Culinary Backstreets got its start in 2009 as the blog Istanbul Eats, founded by Ansel Mullins and Yigal Schleifer. Taking on its present form in 2012, it has expanded beyond Istanbul and into several other cities worldwide. In Istanbul and elsewhere, the goal is always the same: to introduce travelers and locals to a city’s best unknown traditional eateries and to celebrate the food makers keeping these places alive. Yigal Schleifer is Culinary Backstreet’s Editor-in-chief and chats to kodomo.com about this fantastic, family-friendly business.

So what exactly is Culinary Backstreets’ Eatinerary?

The Eatinerary is a food-focused custom travel itinerary that we developed after realizing two important things: firstly, finding great local and authentic places to eat and avoiding tourist traps is one of the most stressful parts of travel and, secondly, more and more people now are structuring their travel days around where they eat, making the search for those great food spots all the more important (and, again, stressful). So, we decided to make it easier for travelers by crafting for them an itinerary that guides them to all those vacation-defining, special places that they might not have found on their own. The final product is a PDF document that can be either printed out or used on a mobile device that serves as an indispensible travel companion.

How does is work?

The Eatinerary is created using a client’s taste and Culinary Backstreets’ on-the-ground expertise. To get started, someone goes to our site and fills out the online Eatinerary survey, which asks them a series of questions that gives us a good sense of how and what they like to eat and what particular cravings they may have. We then send that survey to one of our local correspondents who gets to work on creating the guide. Depending on the profile, we’ll send you to the best backstreet dive bar, the busiest lunchtime joint or a romantic place to impress your beloved. We’ll also advise you on eating with kids, the best options for vegetarians or what to avoid if you’re on a particular diet. And, whether it’s someone’s first or fiftieth time in a particular city, we’ll be sure to send them only to the spots that we’ve tried and tested ourselves.

How can travelling families use the Eatinerary?

This service is really ideal for families, who have an even harder time when it comes to finding those perfect places to eat while travelling. As we all know, travelling with kids can often limit our options for what to do and where to go to eat, but we don’t think family travel should mean the end of eating really well. With our Eatinerary, for example, we’ve directed families to the best local spots in Barcelona that also serve dinner before bedtime, exceptional kebab joints in Istanbul that just happen to have kid-friendly museums nearby and to friendly Shanghai noodle houses where the staff will happily listen to your request to hold the spicy chili oil. Of course, with the Eatinerary we can also send a family to a city’s best traditional ice cream spots or its top chocolate makers, places that will leave the kids giddy with delight. We see our job as making sure our clients – and that includes the little ones – have the gastronomic holiday of a lifetime.

Can you tell us a bit more about what else Culinary Backstreets offers?

The global guide to local eats, Culinary Backstreets covers the authentic food scene and offers small group culinary walks in several cities around the world. We got our start in 2009 as Istanbul Eats, a blog devoted to exploring Istanbul’s best local eateries, and soon after started offering food walks that took visitors off the typical tourist map and into neighborhoods and little restaurants they typically wouldn’t have gone to. In 2012, we expanded beyond Turkey, bringing our model of telling the story of a city through its food and the people who make it, to several other locations worldwide. Today, we are working in nine different cities and offer several different walks in each place we work in. Along with our reviews, walks and Eatineraries, we also help people explore our cities with guidebooks and an app that we’ve developed.

Where are you currently offering your Eatinerary service?

Eatineraries are available in every city that Culinary Backstreets works in, which currently include Athens, Barcelona, Istanbul, Lisbon, Mexico City, Rio, Shanghai, Tbilisi and Tokyo. But, we are always in the process of adding more cities to our roster, so stay tuned!

Sian Gwilliam launched the fantastic website Creative Bus Stop to share her passion for the incredible cultural, creative and educational activities that are available in London and around the UK. She gave us some fantastic ideas for London fun last summer and she’s back with us again to chat what to do and where to go this half term and upcoming summer holiday.

1. Go Green at the Plantastic exhibition at The Horniman Museum

It’s the world famous RHS Chelsea Flower Show in May, and for those in the know, Dan Pearson who won ‘Best Show Garden’ for his stunning Chatsworth Garden started his career in gardening when he was 5 years old, helping his Dad dig a pond. So let’s take inspiration from him, and visit the Plantastic exhibition at The Horniman Museum in Forest Hill. From May 2015, Plantastic will be accompanied by specially designed and themed outdoor displays including a mass planting of sunflowers, a floral picture of the ‘anatomy’ of a flower, and a border themed around plants that attract pollinating insects.   Between 11-2.45pm daily in half term, join in the free craft Family Art Fun sessions too. A family ticket for the exhibition costs £16.50, so take a picnic and make a day of it.

