We all want Christmas to be a lavish affair, but at what cost?
Many of London’s best restaurants in the capital’s best hotels are going big this year with elaborate festive feasts that will set you back a pretty penny. And some will create a massive, cavernous hole in your wallet.
Christmas lunch out can be an expensive meal, and it’s not uncommon to fork out up to £200 for a feast at a restaurant, but depending where you go, you might cough up considerably more.
With that in mind, we’ve rounded up some of London’s most expensive turkey lunches and Christmas puds for 2023 with these extremely expensive Christmas menus on offer in London.
Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Knightsbridge
Christmas Day lunch £320, not including booze
Starting with the opaque course of “snacks” Heston’s menu moves onto spiced red wine with chicken liver parfait and grilled bread and then sherried scallop with smoked cauliflower and cauliflower cream. Duck with buttered and creamed turnip with truffle, and Brussel sprouts with chestnut and bacon are festive nods, while the sambocade – a medieval cheesecake – starts the sweets off, which will either be something called olive oil “perfume” made of Maury wine, fig, pear and goats milk, or a Christmas tipsy cakes with roasted pineapple, vanilla and sherry.
Hélène Darroze at the Connaught, Mayfair
Christmas Day lunch £395, not including booze
Held in a London hotel that regularly makes the World’s 50 Best Bars, this French restaurant – also three Michelin stars – is offering as six course spread that well and truly departs from the traditional English Christmas roast. The sublime meal starts with caviar and crab prepared in a traditional San Sebastian way, followed by super large Scottish scallops embellished with black truffle, champignons de Paris, lardo di Colonnata and Douglas pine. Next up is turbot with razor clams, coco bean and sea herds, and then capon with pumpkin and truffle. To end, it’s cheese and fruit, and chocolate with pear is the meal’s final note.
Marcus at The Berkeley, Knightsbridge
Christmas Day lunch £450, including wine pairing
This Michelin-starred restaurant overseen by the accoladed chef Marcus Wareing is an elegant riff on traditional Christmas feasts. Start with cured Scottish salmon, and then roast Orkney scallop served in a spiced lobster bisque. The winter truffle risotto is next with Jerusalem artichoke and aged pecorino and you can back this up with either turkey for the main event, which comes with nutmeg cream and spiced red cabbage, or beef fillet served with delica pumpkin, confit parsley root and a pumpkin seed emulsion. To end, there’s a selection of cheeses and then a Bûche de Noël made up of chocolate, dried fruit and candied citrus. Also, this will be one of the last chances you can dine here, as the restaurant will close on December 26.
Claridge’s Restaurant, Mayfair
Christmas Day lunch £495, not including booze
The new flagship restaurant for this resplendent hotel, recently voted number one in London in the recent World’s 50 Best Hotels list, is putting on a show-stopping spread for its first festive service. The six-course menu starts with truffle crumpet, oysters, caviar and foie gras for amuse bouche, which is then followed by smoked sea trout or a beetroot and lovage salad. Choose from a foie gras terrine or seared Orkney scallops or ricotta gnudi with black truffle for the intermediate course, and a turkey leg, beef fillet, halibut or a delica squash pithivier for mains. These come with a selection festive sides for the table. Cheese, a Christmas pudding or a Bûche de Noël, followed by petit fours round the meal off.
Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, Mayfair
Private Christmas Day lunch at £525, not including booze
Duck’s nuts dining at The Dorchester may set you back a whack, but you’ll get your own private chef’s table dining experience after a welcome glass of champagne in the hotel’s wine vaults. For an upgrade that includes a glass of champagne and a wine flight, that’ll be £600. However, if you want to eat at Alaine Ducasse, you only need to fork out £450 for a six-course meal that comes with wine pairings. While the menu is currently unavailable, expect the three Michelin-starred contemporary French restaurant to “present a contemporary reinterpretation of festive cuisine” and to pull out all stops.
The Ritz Restaurant, The Strand
Christmas Day lunch £600, not including booze
This Michelin starred restaurant that looks like a room in Napoleon’s main castle of residence tops the list of London’s most expensive Christmas menus with it’s £600 six-course menu. Yes, Father Christmas will be there, as will a caricaturist and musician playing jazz. But no, this doesn’t cover wine. What will you eat? Only the hotel knows and you’ll have to contact The Ritz directly to find out. But expect it to be made out of British ingredients that are in season which have been delicately and expertly shaped into something delicious.
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