We're meeting some friends at a Chinese restaurant tonight with our 4 year old and 2 year old. We usually only go out for either sushi or pub food, which is pretty rare anyway. Just curious for those of you that have taken your small kiddos to Chinese restaurants, what do you order for them? This is supposedly a yummy and pretty authentic place so the food should be really good. Just trying to get some ideas from the experts before we go. Thanks!
You guys are so awesome. To B P., no I really have never taken them to a Chinese restaurant. My husband has traveled to China a few times for business over the past 6 years, and it's turned him into a Chinese food snob. :) I guess food in China is mostly a lot healthier, a lot less greasy than many American Chinese restaurants, and he says he just can't eat it here. So we never even order Chinese food at home. The only reason we talked him into going tonight is that the the reviews are great for this place and it's supposedly more healthy/less greasy than your typical American Chinese fare. Thanks so much you guys! Anyone else hungry for Chinese now?!
I probably can't be much help, my 5 yo. likes it as spicy as she can get it.
DS (1) likes fried rice.
My kids love the orange chicken, honey seared chicken, or sesame chicken with steamed white rice. They also love the eggs rolls. Sometimes they eat the terayaki chicken with added sauce on the side and also like a small think of beef and broccoli. I typically order two plates and my family of 4 shares off everyones plate.
usually I get chicken lo mien and I ask for a little plate and she eats some of that. she's 4 and she also likes crab rangoon.
My daughter is a picky eater so all she eats is the white rice and fried wonton at a Chinese restaurant. I know not super health but we go maybe once a month so we let it slide.
There usually is so much on the menu that many can find something that they can eat. Can you look online the place, they might have a menu posted. Shrimp Fried Rice, Beef (in steak strips)/Pepper/Onion with white rice on the side, Wonton Soup... pick what your favorite food is chicken, shrimp, beef, veggie and have fun :)
Wow, I never thought about what my kid eats...he usually eats what we eat, unless we order something too spicy.
I guess he likes fried rice w/some sort of meat in it. Its ideal b/c it usually has some sort of veggie in it.
When we go to any Chinese/Japanese restaurant we order endamame - he likes popping the beans in his mouth.
Normally some variation of fried rice - usually shrimp, chicken or vegetarian. He likes kani, and some very simple stir fries.
Have a nice dinner!
God Bless
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My 3 yr old grand daughter went thru a stage where all she wanted was noodles, pasta, top ramen, the longer the better! She loves rice, and cant get enough broccoli now, so Chinese food is easy. We gave her the noodles in chow mein and broccoli from the broccoli and beef and told her the wontons were chips. She ate fine! If your kids are good meat eaters you can go with chicken pieces in the chow mein and veggies too. Now Im hungry!
My 8 yo LOVES Chinese-and has for YEARS --General Tso chicken, steamed rice, chicken fried rice, egg rolls, won ton soup--you name it!
My two older ones eat rice and the steamed veggies. Thats it. They refuse to eat anything with sauce on it. Probably my fault that they are like that because I wanted them to eat everything without being smothered in some kind of dip when they were younger since it is healthier but it kind of backfired because now they still want everything plain. It gets a little hard when eating at people's houses. My 2 year old will eat pretty much anything.
Steamed Rice
Chow Mein noodles
Broccoli Beef (great b/c it has carrots etc)
Sweet and Sour pork
lo mein, crab cheese puffs,sushi, rice.
When we go to a buffet, they eat the Chinese pizza, Chinese French fries, and the Chinese jello and mac and cheese.
When we go to a real Chinese restaurant, they enjoy the sweet and sour chicken, beef and brocolli, and won't each much of the other stuff, especially if it's spicy. We do let them try other things, but these are the two they usually come back to and eat willingly.
My kids eat everything we eat. They are 7,5 &3 and if I had to guess their favorites it would have to be the Pot Stickers!
My 2 year old likes
Chowmein
Orange Chicken
Broccoli Beef (she eats more of the broccoli)
Crab Rangoons
Fried Wontons
Foil Chicken
Have Fun!
My son (5) LOVES Chinese restaurants. Has since he was tiny. He likes almost anything, but he prefers honey chicken if they have that. Also, if your kids are really picky, you can order sweet and sour chicken without sauce--tell them it's just like chicken nuggets! (I have a very sensitive stomach, so that's what I usually eat to avoid problems, even though it's not the healthiest meal option.) My boys also eat the veggies.
chow mien with chicken or sweet and sour chicken, eggrolls... HTH
Everything!
Most little kids like rice and noodles. Egg rolls are fun for kids.
My kids literally ate everything so I would be sure to let them taste several things. I've known kids who wouldn't eat vegetables at home, but would eat them stir fried at a Chinese restaurant.
I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!
Have fun!
5 yr old likes
crab ragoon
combo rice
shirmp rice
egg roll
shrimp toast
We normally do the buffets as well, but my son will eat full Chinese. He LOVES sweet and sour chicken, fried donuts, rice with soy sauce, Mongolian beef, and lo mein. I would try to pick things that could have sauce on the side or no sauce at all (since they can be pretty spicy) and just offer your kids a bit of anything of yours. You never know what they will like until they try it! :) Have fun!
We do beef and broccoli ... steamed Veggies, rice (my kids only eat plain, not stir fried) I would pick any entree where the chix or beef is not deep fried and just pull it out for them to eat. enjoy!!! Man i wish we had a decent Chinese food place here.... :)
It really depends on your kids. Neither of ours would eat the "standard kids food" (sweet & sour chicken). Our daughter, however, would eat just about any meat that wasn't doused in sauce, so she would eat chicken on a stick (whatever name they use - chicken satay maybe?). Our son was the same, although he did like steamed rice also. He also really liked the crab wontons (cream cheese & crab filled). He is our more adventurous eater, she is the "picky" one. He started LOVING chinese food around age 8. Daughter (almost 10) JUST 'discovered' it in the last 6 months.