2.  Join Alice and her Queen of Hearts in a Bethnal Green Wonderland 

In celebration of 150 years of this enchanting book, there are a range of Alice in Wonderland events happening around town this Spring. You can choose from free drop in daily events at our favourite museum The Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green, such as Storytelling at 10,30.11,15 and 12pm, or Mad Hatter’s Hat Making 10.30, 11.45, 14.00, 15.15 or join artist Miriam Baez to create a bonkers hat inspired by wonderful images and imaginings from Alice’s world£5 (with parent or carer / Sign up on the day / For ages 5-12. Not forgetting the Playing Card Print Workshop at 11.15, 12.30, 14.30, 15.45.The Alice Look will run from May 2 – November 1 2015 at London’s V&A Museum of Childhood.

There is also the show ‘Adventures in Wonderland’ in the Waterloo Vaults SE1 7NN (runs until August) for ages 5-11 . Les Petits invites the audience to find Alice and Wander through Wonderland in a fun-filled, interactive adventure for all the family.Cost: Adults £18.50, Children £12.50. If you’re still hungry for tea and cake after that lot, look out for the family opera Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in Holland Park from 16th July – 1st August and then Damon Albarn’s Wonder.land musical for the National Theatre, in Manchester 29th – 12 July which moves to London from 27th November 2015.

3. Put the Spark back into Electricity at the Royal Institution

Join Marty Jopson at the RI’s half term family event Zap, crackle and pop! Marty is the BBC One Show’s resident scientist and during the show he takes a journey through the story of electricity . From the Ancient Greeks through to Faraday’s genius, the show aims to put the spark back into electricity. A show chock full of demonstrations and a plucked chicken. Expect an electrifying performance in this family-friendly show. Thursday 18 June, (18:00 –19:15) Booking essential : Prices; Standard £12/ Concession £8/ Associate Members £6.

4. All Aboard the Cutty Sark Museum

As far as days out in London go, heading to Greenwich has to be high on the list. It’s easy to get to by public transport (Jubilee line, boat or DLR) there’s the food market which is real tasty, and then you can choose from the Cutty Sark, Royal Observatory, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich Theatre, The Queens House, or just grab an ice-cream in Greenwich Park.

To get you started why not start at the Cutty Sark. You can choose from free half-term events, and join them on a voyage of discovery on Cutty the world’s last surviving tea clipper. If you love hands-on activities, come and design your own weather mobile to take home or create a colourful fish on a dish. Under-5s go free to Cutty Sark and parts of the Royal Observatory. Entry to the National Maritime Museum and Queen’s House is free.

This Bank Holiday weekend only you can join The Big Swing Dance On the Gardens & Vintage Market in Cutty Sark Gardens. It runs from May 23rd-25th from 11am – 6pm every day. Featuring swing dance lessons conducted by The London Swing Dance Society and The Shag Pile dance team. (Shag Pile Lessons from Sat 23rd 12-2.30pm/Sun 24th 12-5pm/Mon 25th 12-2pm) who will be bringing their exuberance and passion for all things swing to the gardens with a heavy emphasis on fun and good times to get everyone going! If you’re a pizza lover, you can’t go wrong with a visit to our favourite double decker pizza bus The Crust Conductor. They serve bespoke wood fire pizza, which really are made with cheesy love. If you want an extra helping of mushrooms, just mention the Creative Bus Stop, and ask for Jonny (the boss) and you will get treated like pizza royalty.

5. Take a Graffiti Tour

We really can’t get enough of the infectious graffiti art that keeps popping up all over town, especially around Camden, Shoreditch and the famous Southbank Skatepark. If you want to be down with the kids, you should book on a Camden Street Art Tour. They run all year long, and this half term they are running on Bank Holiday Monday (Am & PM), Thursday morning, Friday (AM & PM), Saturday morning and Sunday AM & PM). The amazing thing about these tours, is that each one is timeless, as due to the nature of street art, the art keeps reinventing itself. Remember the first rule of Street Art : ‘It’s not meant to last forever’. (£15 per ticket, suitable for all ages). EXCLUSIVE TO KODOMO AND CREATIVE BUS STOP READERS –  ENTER SAVE20 ON CHECK OUT AND GET 20% OFF YOUR TICKET.

