Join me as I tour Sri Lanka bringing to you child friendly places, people and things. As parents we are always looking for foods that our children will like or places that we can take them or products that are good for our children. Mummy Travels will make the job a little easier for you. Also please contact me on [email protected] if you would like to be featured in "Mummy Travels".

My five year recently had an activity day at school where she had to bring in the required ingredients and make her own vegetable sandwich. As I meticulously packed the required ingredients on her instructions, salad, tomatoes, cheese etc I rolled my eyes, for my child indeed was a very picky eater and this was going to be wasteful exercise unless chocolate was somehow involved. But incredulously I was thoroughly surprised for she had gone ahead and made her own vegetable sandwich which she had also eaten with such relish. When I went to pick her up all she could do was rattle on about her own creation and said it was the most delish food she had very eaten. It seemed she would eat anything SHE cooked!

Therefore I was ecstatically surprised to meet a young entrepreneur, Hiranya Chandrasehar, who runs The SaucyChinn, a kiddies kitchen, where kids are the chefs for the day. The SaucyChinn aptly named for the delicious state one could find themselves after consuming the food at this eatery with scrumptiouslishious "sauce" running down their chin! Hiranya was instrumental in introducing this nova concept a Kiddies Kitchen workshop, where children are given the opportunity to create their own culinary masterpieces. Coming from a family of active foodies, it seemed right for Hiranya to enter the foodie world, her father runs the "Soy" business in Kandy and has been doing so for the last twenty five years. Soy is a secret ingredient of one of the unique delicacies offered by the SaucyChinn, their ever famous Soy ice-cream. Hiranya's mother also started "the Veggie Way" which used to have a stall at the Good  market. Located in the premises of P.G Martin on Isipathana mawatha, the Saucy Chinn is an active kitchen offering a varieties of delicacies, from their signature hotdogs to pastas to cupcakes it also offers a specialty of fruity teas and of course the unique Soy ice-cream.

Hiranya runs the Kiddies Kitchen workshops once every two months, with her most recent one being held last Sunday. Tickets are priced at Rs2000/ per child and the sessions are divided into two groups. For the younger 3-5 year age group and the older group from 6 – 12 in the afternoons, both sessions are 2 and ½ hours long and activities done depends on the age group of the child. Each cooking session allows the child to get hands on with the mixing, measuring etc of the ingredients. An excellent way to make maths fun for the older children. Then even the actual making of the item, is done by the kids themselves. For the last workshop Hiranya got the kids to make their own pizza dough. The child is helped to make one savory item and one sweet item. Whilst the foods are cooking the children get to do an arts and crafts activity and of course unlimited playtime at the P.G Martin play center. Children love the cooking session followed by the play and of course since they are in a safe environment parents are able to relax as well.

Before booking a place at one of the The SaucyChinns workshops please inform the staff of any food allergies that your child might have. Though SaucyChinn is quite the advocate for healthy eating among children. Some of the items on the menu are Soy Protein Wrap, made from natural soy, mushrooms on toasts, pesarattu which is an indian thosai made from green gram, hummus, eggless cupcakes, eggless pancakes cakes and of course soy milkshakes to name a few.

The SaucyChinn also undertakes orders for birthday parties and are willing to provide the birthday cake and other savoury and sweet items, they require 2 to 3 days advance notice.  With many more activities in the pipeline The SaucyChinn is looking to grow bigger with many more workshops for kids.  For children who love to cook these workshops give them an opportunity to indulge in their pleasures. It also offers parents a fun afternoon to spend with their children. Be sure to catch "The SaucyChinn" page on Facebook to keep upto date with their recent activities. We wish them luck in their culinary endeavors!

By Mayuri Jayasinghe