Xmas lunch at local pubs/restaurants?

[Alisongb1]

Does anyone know what local pubs/restaurants will be open this year for Xmas serving lunch? 

[Sue]

The Palmerston is open for meals on Christmas Day.

I imagine The Cherry Tree will be again. We had a truly terrible meal there on Christmas Day last year which cost us around  £100 each without drinks, so I wouldn't recommend you book there 😭

Please PM me if you want details, though I am very tempted to post them on here.

Edited October 30 by Sue

[MrsR]

The Dulwich Wood House is advertising a four course meals for £105 per person

[Penguin68]

If you like very good quality South Asian food then Babur in Brockley is offering a well priced, for what it is, Christmas day menu with sensitively priced reductions for a more limited children's menu. They also have a compelling wine list and their specialist cocktails are phenomenal. Not traditional Christmas fare, but then that might be an additional recommendation. 

[Pugwash]

I may be a scrooge but to pay over £100 plus for a meal is a bit much. I understand that staff costs would be a high factor in this price and that being no transport on Christmas Day - pubs may have to pay car hire fees. The café in Christ Church will be doing a 3 course meal in the run up to Christmas for around £30 per head (Booking essential) so to charge an additional £60 plus seems somewhat unreasonable.

The past few years, there have only been the 2 of us on Christmas Day, so we lash out and buy a lot of M & S food - ready prepared or with minimal cooking at a cost of between £30 and £40.

We host the family Boxing Day onwards (8 - 10 people) spending around £60 on food and drink.

Rather spend £100 for food etc over a couple of days rather than £200 for one meal. We are fortunate that we have the finances  to do this as many people are not able to do this. One family member with young children would find it hard to spend even £10 on a Christmas meal. Our kids come armed with plastic boxes to all family meals to take home any leftovers - so we are left with minimal waste- any veg and meat  get made into soup.

[Sue]

 

1 hour ago, Pugwash said:

I may be a scrooge but to pay over £100 plus for a meal is a bit much. I understand that staff costs would be a high factor in this price and that being no transport on Christmas Day - pubs may have to pay car hire fees. The café in Christ Church will be doing a 3 course meal in the run up to Christmas for around £30 per head (Booking essential) so to charge an additional £60 plus seems somewhat unreasonable.

The past few years, there have only been the 2 of us on Christmas Day, so we lash out and buy a lot of M & S food - ready prepared or with minimal cooking at a cost of between £30 and £40.

We host the family Boxing Day onwards (8 - 10 people) spending around £60 on food and drink.

Rather spend £100 for food etc over a couple of days rather than £200 for one meal. We are fortunate that we have the finances  to do this as many people are not able to do this. One family member with young children would find it hard to spend even £10 on a Christmas meal. Our kids come armed with plastic boxes to all family meals to take home any leftovers - so we are left with minimal waste- any veg and meat  get made into soup.

£30-40 for M&S Christmas food for two seems very low!

And only £60 for food and drink for 8-10 people? 

We have had M&S food at Christmas in the past, and it came to a lot more than that. I suppose it depends exactly what you are buying.

We left it late to book a Christmas Day meal out last year, so there weren't many options left. 

The Cherry Tree menu looked very nice. That was our first mistake. We also overlooked the fact that it was a Young's pub, with all that implies about the food. That was our second mistake.

We don't have shedloads of money. We  took the view that we deserved a nice meal  out after working bloody hard all year.

So it was doubly disappointing to basically waste a lot of money which could have been very much better  spent elsewhere.

Edited Friday at 14:10 by Sue

[Pugwash]

I suppose we are lucky that our daughters both drive so do not have alcohol when they are with us.  I start my Christmas food shopping in October, when prices are generally lower. Turkey Crown from Iceland, gammon from Sainsbury's, get put into freezer as do any other bits and pieces i.e. prawns/seafood. Fruit and veg from Aldi nearer the time,. Having 3 vegetarians plus a gluten intolerant, I make much of the other food stuff including desserts. Aldi's version of Baileys is half the price, plus beers and ciders are good value. Neither of us are wine drinkers

We generally have fish or vegetarian based food from Marks plus a dessert, I suppose I have always been a careful shopper - I was a single parent for many years where all my wages went to paying the mortgage leaving around £10 a week for food and other bills. My work colleagues used to mock me when I said that a chicken would last us all the week ending up boiling up bones to make a soup base. Old habits die hard even when you have a bit more in your pocket to spend.

[beansprout]

Many years ago, I actually cooked a meal for all who wanted to come …..

In this day and age, with social media being in our faces..yes, I don’t live in ED, but visit,  why doesn’t Christian spirit happen?

I would think, few people even know their neighbours…. Life, busy etc.

We all live in one world..human kindness is all around..In a city, people are scared to make human contact, especially when who knows what might happen.

Can clearly remember, coming back in summer with friends,  side door had been jimmied.. nothing was taken from inside..

When I lived in ED and when I visit, it is Me who starts a conversation.. never know where that might lead, or in deed where it might take one..

Notice my post, in general did not have response I was hoping for .. that is fine..

So, Will start again, and ask personally.how can I thank or make a donation to keep forum going..

We should be proud, to have a forum like this..

 

 

 

[Sue]

4 hours ago, beansprout said:

Many years ago, I actually cooked a meal for all who wanted to come …..

In this day and age, with social media being in our faces..yes, I don’t live in ED, but visit,  why doesn’t Christian spirit happen?

I would think, few people even know their neighbours…. Life, busy etc.

We all live in one world..human kindness is all around..In a city, people are scared to make human contact, especially when who knows what might happen.

Can clearly remember, coming back in summer with friends,  side door had been jimmied.. nothing was taken from inside..

