It’s almost that time again: Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ will soon be on repeat and you're probably hoping for, at the very least, a socially distanced Christmas with family and friends. Kick it off with one of London’s best festive hampers.
Bentley's hamper
Richard Corrigan has put together a bumper hamper of local and homegrown ingredients for his Piccadilly restaurant's hamper. There's homemade soda bread and seaweed butter, chilled oysters, dressed crab, smoked salmon, mince pies, oh-so-boozy Xmas puddings and Champagne.
Price: £280
Forza Best Hamper
With Forza Win closed down right now, the folk behind the popular Peckham wine bar have launched an online shop and they have three hampers (Great, Better and Best) packed with goodies for Christmas. The one you really want is the Best which stuffs in all manner of top quality Italian produce like Parmesan, pickled fennel, lovely coppa and their own pasta sauces. There's also cocktails and wine in there too.
Price: £150
Claridge's Mayfair Hamper
For big-time fans of the Mayfair hotel, this hamper has loads of home-made, exclusive-to-Claridge’s products including a Christmas pudding and cake, wines, chocolates and biscuits and even a bauble for the tree.
Price: £750
Daylesford Truffle Lovers hamper
If you're the kind of person who thinks everything is better with truffles then this hamper is perfect - it includes truffled honey, brie, nuts, butter and crisps all in one of their fetching white wicker hampers with leather straps and lined with linen.
Price: £90
Gail's The Morning After hamper
Perfect for the Christmas holiday days when you don't want to get out of your PJs, this hamper features everything you need for a slap-up breakfast including Gail's bread, a box of 8 freshly baked Xmas buns, granola, eggs and smoked salmon, juice and coffee.
Price: £65
Harvey Nichols Christmas Foodmarket
Save yourself the schlep to Knightsbridge with this hamper collection of the store's own-label range including Malbec, Sauvignon Blanc, Espresso Martini suckers, Lemon curd and clotted cream biscuits and salted caramel dark chocolate truffles.
Price: £125
Hicce's Boxing Day Hamper
Pip Lacy's King's Cross restaurant has assembled a super collection of post-Christmas day treats including Hicce chilli jam, tomme de savoie, Tempus pork rillettes, Italian crackers and Brindisa salted marcona almonds.
Price: £85
Jikoni's Hug in a Box
Ravinder Bhogal has three festive hampers on offer, our favourite of which is this lovely sounding box containing Jikoni Mix (Kenyan Bombay mix deliciousness!), three jars of their chutney, Paan and cashew fudge plus four napkins (hand block printed in Jaipur by a women’s cooperative) and a bottle of South Pickenham English sparkling wine 2015 from Norfolk.
Price: £85
Le Marche des Chefs Smoked Salmon Hamper
Sometimes the simplest pairings are the best and this hamper combo features artisanally smoked salmon from Spring's based in the South Downs National Park, who hand fillet and cure using only salt and hang smoke in their brick kilns. That's paired with a bottle of Crémant de Bourgogne Brut Maison Jaffelin - the smallest of the great houses of Burgundy and a Niçois Lemon.
Price: £40
Ottolenghi's Christmas in a bag
Featuring both savoury and sweet treats, this entry-level festive hamper from Yotam Ottolenghi features all manner of nice things, there's lavosh, grissini, cheddar and pistachio biscuits along with the must-try cranberry and hibiscus marshmallows.
Price: £90
Paxton & Whitfield's The Clarence
Support British artisan cheesemakers with this whopping hamper from Paxtons featuring over 3kg of cheese like the classic Paxton & Whitfield Stilton and Baron Bigod along with preserves like their Quince and Apple Confit and a bottle each of Côte De Duras red and white to accompany it.
Price: £200
Quality Chop House's Deluxe Christmas hamper
If there's anywhere you'd want to upgrade to deluxe it's at QCH where they've two hampers for the festive season. The bigger (and better) one has their amazing mince pies, the pork pie we're obsessed by, granola, plum ham, preserved lemons and a bottle of fizz and red wine among other lovely things. One to buy for yourself to squirrel away for the holidays.
Price: £100
Selfridges Classic Christmas Hamper
If you're after a traditional Christmas hamper that has a little bit of everything festive in it, then this classic hamper of own-brand delights from Selfridges nails it. There's chocolate, spiced tea and chutney along with a pudding and brandy butter plus two bottles of wine. It comes in a particularly comely hamper too.
Price: £100
Sous Chef's Best of Spain hamper
As trips to Spain are pretty much off the agenda at the moment, this hamper is the next best thing packed with Iberian treats like Perello Gordal olives, Marcona almonds, DOP Spanish paella rice and amazing Spanish olive oil.
Price: £95
St John's The Hangover hamper
It’s tough to pick a favourite from the four hampers on offer this year from St John restaurant. But we particularly like this one with Fergus Henderson’s supposedly ‘fail-safe cure’ passed on from his father: Fernet Branca and Créme de Menthe. If that doesn’t sort you out, there’s some English breakfast tea and some St John merch too.
Price: £105
Vallebona's Cenone Di Natale Grazing Box
Enjoy an Italian Christmas Eve with this box from the high-end grocer which feeds six and includes black olive pate from Calabria, Sardinian Salsiccia Sarda, Parmigiano Reggiano DOP, truffle honey and a whole Piedmont panettone.
Price: £150
Veganly Petite Vegan Hamper
Treat the vegan in your life with this small but perfectly formed hamper of plant-based provisions which includes three artisan 'cheezes', some sliced 'mheat', chutney, pickles, aioli and an enticing sounding sweet and salty peanut fudge sauce.
Price: £55
Wild Honey St James Premium Christmas Hamper
If your ideal Christmas would be to hole yourself up in a luxury hotel well away from the relatives, then maybe this hamper from Anthony Demetre's restaurant at the Sofitel London St James will be the next best thing. There's a Negroni cocktail kit from the hotel's bar, along with a bottle of Whispering Angel, Champagne, Anthony's cookbook, Sous vide duck confit, a mont d'or with crackers from la Fromagerie and even a St James mini cocktail shaker.
Price: £295
Order it now; Pre-order by emailing wildhoneystjames.london@sofitel.com
See also:
Brindisa has a very appealing sounding New Year's Eve box(£100) with Iberico ham, truffled cheese and bottles of Cava included.
Greek restaurant Opso has whipped up a festive hamper (£195) filled with produce from the restaurant and its suppliers. There are amazing olive oils, Cretan Thyme Honey, Bottarga and their own small batch barrel aged negroni in among the mix. Email reservations@opso.co.uk to order.
Highbury's Shop Cuvée have a Natty Christmas Hamper on offer (£85) featuring natural fizz, homemade ‘actually nice’ mulled wine, award winning Three Sheets Negroni, Comté, salami and more.
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