The pandemic has upended many holiday plans, so perhaps this is the year to try something new. Instead of laboring in the kitchen for a big meal, let a hotel take care of your guests for you. We found a host of properties all over the world with last-minute Christmastime culinary offerings, ranging from beach barbecues and socially distant sit-down dinners to expertly made multi-course meals and desserts that you can take home.
Make your holiday merrier by dining at these top hotels:
The Hay-Adams’ Top of the Hay restaurant will pop up for the holidays. Get up-close views of the White House while savoring a three-course Christmas Eve (choose poached Maine lobster or roasted honey-glazed Muscovy duck) or Christmas dinner (selections include striped bass, rack of lamb or eggplant schnitzel).
Visit new spot The Joseph, A Luxury Collection Hotel Christmas Eve for an eight-course Feast of the Seven Fishes featuring linguine fra diavolo studded with razor clams, mussels ‘nduja and black garlic, as well as flounder crudo with persimmon and horseradish-chive cream. On Christmas Day, indulge in rabbit benedict, cacio e pepe, sambuca French toast and more. Through Dec. 25, the hotel also offers cookie-decorating kits and Italian cookies to go.
There’s a plethora of holiday dining at ARIA Resort & Casino. Michael Mina’s Bardot Brasserie will turn out a family-style three-course menu with dry-aged prime rib. Carbone’s Feast of the Seven Fishes will include lobster, king crab legs and oysters. And Jean Georges Steakhouse will have its regular menu alongside holiday specials like beef tenderloin with potato grain and winter truffle.
For Christmas Eve, coastal retreat The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort will serve seasonal fine-dining fare at The Ocean Room, relaxed Lowcountry plates at Jasmine Porch and an Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes at Tomasso at Turtle Point. The next day, visit The Ocean Room for a steak dinner or Cherrywood BBQ & Ale House for Southern barbecue (the latter is available for pickup, too).
On Christmas, visit Mohegan Sun to indulge in the supersized peppermint bark pancake at Hash House A Go Go. Hit the casino and then plan for dinner at either BALLO Italian Restaurant (which will have pan-seared duck breast, sweet potato and maple bacon tortellini, and snickerdoodle cannoli) or Todd English’s Tuscany (for braised veal osso buco and risotto alla Milanese). Then retire to the Aspire or Sky Tower luxury hotels.
Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta’s Bar Margot will prepare roasted magret, pan-seared scallops and shrimp, and a snowman-inspired dessert for Christmas Eve dinner or takeaway. Come by Christmas Day for a brunch buffet throughout the hotel’s vast mezzanine that includes breakfast favorites, a carving station, a raw bar and a kids station.
Select a Christmas Eve dinner suited to your tastes at Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi: six courses of European and New World cuisine (Angelina), seven courses of French fare (Le Beaulieu), a buffet (Le Club Bar) or a Vietnamese buffet (Spices Garden). Christmas Day will bring a buffet lunch (Le Beaulieu), and multi-course (Le Beaulieu and Angelina) and buffet (Le Club Bar) dinners.
The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Tahoe’s Home for the Holiday menu lets you enjoy roasted turkey, wild mushroom casserole, panettone and much more from your own dining table. Or dine at Manzanita’s heated terrace for a special Christmas Eve or Christmas Day dinner (which is also available to go).
Spend Christmas Eve at Corinthia Budapest with four courses of delights, like bouillabaisse, turkey ballotine and white chocolate mousse. Then on Christmas, dig into a brunch of Hungarian fish soup and slow-roasted suckling pig, or a buffet dinner with sushi, chimney cake and barbecue (like Merguez sausages). The unlimited house wine and beer included with these meals should make you merry.
The regal Fairmont Empress will mark Christmas Eve with a four-course menu with creamy Yukon Gold potato and leek soup; turkey breast, ham or king salmon coulibiac; and a black forest gateau with Okanagan preserved cherries. Christmas will bring a five-course meal with heirloom carrots, turkey, pan-roasted sablefish and a chestnut yule log. The Victoria hotel also provides turkey dinners to go, including an option to roast the bird at home.
