Рубрика: General

There’s nowhere quite like the British capital to celebrate the festive season. 

Fortunately, London’s hotels have noted the new expectations – and delivered ten-fold. Across the city, the most prestigious hotels have been working away in the background to secure the biggest names in fashion, jewelry, and spirits, ready to reveal their December extravaganzas. 

We bring you the best hotel Christmas displays across London, be it just for a glass of champagne post shopping trip or for a festive getaway. 

The Goring

Characterful boutique hotel The Goring has teamed up with British accessories designer Lulu Guinness to create its kitsch London Calling tree, surrounded by London telephone boxes and adorned with crimson red lips (a Lulu Guinness signature motif). Pop in to the bar for a drink by the fire, or go all out and stay for the big day itself: Christmas dinner is served in the hotel’s Michelin-starred dining room. As has become tradition, the hotel kicked off the festive season with an eccentric party – this year Love Actually themed – and featured managing director Jeremy Goring dressed up as a priest. 

thegoring.com

Claridge’s

London’s Grand Dame has once again recruited a top name in fashion to inject some Christmas charm. This year is the turn of Burberry’s chief creative officer Daniel Lee. Unlike other years where a more conceptual approach was taken, Lee’s festive offering leans more traditional: a 16-ft tree, bedecked with Burberry-check bows, hand-blown glass baubles, and wild foliage and thistle sits in the middle of Claridge’s famous Art Deco lobby. The Burberry touch extends through the hotel: signature tartan clads the lifts; doormen are in designer scarves, and a pop-up boutique will be open until Jan.

claridges.co.uk

The Berkeley

Claridge’s sister hotel The Berkeley is also appropriately dressed up for Christmas. Up on its rooftop, Feast Off-Piste has taken over, featuring an instalment of custom-made gondolas overlooking the lights of Winter Wonderland below. On the menu is an Alpine-inspired line-up: Swiss raclette, tartiflette, gingerbread s’more, and chocolate fondue, all to be washed down with mulled wine or a glass of champagne.

the-berkeley.co.uk

The Ned

Over in the City of London, The Ned – best known for its lavish bottomless roast dinners – has pulled no punches with its first-ever Christmas collaboration, enlisting the help of The Macallan to launch its 2025 tree. Sat pride of the place in the hotel’s grand banking hall, the mammoth 22-ft tree is covered top to bottom in velvet bows in Macallan red, copper baubles intended to reference whisky stills, and acorns and berries nodding to the brand’s Scottish roots. Whisky lovers should head to The Library Bar, which will showcase some of The Macallan’s most prestigious portfolio, including the M Decanter, Art is the Flower, and Harmony Collection.

thened.com

Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park

MO’s original London outpost, which straddles the bustle of Knightsbridge and the greenery of Hyde Park behind, has invited De Beers to create The Jewel of the Season – an immersive festive takeover. As part of this, the hotel’s lobby has transformed into The Enchanted Lotus Bar (drawing inspo from De Beers’ signature floral motif) and will serve champagne and caviar. Elsewhere at The Rosebery, guests can sit down to a De Beers themed afternoon tea. 

mandarinoriental.com

Rosewood London

Rosewood London (the original London outpost from the US brand, not to be confused with the newer opening over in Mayfair) has teamed up with not one but two international brands –Amsterdam-based skiwear brand and The Singleton Scotch whisky – who have together transformed the hotel’s courtyard into a sleek mountain-inspired scene. The Chalet offers a slice of the slopes in the middle of the city (and is a convenient nod to Rosewood’s upcoming Courchevel opening), with themed cocktails and Alpine-esque dishes.

rosewoodhotels.com

The Savoy

Harking back to Victorian-era London, The Savoy is holding Frosted Fair throughout the festive season, inspired by a time when cold spells would see the entire Thames River frozen – and solid enough to host a fair on. Climate change has ensured such frivolities are a thing of the past, but the historic hotel is retaining tradition with a pop-up in its forecourt, complete with mulled wine, hot chocolate, and plenty of Laurent-Perrier Champagne.