6. The Southbank Loves You!

As hard as I try, it’s almost impossible not to share the love from the constantly changing line up of events that our Southbank Centre puts on for us all.  I recommend you arrive by foot (and scooter for the tiny tired legs) and either plant yourself near the Southbank Centre which is full of free tap water at the bar, and clean loos for the kids.  You can eat at one of the many chains (Wagamama, Eat, Giraffe, Canteen or Yo Sushi) but the queues are often long. To avoid the queues and a hefty bill, we always pack a few bagels and water for the kids, and venture to the food stalls at the Southbank Centre Market situated behind the Southbank Centre (Waterloo Station side). It is the most adventurous way to eat.

Shows

As it would be shy of me not to tell, here is the round up of Summer events you will find at your finger tips around the Bank of the South. Family Shows from critically-acclaimed theatre pop-up, Roundabout by Paines Plough, between the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Waterloo Bridge. Free events such as social dances, talks, workshops, and daily artistic activities. The iconic upside-down purple cow, the Udderbelly Festival (until 19 July) showing comedy, circus and family shows including the return of the popular show Bromance (24 June – 19 July). And (deep breath) London Wonderground(until 27 September) the festival renowned for showcasing the best circus and cabaret from across the world in a magnificent 1920s Spiegeltent. A major exhibition Carsten Höller: Decision, which will present a wide range of the artist’s work, including sculptures, installations and videos, which explore perception and decision making. The Poetry International Festival (23 – 26 July), the biennial festival co-founded by Ted Hughes in 1967. Meltdown (17 – 30 August), whose director this year is the multi-award-winning musician David Byrne, known for his eclectic collaborations and as a co-founder of the seminal new-wave band Talking Heads.

Eat

Bleeker St. Burger, recently rated the top 10 street food stalls in London, ) serving burgers, American Craft beer and milk-shakes, the return of SNOG frozen yoghurt sold from a restored pink 1967 Routemaster bus, Look Mum No Hands! serving coffee, fresh food and British Craft beer, and Bloody Oyster, serving oysters, Bloody Marys and cocktails from the top of a double-decker bus (situated between the Royal Festival Hall and Festival Village).

Play

You can’t really make a visit to London without getting your t-shirt very wet (towel essential trust me) and running through the popular fountain right outside the Queen Elizabeth Hall Jeppe Hein’s Appearing Rooms. Take a walk up the curly staircase to the Queen Elizabeth Hall Roof Garden, or bring your bucket and spade to the urban beach beside the river, it’s an institution, and all the kids just adore it.

7.  Get Dirty Down at Fulham Palace

Have you ever been to Fulham Palace, you know the one which from around 700, (when the site was acquired by Bishop Waldhere), it served as a Bishop’s residence for over 12 centuries? I know you also knew that since Tudor times, the Palace was the Bishop of London’s country home, providing the Bishop and his family with a healthy rural retreat in summer months.

Well these days they not only look after the odd Bishop passing through West London, they also host lots of family events. On Bank holiday Monday (25 May between 1-4pm) you can join the Young Archaelogists Club (YAC) for a free drop in event (Ages 8+). Get your hands dirty and join the enthusiastic archaeologist volunteers on the Main Lawn for a hands-on session, introducing you to the world beneath your feet. There is also the Fulham Palace Fun Day, which is a free event on Wednesday 27 May, (10am-12pm and 1pm-3p). It will be a day of family fun including crafts, storytelling and dressing up! In partnership with H&F ALSS.

Looking forward don’t forget the annual Edwardian Garden Party on Sunday 21 June (1pm-4pm). The Bishops of London were well known for holding garden parties at Fulham Palace. Help them celebrate this tradition and come along for a day of family fun around the gardens. Take a turn on the swing boats, have your face painted, dance along to ragtime music and take part in some garden games and craft activities.

8. Join the Wild Network and Be A Wild Thing 

Project Wild Thing and The Wild Network is a people powered movement. The mission is simple to ‘reconnect kids with nature’.

It was born from the concern of a Dad called David Bond who became worried that his own kids’ waking hours are dominated by a cacophony of marketing, and a screen dependence threatening to turn them into glassy-eyed zombies. He was so worried he decided to create a campaign ‘Project Wild Thing’ and appointed himself Marketing Director for Nature. Like any self-respecting salesman, he enlisted the help of a number of bemused professionals, and began selling Nature to British families.

