For some it may sound like sacrilege, but for a growing number of others, enjoying a lovingly crafted Christmas Dinner at an acclaimed restaurant is a welcome reprieve from the needling smoke alarms, clanking piles of baking trays, charcoal turkey and almost everything else that can turn blissfully pastoral family time into an afternoon of Boiling Point chaos.
From Michelin-starred British classics to teetering Turkish platters, here are the best restaurants shouldering the stress on Christmas Day.
Next door to Zouk, Turkish steakhouse Etci Mehmet offer a decadently carnivorous festive menu from Mon 14 Nov up to and including Christmas Day. With both lunch and dinner options available, the dishes on offer include a mezze platter, lamb shoulder, chicken steak, ‘giant spicy meatball’ and a range of desserts, with vegetarian options available on request.
One of Manchester’s best-known fine-dining institutions, Peter Street Kitchen serves a Christmas Day Luncheon with customary masterful extravagance. Guests can pick between lobster, crispy duck salad and chilled asparagus for starters, followed by a palate cleanser consisting of champagne and mint jelly with organic lemon sorbet, before a range of irresistible main courses including dover sole fillet, aged beef wellington and roasted garlic and sage herb butter baby chicken. Desserts range from cinnamon creme brulee to blackberry and vanilla cheesecake, with Charbonnel et Walker truffles as the petit fours.
Situated next to Whitefield Metrolink station, discerning Chinese restaurant 8 Manchester offers a staggeringly affordable Christmas Day banquet featuring turkey and sweetcorn soup, steak rolls, shui mai, steamed seabass, crispy chilli chicken and more.
North Manchester’s Michelin Guide jewel, broodingly chic Scandi-style restaurant OSMA offers a Christmas Day menu full of elevated classics. Beginning with canapes and a glass of Cremant, guests can choose between blue cheese, ham hock terrine and salmon gravadlax to start, followed by a choice of Goosnargh turkey, corn-fed goose, grass-fed beef or wild mushroom pithivier for the main course, with sherry trifle, marmalade sponge and more British cheeses for dessert.
Set to delicately festive live music by String Infusion, 20 Stories’ Christmas Day menu comprises a 5-course triumph curated by Executive Chef Daniel Scott, including pan-fried sea bream, roast Cheshire turkey breast, dark chocolate baubles and more.
Manchester’s favourite special-occasion dinner choice for over twenty years, celebrity-studded San Carlo runs a Christmas Day Festive Lunch stuffed with refined, authentic Italian dishes including Tuscan pate, Tournedo Rossini, Halibut Pernod and tiramisu, punctuated by more champagne sorbet palate cleansers and a selection of seasonal vegetables.
- Words:
- Wolf McFarlane
- Published on:
- Tue 20 Dec 2022
