Yesterday I got to combine two of the things I am really passionate about. Food and Bugaboos!

Bugaboo invited me, as part of the London Restaurant Festival (which they are supporting), to Hix Restaurant in Soho for a spot of lunch. The lunch was to learn more about the festival, for us all to drool over my new Warhol designed Bee Plus and to try some of Mark Hix’s new children’s menu.

The London Restaurant Festival runs from 3rd – 21st October and is the capital’s annual citywide celebration of eating out. Over 400 restaurants are taking part and providing special FESTIVAL MENUS which offer great value and are created by chefs to offer food lovers the chance to try new restaurants. The festival menu programme runs in partnership with restaurant booking website bookatable.com so it shouldn’t be too hard to get a spot at the eaterie of your choice!

The festival booklet gives lots of handy tips as well as information about all the restaurants. One of the tips is that if you register your American Express card then you will receive a £25 statement credit when you spend £25 in two of the participating restaurants!

There are lots of special events over the foodie fortnight with lots of delicious offers to take advantage of. Whether you fancy a tapas tour, a gourmet odyssey or a film while you dine, the festival is just a really interesting way of getting to try dishes and venues that otherwise might not be on your radar. For tickets and more information please see the webisite www.londonrestaurantfestival.com.

Hix Soho is of course one of the participating restaurants and having looked in the handy booklet I know what price category it’s in and where to find it! Of course after lunching there yesterday I would LOVE to go back as the food we ate was JUST delicious and being in the heart of Soho it’s eclectic feel is just up my street!

The restaurant is gorgeous and we even got to meet the patron himself!

The children getting to meet Mark who even dined with us!

Mark Hix, like many parents, is frustrated at the lack of choice on menus for children when he dines out. Unhealthy options of chicken nuggets or frozen mini pizzas are often the norm while the adults get to sample wide and varied delights. He wanted to offer children something just as tempting so yesterday cooked up a storm and while still being very child friendly, the food was utterly scrumptious and indeed made from good fresh produce rather than being processed to within an inch! I mentioned that the food was JUST delicious didn’t I? Well guess what? We all ate the children’s menu too! And it totally was!

The menu sounded exciting!

While we waited to eat the children did some Bugaboo Bee colouring in and Mummy had some rather grown up cocktails to add a twist to the children’s menu! (The children had water served from fantastic fish lipped jugs which they thought was even more exciting than my Hix Fizz – each to their own I was sticking with the champagne cocktails!)

Jimmy is a bit off his food at the moment because he has teeth coming but in general he eats well. I don’t have to worry about him and although he doesn’t eat massive portions, he’ll pretty much try anything. He’s easy as far as eating’s concerned. When it comes to Florence it’s a whole different story. She doesn’t like lots of things, or says she doesn’t anyway and she often won’t even try food. Just point blank refuses. Yesterday however and she ate with gusto! In fact she ate FIVE meatballs! I would say for a lunch time that’s almost unheard of but they were rather tasty so I don’t blame her!

My favourite dish of the day was the home made fish fingers – Oh YUM! And Jimmy, with his teething pain, munched happily on the bread sticks and dips which were rather scrummy! Ordinarily he’d have got stuck into the main course too but with his teething pain he just isn’t eating at the moment unless it has an element of hard chew about it! It was Florence I was so impressed with though or rather, the food which tempted her so! I wish I could get her to eat like that!

And then of course there was the desert! Posh jelly and ice cream I thought might not have been Florence’s cup of tea. She’s not wild about the bright red boring variety so I thought stuff with fruit in might be a step too far but in fact she tucked away two portions and said she didn’t know jelly was so nice. Hmmm, perhaps I need to take some tips here myself! And Jimmy loved it too! I suspect the creamy ice cream was just what his gums ordered and the fruit and jelly slipped down nicely too!

A beautiful desert which the children (and adults) ate with speed!

And then, after having shown off our new buggy to all the other diners (well, it is FAAAAAAABULOUS dhaaaaarling!) we made our way, full as a house, home! I’ve always loved a Bugaboo Bee and the original was my very first buggy; the one I chose without hesitation and never regretted. I’ve written about it many, many times on my blog, have used it with both of my children since birth and always found it the perfect buggy for city living. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, my cousin’s CAT is heavier than the bee so lifting it on the London transport system’s many stairs is effortless. I’ve even done it at eight and a half months pregnant with a two year old inside. Doesn’t say much for fellow passengers but it does compound my reasons for it being the absolute best buggy for urban living!

In the past I’ve not really had much of a look at the Bee Plus, the upgrade to the original and I have wondered how it compares. After only having my new style Bee Plus for a short while I can see instantly that there are some big differences including being able to adjust the size of the seat as your child grows. I love my new Warhol hood too! It’s one of the Andy Warhol + Bugaboo collaborations but from the second collection. I wrote about the Warhol designs when the flowers and cars first came out and now, like my own beautiful hood, there are ‘Happy Bugs’ in the mix! Everyone knows I love bugs! Florence’s middle name is Ladybird and Jimmy’s is Bumblebee (nope, not joking) so this is the perfect collection for us!

Look at those bugs!

I’m going to be talking lots about my new Bugaboo Bee as I intend to do a lot of being in the City this winter! I love London in cold weather and in the run up to Christmas I intend to take the children for some fun journeys trying out ALL of London’s transport options as we take a physical trip around the real destinations from the Monopoly board. It’s been something I’ve been wanting to do for ages but the summer slipped away so now, this winter, we’re going to do it! Come and #BeeInTheCity with us?!

Isn’t it beautiful!

People often think the Bee is too small. Florence is 3 and a half and absolutely still fits comfortably proving them wrong!

I have not been paid to write this post.