fabulous instagram competition where you can win £1000 by publishing a photo using the hashtag #MyVapiano and tagging in @VapianoUK