#ButlinsAmbassadors Premium Dining

Having talked about our hotel yesterday today it's time to discuss the food! We were on the Hotel Dining plan this gave us breakfast at the Deck restaurant and dinner either in the Deck or an option to swap to another one. Having enjoyed the simple dining plan with a wide range of buffet options in February it was interesting to see what more you got for the extra £7 a day.

I have to say with fussy children a big buffet option works really well as they can mix and match to their hearts content! The Deck also had some foods that were cooked fresh to order to add to the variety. It was a swisher looking place to eat too than the more basic restaurant - the children were pleased that there was a TV playing CBBC or Cbeebies (with subtitles) whilst music was played to the whole restaurant.

It was hard not to be a piggy when faced with so much choice! The first night the children went for simple burger, chips and peas whilst I went for something a bit more sophisticated:

The breakfasts were so good we didn't need to eat much at lunch time especially when we had early tea at 5. My children love bacon and sausages etc and enjoyed using the special child friendly meal trays to get their choices in:

There was a range of choices to suit all tastes and appetites and for a lighter option there were continental breakfasts:

For a change we opted to swap to Papa John's on our 3rd night. We all went for the pizza and pasta buffet with salad bowl. The children certainly got their money's worth including ice cream factory and I was very taken with my Tiramisu dessert:

The next day my 10 year decided that the children's trays didn't let her pile on enough breakfast at one go so went for an adult portion instead:

She actually ate all of that! This was the day I finally found the porridge - with so much choice I had just missed it:

For our final night we ate at the Beachcomber Inn which was pub style dining. Apparently we managed to go there on the only night that everyone else chose to do so and it was a long queue to order food. Luckily my daughter was old enough to go to the bar whilst I was waiting and buy some soft drinks for us all. Each drinks order had a chance to win a voucher, unfortunately I couldn't make use of mine as I won a cheaper bottle of wine when not drinking! So my daughter worked her way down the queue and gave it to someone else, in return someone gave me a voucher for a free fizzy drink. I chose the carbonara with added chicken and a side salad:

Very tasty! The children both enjoyed their meals and afterwards had chocolate ice cream desserts:

I will really miss all the yummy food especially the cooked breakfasts with so much choice and variety:

I think the extra paid for flexibility and more choice was well worth it. I would have happily eaten every night in the Deck but it was good to try the others as well. Buffet style catering does seem quicker and easier than a more formal restaurant when you have primary aged children.