When I lived in ED and when I visit, it is Me who starts a conversation.. never know where that might lead, or in deed where it might take one..

Notice my post, in general did not have response I was hoping for .. that is fine..

So, Will start again, and ask personally.how can I thank or make a donation to keep forum going..

We should be proud, to have a forum like this..

 

 

 

Nothing to do with the topic of this thread, but I have to say, I think it is quite untrue that people don't make human contact in cities.

Just locally, there are street parties, road WhatsApp groups, one street I know near here hires a coach and everyone in the street goes to the seaside every year!

There are lots of neighbourhood groups on Facebook, where people look out for each other and help each other.

In my experience people chat to strangers on public transport, in shops, waiting in queues etc.

To the best of my knowledge the forum does not need donations to keep it going. It contains paid ads, which hopefully helps Joe,  the very excellent admin,  to keep it up and running.

And as for a house being broken into, that could happen anywhere. I knew a village in Devon where a whole row of houses was burgled one night in the eighties.

Sorry to continue the off topic conversation when the poor OP was just trying to find out who was open for lunch on Christmas Day!

Edited yesterday at 21:42 by Sue

[David Peckham]

This reminds me of a situation a few years ago when a mate's Dad was coming down and fancied Franklin's for Christmas Day. He'd been there once, in September, and loved it.

Obviously, they're far too tuned in to do it, so having looked around, £100 per head was pretty standard for fairly average pubs around here. That is ridiculous. I'd go with Penguin's idea; one of the best Christmas Day lunches I've ever had was at the Lahore Kebab House in Whitechapel. And it was BYO.

After a couple of Guinness outside Franklin's, we decided £100 for four people was the absolute maximum, but it had to be done in the style of Franklin's and sourced within walking distance of The Gowlett.

All the supermarkets knock themselves out on veg as a loss leader - particularly anything festive - and the Afghani lads on Rye Lane are brilliant for more esoteric stuff and spices, so it really doesn't need to be pricey.

Here's what we came up with. It was considerably less than £100 for four.

Bread & Butter (Lidl & Lurpak on offer at Iceland)

Mersea Oysters (Sopers)

Parsnip & Potato Soup ( I think they were both less than 20 pence a kilo at Morrisons)

Smoked mackerel, Jerseys, watercress & radish (Sopers)

Rolled turkey breast joint (£7.95 from Iceland)

Roast Duck (two for £12 at Lidl)

Mash 

Carrots, star anise, butter emulsion.

Stir-fried Brussels, bacon, chestnuts and Worcestershire sauce.(Lidl)

Clementine and limoncello granita (all from Lidl)

Stollen (Lidl)

Stichelton, Cornish Cruncher, Stinking Bishop. (Marks & Sparks)

There was a couple of lessons to learn:

Don't freeze mash. It breaks down the cellular structure and ends up more like a French pomme purée. I renamed it 'Pomme Mikael Silvestre' after my favourite French centre-half cum left back and got away with it, but if you're not amongst football fans you may not be so lucky. Tasted great, looked like shit.

Don't take the clementine granita out of the freezer too early, particularly if you've overdone it on the limoncello. It melts quickly and someone will suggest snorting it. The sugar really sticks your nostrils together on Boxing Day.

Speaking of 'lost' Christmases past, John Lewis have hijacked Alison Limerick's 'Where Love Lives' for their new advert.

Bastards. But not a bad ad.

 

Beansprout, I have a massive steel pot I bought from a Nigerian place on Choumert Road many years ago. It could do with a work out. I'm quite prepared to make a huge, spicy parsnip soup for anyone who fancies it and a few carols.

 

[Sue]

On 30/10/2025 at 14:41, MrsR said:

The Dulwich Wood House is advertising a four course meals for £105 per person

That is also a Young's pub, like The Cherry Tree.

However fantastic the menu looks, you might want to ask exactly who will cook the food on the day, and how.

Also, if  there is Christmas pudding on the menu, you might want to ask how that will be cooked, and whether it will look and/or taste anything like the Christmas puddings you have had in the past.

[David Peckham]

1 hour ago, Sue said:

 

Also, if  there is Christmas pudding on the menu, you might want to ask how that will be cooked, and whether it will look and/or taste anything like the Christmas puddings you have had in the past.

I've never got Christmas pudding.

The only times I've managed to make it vaguely acceptable to people is thus:

Buy a really tiny one when it's remaindered in Tesco's. They confound carbon dating, so the yellow labelled stuff at 75% off on Boxing Day will keep you going for years.

Chop it up and soak it in Stones Ginger Wine and left over Scotch.

Mix it in with a decent vanilla ice cream. It's like a festive Rum 'n' Raisin.

Or:

Stick a couple in a demijohn of Aldi vodka and serve it to guests, accompanied by 'The Party's Over' by Johnny Mathis when people simply won't leave your flat.

[Castleton]

19 hours ago, David Peckham said:

I've never got Christmas pudding.

The only times I've managed to make it vaguely acceptable to people is thus:

Buy a really tiny one when it's remaindered in Tesco's. They confound carbon dating, so the yellow labelled stuff at 75% off on Boxing Day will keep you going for years.

Chop it up and soak it in Stones Ginger Wine and left over Scotch.

Mix it in with a decent vanilla ice cream. It's like a festive Rum 'n' Raisin.

Or:

Stick a couple in a demijohn of Aldi vodka and serve it to guests, accompanied by 'The Party's Over' by Johnny Mathis when people simply won't leave your flat.

This has given me ideas for the ginger wine I love, that no one else likes!

 

 

 

[Sue]

1 hour ago, Castleton said:

This has given me ideas for the ginger wine I love, that no one else likes!

 

 

 

Not even in whisky macs?!