The film charts his humorous journey unearths some painful truths about modern family life. His product is free, plentiful and has proven benefits – but is Nature past its sell-by date? Watch the film, arrange a screening or even request a date for a Q&A with one of the Wild Thing team, who knows you could start a revolution in your own backyard, and all it would take is a launch party with a picnic in your local park.

Their website and App’s (for iOS/Andriod) give you hundreds of ideas of ways to have fun with nature. Or, you can download a free voucher on their site which promises that you spend time playing outside together (cute idea to put in a birthday card).

9.  Kiss A Hedgehoge in Hyde Park

This half term (and on other dates during the year) the award winning building that is the Isis Education Centre, bang in the middle of Hyde Park (to the north of the Serpentine) are hosting twoFREE Discovery Days dedicated to our much loved ‘Hedgehog Heroes‘. You can drop in any time between 11am and 3pm (on 27 & 28 May 2015) for a day of hedgehog themed activities including: Crafting a hedgehog from a paper plate, Paint or colour your own hedgehog picture, Learn to use radio tracking equipment (over 8s only), Help create a huge handprint hedgehog, Follow the Discovery Trail, to uncover prickly facts, Make a clay hedgehog and its very own habitat (for a suggested £2 donation) and finally learn and discover what you can do to help hedgehogs in your garden.

They also have an education day ‘Nature Explorers: Hedges & Hedgerows’ on Tuesday 26 May 2015: 10am – 3pm which is suitable for 8 to 11 year olds (15). Drop off at the Isis Education Centre for a fun filled (and educational!) day of outdoor games and activities this half term. Booking essential.

10. Theatre Tours and Puppet Theatre for your Little Angels

Please tell me you have been to The Little Angel Theatre in Islington? Not to be confused with the famous Little Angel pub in Henley On Thames! This Theatre is an institution in every way. Let me share a little of it’s history. In 1961 a troupe of enthusiastic puppeteers under the leadership of South African master, John Wright (Edgar Wright the film directors Dad), found a derelict temperance hall in Islington and transformed it into a magical little theatre, specially designed for children and for the presentation of marionette shows. It opened on Saturday 24th November 1961.

Today it hosts the most charming and well performed productions, as well as puppetry courses for kids and adults, and the cutest local summer parties right outside the theatre. Running until 28-June is The Paper Dolls. It is a show adapted from the acclaimed book by Children’s Laureate Julia Donaldson. The magical tale is brought to life through puppetry and music in this new co-production between Little Angel Theatre and Polka Theatre. Suitable for age 3 to 7. Though worth noting is that they hold baby friendly shows, for babes under 3 (mostly Thursday 10.30, Saturday 11am and Sunday 11am check diary). Call box office for more info. £12 / £10 children and concessions £1.80 booking fee applies to all card transactions. Friday Fives: all tickets £5 for shows at 5pm on Friday .

The 1,190 coral islands scattered across the Indian Ocean southwest of Sri Lanka that make up The Maldives are a hotbed of seriously luxurious family-friendly hotels and some very rare underwater beauty. And, maybe surprisingly, they are not exclusively for honeymooners. In fact, they are one of the world’s best destinations for a family holiday. Warm shallow waters, gleaming white sandy beaches, year-round sunshine and a safe environment have made it increasingly popular with families, too. (Just don’t go in June as I did – it poured with rain every second I was there as it was, unbeknownst to me at the time, the rainy season. Not making THAT mistake again!)

And, with so many islands to choose from there are, inevitably, some amazing properties. One can get spoilt for choice (a high end problem, I know) but, aside from the wonderful Maldivian properties we recommend at Kodomo here, we also highly recommend The Residence Maldives, now more than ever.

THE RESIDENCE MALDIVES

Located on the unspoilt southern island of Falhumaafushi in the Gaafu Alifu atoll, part of one of the largest and deepest atolls in The Maldives – Huvadhoo –  this exclusive resort’s 94 beach-front and over-water villas have been designed to complement the surroundings. As such, they offer a wonderful sense of place, using natural materials and local artefacts while, of course, maintaining a very high standard of luxury. The Spa by Clarins is the first of its kind in The Maldives and, of course, diving is a huge attraction for guests at The Residence. With a large number of exceptional dive sites within a short distance, as well as the PADI 5* Dive Centre on site, you’ll have a wide range of un-spoilt coral reefs and rich marine life to explore.

