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Take the stress and strain out of perfectly timing the turkey or wasting time over the washing up. Here's our pick of the best restaurants and pubs open in London for Christmas lunch.
Hotel restaurants
Joia
Battersea - 15th Floor, 1 Electric Blvd, London SW11 8BJ
If you're after a Christmas Day lunch with a view, JOIA, which is on the 15th floor of art’otel Battersea, is going to be following Portuguese festive tradition, kicking off with tapas like grilled red prawns and mushroom escabeche. Mains include Norfolk Black turkey, venison or fregola as the vegetarian option, with chocolate mousse or Christmas pudding for dessert.
Menu: Christmas Day menu
Price: £145 per person
The Lanesborough
Belgravia - 80 Houndsditch, London EC3A 7AB
Christmas at The Lanesborough is in the very impressive-looking Lanesborough Grill. This year they also have three wine pairings, including a fine wine and non-alcoholic wine pairing. As for the food, dishes include lobster ravioli or cured foie gras ballotine to start, and beef or Dover sole options in addition to the turkey. There's also a chocolate and coffee yule log if you want to skip Christmas pudding.
Menus: Christmas Day menu
Price: £530 per person
Royal Lancaster
Hyde Park- Lancaster Terrace, London W2 2TY
For Christmas lunch with a difference, book The Lancaster's bottomless Christmas Day brunch. Fancy sushi? A late Christmas breakfast as your first course? You've got it. Turkey with all the trimmings? No problem. Yule logs, mince pies and Christmas pudding - all at the same time? That's on offer too.
Price: £325, which includes free-flowing Champagne and wine, £125 for children
Menu: Bottomless brunch menu
Michael Caines at the Stafford
Mayfair - 16-18 St James's Place, London SW1A 1NJ
At The Stafford, you can spend Christmas lunch at the Michelin-starred Michael Caines restaurant. The menu here includes his signature confit duck & duck liver terrine and The Stafford Beef Wellington as an alternative to turkey if you fancy it. As well as pudding, they also have a chocolate orange confit mousse to finish.
Menu: Michael Caines Christmas menu
Price: £305 per person, children under 5 free, 6-12 half price
Whitcomb's at The Londoner
Leicester Square - 38 Leicester Square, London WC2H 7DX
Right on Leicester Square, this restaurant offers a Mediterranean take on Christmas Day lunch (there's no turkey here). Options on the menu include butter-poached prawn & lobster raviolo, while main courses include roasted turbot, A5 Wagyu or cauliflour steak. For dessert, thre's a "chocolate royale" or panettone tiramisu.
Price: £175 per adult
Menu: Christmas Day menu
The Dorchester
Mayfair - 53 Park Ln, London W1K 1QA
The Mayfair hotel has four places serving up Christmas lunch on the day - The Promenade, The Grill, the three-Michelin-starred Alain Ducasse or a special chef's table dinner. The grill's menu includes Hereford seared beef carpaccio with truffle aioli, beef and smoked trout (in addition to turkey) and yule log or Champagne trifle to finish.
Price: The Grill: £415, Alain Ducasse: TBC, Promenade £500, Chef's Table £600
Menus: The Grill | Chef's Table | The Promenade
Alex Dilling at Hotel Cafe Royal
Piccadilly - 10 Air St, London W1B 4DY
The two-Michelin-starred restaurant from Alex Dilling is open once again for Christmas Day this year. The menu includes BBQ Scottish lobster as well as Lake District beef fillet "en coute", while the lunch finishes with a buche de noel. If you're after something quieter and very high-end, this is worth considering.
Price: Four courses for £365 per adult
Menu: Christmas Day menu
See also:
Booking Office 1869 (King's Cross) - Set within an extremely impressive dining room beside King's Cross, Booking Office will have a five-course feast on the day. Options include 1869 seafood cocktail, bronze turkey, Himalayan salt dry-aged beef and more. (£165, menu here)
Pavyllon (Mayfair) - The Michelin-starred restaurant from top chef Yannick Alleno is doing a Christmas lunch featuring dishes like black truffle and spinach raviole with beef rossini (aged beef fillet, seared foie gras, winter truffle) as the main event (£360 - menu here)
Restaurants
Burger & Lobster
Bond Street, Leicester Square, Mayfair, High Street Kensington and West India Quay
For the second year, Burger & Lobster restaurants will be open on Christmas Day and this time, they're expanding it to five restaurants around the capital. So you'll be able to get your fill of lobster rolls, burgers, lobster smash burgers and, hopefully, their amazing garlic butter fountain will be available.
Price: à la carte prices
Tozi
Victoria - 8 Gillingham St, Pimlico, London SW1V 1HJ
One to try if you want to completely swerve Turkey, Tozi is once again offering a Venetian feast for its Christmas Day menu. Dishes include fritto misto with a roasted duck breast and potato millefeuille for the main course and a warm panettone to finish.
