If you want to go somewhere that can't fail to give even the most Grinchiest Londoner all the festive feels, these London restaurants and pubs really understood the assignment this Christmas (and yes, they're all very Instagrammable).
Duck & Waffle
The City - 110 Bishopsgate, London EC2N 4AY
Looking out over the City, this year Duck & Waffle has transformed its bar and restaurant into scenes from Narnia. There's a snow-covered bar with the iconic lamppost and sleigh you can sit in for pre-dinner cocktails. And in the dining room it's all about the many, many, Christmas trees.
Follow on Instagram @duckandwaffle
Daphne's
Kensington - 112 Draycott Ave, London SW3 3AE
Roaring fires, baubles galore - the ever-reliable Daphne's always puts in the effort when it comes to making their Kensington restaurant look extremely festive. This year, the theme is frosted gold and silver. Enjoy some truffled pasta under a ceiling absolutely festooned with decorations.
Follow on Instagram @daphneslondon.
Snowday in Brooklyn
Marylebone and Notting Hill
Both of the Brooklyn import's London restaurants are boasting what we'd call full-on festive adornment for the season. But it's in their bars, where they're hosting their annual Snowday in Brooklyn winter pop-up that things start to look as though an explosion in a tinsel factory has occurred. Expect cocktails served in ceramic snowmen and more.
Follow on Instagram @sundayinbrooklyn_ldn
Rules
Covent Garden - 35 Maiden Lane, London WC2E 7LB
For a spectacularly traditional Christmas you can't go wrong with one of London's oldest restaurants, Rules. It's giving Downton, it's giving Edwardian country house and we are very much down with that.
Follow on Instagram @rules_restaurant
Annabel's
Mayfair - 46 Berkeley Square, London W1J 5AT
Never knowingly under-decorated come Christmas, this year members club Annabels has transformed its entrance into part of a gigantic snow globe complete with golden peacock. It's quite the spectacle.
Follow on Instagram @annabelsmayfair
SushiSamba Covent Garden
Covent Garden - 35 The Market, London WC2E 8RF
The living ceiling at SushiSamba's Covent Garden restaurant has been made extremely Instagrammable with the arrival of an enormous amount of giant metallic baubles (pity the poor person who had to put all those up.)
Follow on Instagram @sushisamba_ldn
The Churchill Arms
Kensington - 119 Kensington Church St, London W8 7LN
Why go with one paltry Christmas tree when you can strap almost a hundred to the outside of your pub instead and cover the whole thing with thousands of fairy lights? Very much of the 'more is more' school of design, this Kensington pub is on everyone's FYP come Christmas and this year's installation is no exception.
Follow on Instagram @churchillarmsw8
Sketch
Mayfair - 9 Conduit St, London W1S 2XG
Mayfair's Sketch is pretty extra all year round, but at Christmas they bring in various teams of designers to decorate the restaurants and bars within. This year the theme is Sweet Christmas, shown in the gingerbread house in the pods and rooms inspired by the sugar plum fairies referenced in The Night Before Christmas poem.
Follow on Instagram @sketchlondon
Alto by San Carlo
Marylebone - Selfridges, The Rooftop, 400 Oxford St, London W1A 1AB
From the moment you come out of the lifts on the rooftop at Selfridges you enter a forest of multicoloured baubles. That OTT take on Christmas decorations extends to the dining room here with a forest of foliage interspersed with twinkly fairy lights and even more baubles.
Follow on Instagram @alto_selfridges
The Hot Dinners guide to Christmas in London
Hamper guides, cookery book shopping, Christmas specials and more. Yes, we really do have everything you need for Christmas right here on Hot Dinners.
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