Pani’s Cafe review: Can you still enjoy lunch after having a baby?

Disclaimer: This is an independent account of my own experience at Pani’s Cafe. This post is not sponsored and was not produced in collaboration with the restaurant. Prices mentioned are those at the time of my visit and may have changed.

There is a stage of new motherhood when doing something you once considered completely normal starts to feel surprisingly difficult.

Going for lunch was one of those things for me. Before Cyrus, meeting colleagues meant choosing somewhere to eat, turning up and ordering food. Seven months after having him, there was considerably more equipment involved. Would the buggy fit through the door? Was there a high chair? Could I get through lunch without spending half of it standing up? And, crucially, what were the toilet arrangements?

This was how I arrived at Pani’s Cafe in Newcastle with seven-month-old Cyrus, ready for lunch with colleagues and carrying a lot more luggage than any sensible person needs for a bowl full of pasta.

Once you have a baby, you become acutely aware of the places that merely allow children and the places where having one with you doesn’t seem to cause administrative alarm.

At Pani’s, I didn’t feel as though Cyrus and his buggy were an inconvenience that needed managing. A member of staff helped me with his buggy and offered a high chair.

There was enough room for Cyrus to stay comfortably in his buggy while I ordered coffee and looked at the menu. It was a small thing, but new motherhood is full of small things that suddenly matter enormously.

I ordered Pani’s special cappuccino, which cost £2.20 at the time of my visit. It arrived with properly frothy milk and enough caffeine to make a sleep-deprived mum tick.

There is just something uplifting about being handed a good cup of coffee when much of your recent life has revolved around feeds, naps and trying to remember why you walked into a room.

Pani’s had the sort of atmosphere I wanted that day. It felt grown-up without feeling formal, busy without making me anxious about the baby making a noise. I could sit with colleagues, drink my cappuccino and participate in a world that had nothing whatsoever to do with nappies.

At the time of our visit, there wasn’t a separate children’s menu. Instead, younger diners could have smaller portions from the main menu. I rather liked that.

There is sometimes an assumption that children require an entirely separate menu of beige food. The idea that they can just eat smaller versions of what everybody else is eating seems more straightforward and interesting for them.

Cyrus was only seven months old, so he wasn’t exactly conducting a detailed restaurant review from his buggy, but it was something I appreciated as a parent.

For my own lunch, I chose the vegetable lasagne, priced at £4.75 at the time. It was comforting rather than complicated: layers of pasta, creamy sauce and vegetables, exactly the sort of lunch I wanted while Cyrus stirred beside me.

My colleagues enjoyed their meals too, although I failed to write down what they ordered. I could pretend this was because I was concentrating intensely on my own plate. In reality, I had a seven-month-old baby and the organisational capacity of H’s sock drawer.

What stayed with me wasn’t really the lasagne or even the coffee, it was just how normal the whole experience felt.

Restaurants often advertise themselves as family-friendly, but parents quickly learn that the phrase can mean almost anything. Sometimes it means a high chair exists somewhere in a dusty cupboard. Or it means children are tolerated provided they behave.

Pani’s felt different because nobody made a performance out of accommodating us. Staff were patient with Cyrus, I could manage the buggy, and my colleagues and I could carry on having an adult conversation.

There was one practical drawback: at the time of my visit, there wasn’t a baby-changing area. With a seven-month-old, that is useful information to know before you arrive rather than after the unmistakable moment when you discover you need one.

Looking back, I think that is why I remember this meal. Seven months after becoming Cyrus’s mum, I was still working out how the woman I had been before motherhood fitted alongside the one pushing the buggy.

Lunch with colleagues gave me a couple of hours in which those two versions of my life didn’t have to compete. I could be Cyrus’s mum and still sit at a table, talk about work, drink a proper cappuccino and enjoy being in adult company.

It sounds terribly mundane when written down. At the time, it didn’t feel mundane at all.

For our visit, Pani’s delivered what I wanted from lunch with a seven-month-old: good Italian food, proper coffee and a setting where becoming a mum didn’t mean I had to stop being an adult for the afternoon.

The lack of baby-changing facilities was the obvious weakness during my visit, but the space, high chairs, relaxed service and willingness to accommodate younger diners made the experience considerably easier.

Sometimes that is what new parents need from a restaurant. Not entertainment, plastic cutlery and a menu shaped like a cartoon animal. Just good food, coffee and the quiet reassurance that bringing your baby hasn’t ruined anybody else’s afternoon.

A relaxed Italian lunch where I could bring my baby without feeling as though the whole restaurant had to rearrange itself around us.

Was it the children’s menu and changing facilities, or simply staff who treated having a baby with you as completely normal?

Occasional stories, experiments, discoveries and challenges from Saffron & Cyrus.