MINI MARINE BIOLOGIST PROGRAMME

If you’ve a true water baby on your hands and want to introduce little ones to the wonderment of the sea, the new Mini Marine Biologist Programme recently launched at The Residence Maldives is ideal. Under the beady eye of expert, highly-qualified guides, children will learn to use a mask and snorkel in the shallows, spotting plenty of sea life right beneath their feet or, for the more confident swimmers, head out on an excursion to view the atoll’s vibrant tropical fish, reef formations and other marine life. Aside from the practical lesson, the biologist programme is educational too; after viewing the coral first-hand, children will be taught more about the fragility of this environment. And should they want more, you can all enjoy a dolphin cruise to see the large pods of dolphins just a short ride from the shores of The Residence Maldives. It is open to children aged 3 and up and offers what is, surely, a truly memorable vacation experience.

It’s amazing to me that in this day and age of seriously hi-tech gadgets, computers and kids toys that do pretty much everything but clean their room for them, Lego Duplo is as popular as ever. But it thrills me. It doesn’t light up. It doesn’t make a sound. And it doesn’t require batteries. Yet it mesmerises the tiniest of tots through to the biggest of children (I won’t name names but I know grown men still addicted to the stuff). That it, quite simply, encourages the use of one’s imagination makes it one of the longest-standing, best loved toys on the market, and with good reason. As a (fairly new) parent I have caught myself, at times, gasping in horror as I witness my daughter idly flicking through pictures on an iPhone, loading movies on Netflix with absolute ease and informing me, albeit rather helpfully, that “Daddy’s iPad needs charging.” She isn’t even three years of age yet. We always limit the time she spends in front of a monitor of any kind but, the truth is, we live in a material world and we are material parents. I spend all day writing at a laptop and she sees me doing that so, to her, it’s a normal device for entertainment, work and daily life.

So it was with immense relief, and a lot of pleasure, that I recently had the joy of visiting Legoland with Lola to attend a Lego Duplo World of Play event. The entrance of Legoland seemed like a sort of handmade altar to those gorgeous, primary coloured bricks, and I was instantly transported back to being a child myself. Lola had a ball and it was with a sense of wonderment that I watched her spend hours creating tower blocks of colour, zooming hand-crafted “birds” and “airplanes” (there was a vague resemblance), even pretending to make ice-cream with the other children present at the event. Nothing required plugging in, required charging or had a volume switch and that simply thrilled me. Lego Duplo has been popular for decades and it’s wonderful to see that, no matter what advances are made, or the ages of the other children playing, that it still brings them together in such an instantaneous way, despite competing with some seriously high tech toys for attention.

That we were surrounded in some places by the most impressive Lego creations I have ever seen (think giant pirate ships, sharks and submarines), didn’t seem to faze Lola. She pointed to them and commented on them being “beautiful,” but she was far more interested in trying her own hand at creating something herself. The other children there ranged in age from tiny babies barely sitting up (though they were clearly enjoying practicing their grip on blocks of Lego Duplo) to bigger children who competed (in the nicest way possible) over who could build the highest tower before it fell over, unable to withstand normal gravitational rules and slippery carpet. The benefits to children’s dexterity and the way in which these instantly recognisable little blocks help to bring children together are without doubt. But the joy I witnessed amongst the children, and the obvious exhaustion experienced by my own child after a day of serious fun, was what made it such a great experience. We’ve not had Lego Duplo in our house before now, but something tells me that visits to Legoland and box sets to be enjoyed at home will be requested on a daily basis from here on out.

That we were surrounded in some places by the most impressive Lego creations I have ever seen (think giant pirate ships, sharks and submarines), didn’t seem to faze Lola. She pointed to them and commented on them being “beautiful,” but she was far more interested in trying her own hand at creating something herself. The other children there ranged in age from tiny babies barely sitting up (though they were clearly enjoying practicing their grip on blocks of Lego Duplo) to bigger children who competed (in the nicest way possible) over who could build the highest tower before it fell over, unable to withstand normal gravitational rules and slippery carpet. The benefits to children’s dexterity and the way in which these instantly recognisable little blocks help to bring children together are without doubt. But the joy I witnessed amongst the children, and the obvious exhaustion experienced by my own child after a day of serious fun, was what made it such a great experience. We’ve not had Lego Duplo in our house before now, but something tells me that visits to Legoland and box sets to be enjoyed at home will be requested on a daily basis from here on out.