Slow-roasted angus rib roast, squash agnolotti and sticky gingerbread pudding will headline the four-course dinners at Fairmont Waterfront, Vancouver’s ARC Restaurant on December 24 and 25. Christmas Day brunch will feature bottomless tasting plates of poached prawns and chilled crab, Liège waffles with caramelized apple and smoked salmon Benedict.
The secret to having a delicious holiday meal at home is ordering it from The Ritz-Carlton Montreal for takeout or delivery. Through December, the hotel’s Maison Boulud will put together a five-course kit with green rigatoni with lobster, duck and foie gras pie and braised short ribs. It also includes one of its dessert logs: chocolate, apple maple or citrus.
The Peninsula Chicago is making its beloved holiday tea tradition available for takeout. You’ll receive everything from Palais des Thés teas and egg and truffle salad sandwiches to peppermint-orange scones and chestnut-eggnog macarons. There’s also a Christmas To-Go family-style meal with roasted ribeye or a spiral ham.
Bask in sun this holiday by venturing over to The Pearl Hotel’s Havana Beach Bar & Grill for Christmas Eve and Day offerings that include roasted butternut squash soup, local grouper, filet of beef and shrimp scampi, and eggnog crème brûlée and chocolate-peppermint cheesecake.
Pick up a ready-made meal from Four Seasons Hotel Toronto through December 31. Herb-butter turkey, roast beef and ham come with a slew of sides (including maple-mustard-glazed vegetables, and caramelized onion and chive mashed potatoes) and dessert (an apple crumble pie or a chocolate-hazelnut yule log).
The St. Regis Toronto also will help you do the holidays at home with prime rib or whole-roasted turkey takeaway meals that have sunchoke and truffle soup, apricot and chestnut stuffing, and a chocolate praline yule log through December 27. Plus, there are optional wine pairings.
Celebrated chef Mauro Colagreco of Mirazur in Menton has settled into Kulm Hotel St. Moritz for a special winter residency. Stay in a one-bedroom suite or the presidential suite and order his holiday tasting menu via room service. You’ll savor dishes like apple-rosemary cake, beetroot caviar and fish sudachi from plush alpine accommodations.
InterContinental Boston’s Miel Brasserie will usher in December 25 with a three-course menu providing options like seared smoked halibut, honey-balsamic duck magret and caramel butternut squash tart tatin with gingerbread eggnog ice cream.
Indulge in egg toast caviar, ahi tuna tartare, tagliatelle with black truffles, roasted Maine lobster, peppercorn-crusted wagyu and bûche de noël with Jean-Georges Beverly Hills at Waldorf Astoria Beverly Hills’ six-course holiday to-go menu.
Reveillon dinner began in the Crescent City in the early 19th century as a way to kickstart festivities after midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. Windsor Court Hotel, New Orleans carries on the French and Creole tradition with a reveillon meal that includes pan-seared scallops and striploin with port wine sauce. The hotel also offers a four-course menu for Christmas Eve and Day.
Try a four-course reveillon dinner at The Ritz-Carlton, New Orleans or opt for the hotel’s Christmas Day Jubilee, a four-course menu that includes a seafood starter and unlimited champagne.
Atlantis, The Palm is cooking up everything from fine-dining to family-friendly holiday meals at its many restaurants. Some highlights include a seafood feast at underwater restaurant Ossiano (December 24-25), a Nobu brunch that includes salmon tacos and black cod butter lettuce (December 25) and a Hakkasan dinner of dim sum, crispy duck salad and barbecue wagyu rib-eye (December 21-25), British fare like turkey Wellington at Gordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen & Bar. If you prefer dinner at home, Seafire will have truffle-stuffed turkey and a surf and turf of prime rib and lobster Thermidor for takeaway.
Spend Christmas Eve relaxed on the sand at Four Seasons Resort Dubai at Jumeirah Beach’s Starlight BBQ on the Beach. The following day, head to Suq for a festive brunch with live music and activities for the kiddies.