If this was lunch I would say dimsum with shu mai (sp) as our kiddies favorite. Mine like lo mein, pan fried shrimp and rice
Depends on the type of chinese. My son's favorites:
DimSum - We've gone out for Dim Sum at least once a month since he was a baby (he's now 8). We're often the only white people in this particular restaurant. The servers all love him and bring him special treats/ take him back into the kitchen to look at the fish in the tanks.
- Palace tofu (steamed tofu with shrimp on top)
- Turnip Cake
- Shu Mai
- Shrimp Ball
- Golden Dumpling
- Baked Hum Bao
Family Style
- Tomato Beef
- Mu Shu Pork or Mu Shu Tofu
we only take our toddler to chinese buffets, not the more authetic places. because most buffets will have mac and cheese. but he also like lo mein and sweet and sour chicken
I suppose it'd depend on how your children are. If there's a buffet, perhaps you could walk your children by it to see what looks good to them, something they'd like to try. Our personal preferences: I think that sweet and sour chicken is an old standby that all kids will eat. Veg or egg rolls, beef and broccoli since both my kids LOVE broccoli, my oldest (4) likes the crab wontons in some sauce. Just make it fun, and they'll follow suit if they're are adventurous eaters. Orange chicken is nice and simple. Don't want anything "too" spicy, and I think the soups are too strong for little ones to enjoy generally speaking. When I was little it was the only way mom could get me to eat vegetables. :P And, I may be "mean", but we do not allow the kids to eat grilled cheese or chicken nuggets if we're at an ethnic restaurant. If we go to Mexican, Greek, Mongolian, Italian, Chinese, whatever---I want them to taste something from that place.
My kids LOVE chinese! They are 5, 4, & 2...that's what they pick for dinner all the time. However...they only eat sweet & sour chicken. :)
We mix white rice, fried rice, and sweet & sour chicken (with only pineapples - no peppers or tomatoes) together in a bowl. They thing it's the greatest! I know some kids who love it, but who want to take the chicken and dip it in the sweet & sour sauce like chicken nuggets.
A lot of chinese restaurants also have a very small "American" section for kids (grilled chese, cheeseburgers, etc.)
Good luck!
my boys have LOVED fried rice...egg rolls and won tons...
I'm VERY lucky - my kids will TRY ANYTHING - so have a nut!!! Give them a sampling of everything!!! I wouldn't order their own meal - I would let them eat off my plate or my husband's - and in Chinese restaurants this is usually VERY acceptable.
HAVE FUN!!!
Is it a buffet?
My kids will eat anything on the buffet, to the excess.
When I ordered takeout we got moo goo gai pan, sweet and sour chicken, chicken and broccoli, or beef and broccoli, anything that is pretty straight forward. And Spring rolls, mmmm
Now they are older and get General Tso's chicken or Hunan beef, or Schechuan something or other, ick. .
My kids will eat most anything at a chinese restaurant as I make sure the tone down a spicy dish a little. I never assume they will not like something until they try it. If they hate a food we do avoid it, but it is a rarity to find an item that they don't want to eat and we have since birth given them opportunities to try many things, many cultures dishes, many diets. So they don't have a preconceived notion of how things are "supposed to taste" as everything has a different taste.
All of ours are buffet style with mongolian grill. My six year old loves bacon wrapped crab, the chinese green beans, chinese donuts, fried rice, hard boiled eggs, pineapple chicken, bbq chicken, sweet and sour anything, and jello. And ice cream. Of course...half of that isn't Chinese, but they offer it. :)
my three year old loooves rice, and we get her sweet and sour chicken without the sauce, which is basically chicken nuggets. If we are at a buffet, she will eat all the veggies, pizza, noodles, etc. Makes it easy to go there for dinner!
It depends on what your kids like...you really have never gone to a Chinese restaurant with them? If they like noodles and rice, then it will be easy since you just get Lo Mein or Fried Rice. My son will not eat noodles or rice and we LOVE chinese food. Most kids like the little fried chicken nuggets with the sweet and sour dipping sauce but once again, my son wont touch it. Also, if they like meat, they might like the meat inside the dumplings (he wont eat this either but he is very picky). Our son loves the fruit though, they have pineapples and oranges and that is what he has.
Well, looks like you already got plenty of suggestions for food but I want to add that you should get the waiter to fix up a pair of "kiddie" chopsticks for the little ones. Like where they wedge something between them and put a rubber band around the end so all the kids have to do is squeeze them together. They really get a kick out of it.
DS (5) eats anything. He has been eating out since he was on solids (and came in his car seat/stroller before that) Our local Chinese restaurant also does sushi so we usually do a mix of Chinese plus sushi - he LOVES steamed dumplings, seaweed salad, Mu Shu (we usually get vegetable), Sezchuan (sp) dry fried string beans, really anything. A great opportunity to get them away from french fries, chicken nuggets and pizza but a LOT of Chinese restaurants cook with way too much oil so it's not necessarily a lot better for them. Many Chinese restaurants offer brown rice instead of white but you need to ask for it. They also generally offer veggies steamed with sauce on the side if you ask. Way lower in fat, sugar and calories.
Totally hungry for chinese now! LOL.
My daughter (4YO) likes the "Chinese spaghetti". LOL.
~C.
My daughter is almost two and when we do carry out or dine in chinese, we have her eat the fried rice, some crab ragoon, and stuff like that and she enjoys it. Some of the chinese restaurants have a small menu that consists of burger and fries and things like that for kids.