thesavoylondon.com

Cliveden House

If you’re craving a breather from the West End crowds, add a festive countryside stay to your London city break. Few places do Christmas as beautifully as Cliveden House, and luckily it’s only an hour’s drive from the capital. The hotel’s long drive opens onto a grand, fir-draped mansion glowing with twinkling lights. Inside, the atmosphere leans full-tilt Christmas: fires burning in every corner, a towering tree dressed with oversized baubles, and seasonal decorations threaded through each living room. After a wander through the grounds, make your way to the terrace, which has been reimagined as the Astor Après Ski experience. Guests can settle into a private gondola for Alpine comfort classics – think Gruyère fondue, tartiflette, and a mug of mulled wine to round it all off.

clivedenhouse.co.uk

As drinking habits change, top restaurants are getting creative. 

Sometimes known as a ‘half-and-half,’ the hybrid is a bespoke drinks flight alternating between wine and a non-alcoholic (NA) alternative — from 0.0 percent ABV wines and juices to sparkling teas and homemade ferments. And it’s gaining popularity at select tastemaking restaurants around the world.

“Younger generations aren’t drinking in the same way [as older generations],” claims Micah Melton, culinary director at Alinea in Chicago. “Not drinking is a little less stigmatized.” While Alinea offers a full NA pairing to go with its experimental tasting menu, the hybrid option is more of an off-menu alternative. “A lot of people will get halfway through a wine pairing, and think, ‘That’s enough,’” says Melton. “So, we offer a mix and match as we see fit.”

For the most part, this alcohol-free pairing was designed to mimic the alcoholic offering — drinks were chosen for their resemblance, in taste or look, to the wines. But, as more guests dabbled with ‘sober curiosity,’ the drinks team got creative. “Sometimes we home in on a flavor in a dish and make a whole drink out of that, or for others we would single out an ingredient we thought a dish was missing,” Melton says. “We have a whole bar team for NA drinks.”

Another pioneer of the half-and-half, among other things, is Iris, the boundary-breaking restaurant in the middle of a Norwegian lake. Managing director Sebastian Torjusen says they see a homemade NA option as an opportunity for heightened flavor-matching. “It’s not just about reducing alcohol consumption, but adding an experiential dimension. Our non-alcoholic pairing can be designed and brewed to offer more than wine can. There are a few more tangents to play with.”

The hybrid menu showcases established producers — including Villbrygg, a Norwegian company making ‘soda for grown ups’ — as well as house-made fermentations using local ingredients.

In London, Cycene’s hybrid pairing, created by sommelier Douwe Steyn, is similarly experimental, and combines low-intervention wines with house-made ‘softs,’ from fermented kombucha to juices. Most interesting of all, though, is the glass of honeyed yet almost sour-tasting malted milk to accompany dessert. Given the heavy, syrupy characteristics of the more-common dessert wine, a glass of dairy doesn’t feel too wild. A restaurant’s creative potential is no longer just about what’s on the plate — it’s in the glass, too.

Oregon’s Rogue Ales & Spirits just declared bankruptcy after nearly 40 years in business. Oregon’s Rogue Ales & Spirits just declared bankruptcy after nearly 40 years in business.

The 2002 Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR was seized as part of a drug trafficking investigation. The 2002 Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR was seized as part of a drug trafficking investigation.

The Gozney Arc XL is an outstanding gift for pizzaiolos. The Gozney Arc XL is an outstanding gift for pizzaiolos.

Designed by modernist architect Pierre Koenig, and owned by the same family since it was built in 1960, Case Study House No. 22 is now on the market for the first time in over six decades. Designed by modernist architect Pierre Koenig, and owned by the same family since it was built in 1960, Case Study House No. 22 is now on the market for the first time in over six decades.

The Reservation: The biggest restaurant in Kingly Court is cooking with Spanish heart. 

How could a Basque-inspired fine dining restaurant by an El Bulli alumni be inside of Kingly Court, a bustling market-style food hub in the middle of London’s heaving Soho?