Price: £95
Menu: Christmas Day menu
Thai Square
Trafalgar Square - 21-24 Cockspur St, London SW1Y 5BN
Thai Square's Trafalgar Square restaurant has opened every Christmas Day since it first launched back in 1998. It remains one of the most affordable menus in central London on the day and the festive menu this year includes dishes like Jubilee lamb shank and their signature roasted duck.
Price: A la carte prices
Menu: Christmas menu
Gaucho
Covent Garden, Hampstead and Richmond, Tower Bridge
Promising to please both Christmas purists and those who fancy something a bit different is Gaucho. Four of their restaurants are open on Christmas Day, including their central London restaurant in Covent Garden. There's a three-course set menu that includes dishes like duck, orange & peppercorn terrine, with mains including turkey, ribeye steak, roast halibut or celeriac Rossini. We also like the idea of a dulce de leche sticky toffee pudding for dessert.
Menu: Christmas menu
Price: £125
Orrery by Pierre Minotti
Marylebone - 55 Marylebone High St, London W1U 5RB
Orrery has opened for Christmas before, but this is the first year with their new look and Pierre Minotti in charge. He's putting on a six-course menu that includes a foie gras terrine, BBQ Scottish lobster and a guinea fowl with vin jaune sauce as the main event (with a Bûche de Noël to finish). If the weather isn't too cold, the terrace here is lovely too.
Menu: Christmas menu
Price: £175
Le Pont de la Tour
Tower Bridge - 36D Shad Thames, London SE1 2YE
Enjoy Christmas Day with a view of Tower Bridge at this riverside restaurant. The Christmas Day menu is yet to be revealed, but previous years have included snacks like duck croquette and Comte gougeres with galantine of turkey, pan-fried halibut or roasted Jerusalem artichoke & chestnut risotto as the main dish.
Price: £160
See also:
Bob Bob Ricard (Soho) - If you want a big day out but maybe prefer caviar over turkey, this is definitely the place for you. The normal menu is available all day on Christmas Day.
Bluebird (Chelsea) - Their Christmas menu features many non-Christmas dishes like Cornish crab & lobster doughnut and baked lobster thermidor (as well as turkey, of course), so it's a good option if you want something other than the traditional lunch. (£175, menu here).
Tayaabs (Whitechapel) - If you just want the comfort of their standard menu, Tayaabs is open as normal on Christmas Day.
Pubs
The Hound
Chiswick - 210 Chiswick High Rd, London W4 1PD
This is a pub in the same group as The Cadogan Arms. The menu on the day is served "family style" and includes venison tartare, duck terrine and salmon timbale, as well as turkey and beef and Christmas pudding (and frangipane tart) to finish.
Price: £135
Menu: Christmas Day menu
The Guinea
Mayfair - 30 Bruton Pl, London W1J 6NL
This classic Mayfair pub is opening its doors on Christmas Day for a three-course menu. As well as a butter-poached ballotine of turkey, there's the option of carved dry-aged rib of beef with lamb cutlet or a wild mushroom, chestnut & puy lentil wellington. There's a glass of Champagne and amuse bouche on arrival, but it's a great place for a Christmas pint of Guinness too.
Price: £175
Menu: Christmas Day menu.
The Flask
Highgate - 77 Highgate W Hill, London N6 6BU
Work up an appetite before Christmas lunch at this Highgate pub or walk it off on the heath afterwards. The three-course menu has dishes like prawn & queen scallop ravioli or venison pate en croute as well as mains of turkey, fillet of beef, roast monkfish or wild mushroom & celeriac pithivier.
Price: £120
Menu: Christmas Day menu
The Windmill
Clapham - Windmill Dr, London SW4 9DE
This festive-looking Clapham pub has an extensive menu on offer on Christmas Day. Start with dishes like baked South Coast scallops in the shell, move on to mains of turkey, pan roasted Gressingham duck breast or pan-roasted halibut suprême and finish with an salted chocolate, hazelnut & Kirsch cherry mousse.
Price: £130 (£20 for children)
Menu: Christmas Day menu
Trafalgar Tavern
Greenwich - Park Row, London SE10 9NW
Walk along the Thames on Christmas Day to the Trafalgar Tavern at Royal Greenwich, where their three-course Christmas Day menu includes choices of ham hock & apricot terrine, pan-seared trout, turkey or rib of beef as well as a warm chocolate torte dessert (alongside Christmas pudding, of course).
Price: £125
Menu: Christmas Day menu
See also:
The Cow (Notting Hill) - The pub is usually open for drinks only, but you should expect sausages too.
Lots of Young's pubs are open for lunch on the day, so if there's one near you, it's worth checking with them.
And in the spirit of Christmas
Christmas at The Alexandra
Wimbledon - 33 Wimbledon Hill Rd, London SW19 7NE
A pub that every year truly gets what Christmas is all about, the Alexandra has become famous for its Community Christmas lunches. Anyone who finds themselves alone in London on Christmas Day can come here for a free dinner with no strings attached. They're also looking for volunteers and donations, which you can find out more about here.
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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