Chatham Bars Inn will prepare its traditional Christmas Grand Feast, but the buffet dishes like grilled swordfish and prime rib will be brought to your table. Or opt for Christmas To-Go, a family-sized takeout spread that includes clam chowder, turkey, bourbon-and-vanilla-glazed sweet potatoes and a dark chocolate cream pie with peppermint Chantilly.
Hotel Gajoen Tokyo’s New American grill Kanade Terrace will dress its table in green and red through December 25 and trot out grilled dishes while a saxophonist performs. The holiday tea will run through Christmas, with strawberry and pistachio trifles and roasted chicken croissant sandwiches. Or just pop by for one of the luscious holiday cakes, like the tamatebako, a white chocolate box that holds delicious treasures like a yuzu-flavored chocolate cake or a shortcake made with rare strawberries.
Have a decadent home repast thanks to Lacroix at The Rittenhouse. Create an à la carte dinner with the restaurant’s osetra caviar, shrimp cocktail, creamed brussels sprouts, black truffle mac and cheese, prime rib and lamb. Top it off with the Rittenhouse Hot Chocolate Kit, which includes rich Valrhona Manjari chocolate, cocoa powder, milk, whipped cream and vanilla marshmallows.
For Christmas Eve, Hôtel de Crillon, A Rosewood Hotel will craft dishes like pressed foie gras, Bresse chicken and blue lobster in a delicate jelly with tangy apple, walnuts and black truffle. Dessert will be no less spectacular with an enchanted black forest yule log inspired by French author Charles Perrault’s fairy tales on offer through December.
Observe Nochebuena (Christmas Eve) at Montage Los Cabos with a four-course meal at fine-dining Mezcal, a family feast at the beachside Marea or an à la carte dinner at pop-up restaurant Talay. The next day, get a deluxe breakfast with regional fare and jolly bloody marys.
Mandarin Oriental, Taipei’s Italian establishment Bencotto will whip up a special Christmas menu starring seasonal ingredients. Don’t miss the chance to snap up one of the treats at The Mandarin Cake Shop, like the Red Fantasy, a vanilla sponge cake topped with berry cream, mascarpone mousse and hazelnut crunch.
During Christmas Eve, Rome Cavalieri, A Waldorf Astoria Hotel’s dining destination La Pergola will unveil an eight-course Feast of the Seven Fishes with scallops with cauliflower and red mullet with pumpkin. Otherwise, opt for a Christmas Eve meal at Tiepolo Lounge & Terrace or in your room.
Uliveto will serve Christmas brunch with dishes like cannelloni stuffed with ricotta and spinach, herb-crusted veal with truffle sauce and panettone.
The Savoy will send you off with a Norfolk turkey, duck fat confit potatoes, oven-roasted parsnips with cumin, a mince pie with brandy butter and more. Available through December 31, the takeaway spread can be tailored to four or eight.
W Hong Kong puts out a December buffet at Kitchen with dishes like sea urchin egg pudding with salmon roe, honey glazed ham, Brazilian waygu picanha and pan-seared foie gras. At Sing Yin Cantonese Dining restaurant, the Christmas lineup includes lobster and foie gras. If you prefer takeout, a special menu has slow-roasted turkey and a blueberry and chestnut Mont Blanc cake.
Head to The Langham, Hong Kong for Bostonian Seafood & Grill’s festive four-course dinner with a seafood tower, Australian black angus tenderloin and a milk chocolate and gingerbread crème brûlée bûche de noël. The December 25 buffet brunch will have delicacies like caviar, Iberian ham, poached lobster tail, Christmas pudding and mince pies. To celebrate at home, Main St. Deli has a to-go menu with turkey, prime rib and all of the fixings.
Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong’s Mandarin Grill & Bar will serve its annual Christmas Day roast accompanied by free-flowing Ruinart Blanc de Blancs Champagne. Or partake in a lavish international buffet at the hotel’s Connaught Room or Clipper Lounge.
