Foodie Fridays: Marche @ Vivocity

Sometime back, we went to Vivocity for dinner as we had to collect our dSLR after it was repaired.  We decided to eat at Marche, the Swiss restaurant that has stalls selling food marketplace style.  We've gone to the branch in town quite a few times before it closed down, and the design and decor of the Vivocity branch seems more or less like its predecessor.  I opted for the potato rosti, which I love, while hubby went for the steak (which was disappointingly small and not too great).  I won't go into detail about the food there, since there are better reviews out there (visit this site for one)...

What was new to us, however, was how kid-friendly the place was (as this was the first time for us visiting the place after having a kid!).  Firstly, they have excellent high chairs.  Most restaurants usually use the Antilop highchair from Ikea, where in most cases, the seatbelt is missing or spoilt, which means Junior J ends up standing up during the middle of the meal and trying to get out of the chair, something not too ideal if you are trying to finish your dinner and feed him his.  Other restaurants stock plasticky or wood versions of chairs that are very roomy (to allow the larger toddlers to fit in), which usually are not comfortable and again allows the little Houdini to escape mid-meal.  So imagine our delight when we put the boy in the high chair by Stokke, and found that it was pretty comfortable for him, fitted well, and didn't allow him to escape!

Also, the lady at the entrance also gave the little boy things to keep him occupied during the meal: A pair of colour pencils, a drawing to colour, as well as a colouring calendar.  Though the boy isn't really ready to hold a pencil and scribble, those things did keep him occupied for a period of time as he tried to scribble (while we tried to keep him from colouring the table!).  If that wasn't good enough, the restaurant also provides disposable bibs for kids, which though isn't environmentally friendly, does earn points for effort!

 One more colour pencil if you please!

And finally, the icing on the cake was the balloon Junior J got when we left after dinner, which kept him occupied all the way home.   So though the food is rather expensive, and the steak could be better, its a place I might go back for the way they cater to kids!

PS: The photos were taken using the iPhone (you can see our SLR in the pictures) since I very cleverly forgot to bring along the memory card!  The top photo was edited using the iPhone app "Dash of Color", which I think is pretty cool!  (We don't have Photoshop, so I can't do all those b/w+ colour effects...)

Have a great weekend!