This new restaurant-cum-playground in Sanlitun SOHO excels in catering to families with young children. While many restaurants claim to have facilities for kids but really only offer a room with a couple of stools and a TV set, TreeHouse is actually a café set inside an indoor playroom.

Along the left hand side of the room is the play area. It’s raised up three steps, but stair gates have been installed at each opening to ensure the younger ones stay put. Toys and books in different languages—English, Spanish and Russian—abound. The end of the room is used for the many kids’ classes on offer, ranging from cooking to drama. There’s also a “shop ‘n’ drop” service for busy parents where, for RMB80 per child, you can drop off your little ones for up to three hours of shopping.

The food is simple and straightforward. The English menu is clearly laid out with photos and a description of each dish. Many dishes are creatively made to appeal to children, and our kids tried the sausage octopuses (RMB20), which use frankfurters as the octopus’s head and spaghetti for its legs. The mac ‘n’ cheese (RMB20) is actually thin spaghetti with a creamy sauce, but the baby polished it off.

Also on the menu are staples such as savory and sweet pancakes (RMB25-40), soups (RMB20), sandwiches (from RMB20), pizzas (RMB30-40) and salads (from RMB30). We recommend the TreeHouse salad (RMB35)—two avocado halves filled with arugula, smoked chicken breast and cherry tomatoes. The baked salmon (RMB45) was pan fried, but the portion was large and great value for money.

TreeHouse is not a gastronomic destination, but with its bright, clean décor and a playgroup session at RMB30 (stay as long as you want) we can see it being a huge hit with Beijing families.

What: TreeHouse

Where: B1-115, Bldg 1, Sanlitun SOHO, 三里屯SOHO 1号楼B1-115

Tel: 8590-0746