Fear not, you are in the right place. Alta is here – right at the end of Kingly Court, in a huge two-storey unit with space for up to 100 guests. Once you’re through the doors, that Soho bustle dies down and Alta beckons. 

Opened in late September by chef Rob Roy Cameron, Alta takes its inspiration from northern Spain, both in its culture and its cuisine. Everything is cooked over open-fire, imbuing a smoky line throughout the menu. It feels warming and full of soul. Although the continent guides the menu, Cameron looks closer to home for ingredients: pork is from Dorset, beef is from the Lake District, and seafood is from the southwest coast. Wines are mostly European, and the vermouth on tap is Spanish, but ciders are from across the UK. 

Alta forms the second restaurant in the growing Mad Restaurants group, which launched with Japanese spot Moi earlier this year. United by a fondness for theatrical live-fire cooking – albeit from different continents – Mad restaurants are billed as being not just great looking restaurants, but also ones that care about ingredients and culinary culture. In a London where the big restaurants typically lean into vibes over food, Alta feels like evidence that you can have the best of both worlds: enough seats to go around and a menu you want to keep coming back to.

Must order: The quirky sardine empanada.

What to drink: A pine martini to start.

Best seat in the house: A table on the ground floor, with views of the kitchen.

Chef

Cameron was born in Botswana and trained in South Africa before spending a decade working and learning in Spain. Here, he worked at El Bulli – the now-shut but still legendary home of molecular gastronomy – and was a key player in the opening of 41 Degrees in Barcelona. In London, he most recently ran the kitchens at popular but short-lived Mayfair spot Gazelle. After a few years of pop ups and residencies in the UK and beyond, Alta marks Cameron’s permanent return to the London restaurant world. 

Menu

You don’t need to concern yourself with what is and isn’t on the menu, as I am confident that I (admittedly very heavily guided by the team who were not afraid to give a firm “No,” when I apparently requested the wrong dish) have perfected the perfect Alta order. 

Naturally, you’re getting the getting the bread and butter, but with it you’re having the sweet, tangy, crunchy house pickles; the mini marquez sausages in tangy Pedro Ximenz saucy; and a plate of the chicharron – great hunks of puffed up pork skin all but built to scoop up the garlicky, brilliant orange mojo rojo sauce they sit on.

You still haven’t even hit the starters (come to Alta belly achingly hungry): for this you’re having the pasta-like tendrils of squid wrapped up in smoky vizcaina sauce and the ingenious sardinine empanada, complete with a fish head and tail poking up boldly through the pastry.

You have permission to slow down at mains, if only to save room for the Basque cheesecake for dessert: share the 35-day aged rib eye – which, although described as medium rare, is cooked more medium and comes with your own vat of salt to dispense as you please. Have a glass of the novel iced cider with that cheesecake, and congratulations: you have completed Alta.

Interiors

Alta is an enormous restaurant – the biggest in Kingly Court, in fact. Included in that 100-cover stat is a private dining room for 12 and a year-round al fresco terrace. On the first floor, a huge stainless steel bar and an open kitchen – complete with a massive grill – form the focal points of the space. The kitchen and bar admittedly take up a lot of room, and the tables can feel quite close to their neighbors (but that is Soho for you).

The design is intentionally undone: tables are neat but linen-less and deliberate cracks of plaster on the wall create an industrial feel. It creates a relaxed atmosphere – the food is grown up and confident, but the team are open for a joke and a chat, too.

alta-restaurant.com

The Acropolis and Parthenon may no longer be the only reasons you visit the capital of Greece. The Acropolis and Parthenon may no longer be the only reasons you visit the capital of Greece.

Blending high design with high performance, the Porsche Macan Electric turns every journey into a moving work of art. Blending high design with high performance, the Porsche Macan Electric turns every journey into a moving work of art.

He left Scotland for America and made a whiskey with a distinctly southwestern vibe. He left Scotland for America and made a whiskey with a distinctly southwestern vibe.