How's your year been, mate? Good? Bad? Middling? No matter what sort of 2019 you've had, we hope that 2020's got plenty of wonderful things in store for you. We especially hope it's got plenty of wonderful edible things in store for you. Because that's sort of what we're all about here at Foodism. We're also all about finding any excuse we can get to celebrate with some excellent food and drink, and we're fairly certain that the start of a brand-new decade is as good an excuse as any to have some fun with a raucous New Year's Eve in London.
Yeah, we like large parties. They're so intimate. At small parties there isn't any privacy and you can often get stuck in mundane small talk about whatever basic New Year's resolutions the cousin of someone you barely know has set for themselves in 2020. Needless to say, the very concept of enduring a night like that that sounds like hell on Earth. We'd much rather spend a night in the company of heaping plates of food and copious amounts of quality alcohol instead. And we think you would, too.
To help you ring in the New Year in the most delicious way possible, we've compiled this guide to the best New Year's Eve in London parties going on this year. The largest, liveliest, and most downright delicious that the capital has got to offer. Spending your New Year's Eve in London? Make sure you do it right. Whether you're looking to enjoy a bit of Bombay Vintage Glam in Kensington or a more laid-back Filipino feed at Bong Bong's Manila Kanteen, there's a load of great set-menus and events that should see you through to 2020 in the most enjoyable fashion possible.
30 places to spend New Year’s Eve in London
1. Bubbledogs
70 Charlotte Street, W1T 4QG
Bubbledogs champagne bar will be seeing in 2020 by teaming up with Two Lights (the hot Shoreditch restaurant from Chase Lovecky) for a special one-night-only champagne and fried chicken party. And if there's two things in life we love more than anything else it's champagne and fried chicken. From 7pm, Two Lights will be taking over the bubbledogs kitchen and slinging out plates of buttermilk fried chicken while Sandia Chang pours her favourite champagnes from magnums behind the bar. The magnums they'll popping by the glass include a: Fleury, Blanc de Noirs, Brut from Courteron; Tarland, Zero, Brut Nature from Oeuilly; and Eric Rodez, Cuvée des Crayères, Brut from Ambonnay. The party will start at 5:30pm and run until 1am. Your New Year’s Eve in London plans are sorted.
2. Hoppers
Various locations
Hoppers is kicking off New Year’s Eve in London by hosting a traditional Raksha Yakka NYE Dinner – a celebratory spin on the rustic traditions, flavours and sounds of Sri Lanka. The Raksha Yakka promises to be a colourful celebration set against a backdrop of traditional Sri Lankan music and food. Which, quite literally, sounds good to us. Diners can feast inside a fairy lit room, decorated with Raksha masks and ceiling drapes, and enjoy a five-course meal including ambul thiyal cutlets, guinea fowl and cheese kothu, jaffna curried pomfret with cassava chips, and more. Make a toast to the new year with a White Ruby Punch (ceylon arrack, white port, white tea, kumquat) and start the decade as you mean to go on. Hoppers Soho will be hosting three sittings: 5.30pm (£40), 7.30pm and 9.45pm (£50). Meanwhile, Hoppers St Christophers Place will be hosting an early and late sitting bookable between 5.30pm -7.15pm (£40) and 7.30pm till late (£50).
3. Loyal Tavern
171-173 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3UW
Bermondsey hot-spot Loyal Tavern is hosting a traffic light party to usher you into a new decade. Single? Taken? Complicated? It doesn't matter! Everyone's welcome at this party, just remember to wear the colour that signifies your relationship status. New Year's Eve guests will receive a complimentary bellini on arrival before enjoying a selection of chef Tom Cenci's hearty dishes including venison tartare with sprouts, beef dripping and miso mayo; blackened cauliflower with sesame yoghurt, chilli and green sauce; half roast beer can chicken with fennel, apple, kale and pickled walnut salad and coal-roasted pineapple with salted caramel ice cream for dessert. Loyal Tavern will be open until 1.30am, with music at the venue to get guests into the New Year's spirit. Fun is guaranteed. Romance is not guaranteed.
4. Bong Bong's Manila Kanteen
460 Hackney Road, E2 9EG
This New Year's Eve, Bong Bong's Manila Kanteen will be celebrating New Year’s Eve in London in proper Filipino fashion with a bar menu of dishes such as adobo cauliflower with lime aioli; adobo glazed double-fried chicken wings; satay duck heart skewers; and lechon kawali pork belly bites with spiced liver sauce. Drinks-wise you can expect Filipino-inspired cocktails like a Calamansi Collins made with Tarsay gin and Calamansi Lime and a Milo White Russian. To get everyone in the party spirit, there'll be karaoke and dancing until the early hours. Bong Bong's is open until 2am.
5. Wun's
23 Greek Street, W1D 4DZ
Z He and Alex Peffly, the husband and wife team behind Wun's (read our review of Wun's Tearoom, here), are hosting a party that intends to capture the groove and spirit of 1960s late night Hong Kong and bring it crashing and walloping its way into New Year’s Eve in London. Expect the sounds of surf rock with a live DJ playing an eclectic mixture of fusion Southeast Asian songs and modern European mixes long into the morning. The music will influence the dress code with attendees encouraged to embrace the theme of surf rock glam. Whatever the hell that is. Book one of the velvet booths to feast on a streamlined menu of late-night snacks including salt and pepper mushroom nuggets, coal grilled skewers, spiced peanut and fried whitebait and XO bone marrow with fried mantau.
6. Dishoom Kensington
4 Derry Street, W8 5SE
Dishoom Kensington is going to be getting its glad rags on for an evening they've dubbed 'Bombay Vintage Glam' this New Year's Eve. Guests can enjoy a feast to end all feasts from two decadent set menus – one entirely vegetarian, the other entirely… not – bursting at the seams with celebratory dishes like lamb raan biryani and paneer bemisal. The Art Deco-designed Kensington café will also be welcoming jazz band Marine Liners on stage to blow hot sax and keep the yellow cocktail music flowing for a good chunk of the night. Book a table from 8:30pm 'til 1am and enjoy a large and intimate party you'll struggle to top in 2020.
7. XU
30 Rupert Street, W1D 6DL
If you want to end your year with a proper delicious bang you should make a visit to XU to celebrate finally seeing the back of 2019. Priced at £65 per person, XU's NYE feast menu will feature twists on some of the restaurant's classics including cuttlefish toast and caviar, XO butter wild red prawn, pork xian bing and a malai madeleine with butterscotch sauce to look forward to. Drinks will come courtesy of a drinks pairing from the House of Suntory. The menu costs £65 per person which – for a New Year’s Eve in London – is great value for money.
8. Cora Pearl
30 Henrietta Street, WC2E 8NA
Ring the new decade in at Cora Pearl, a Parisian-accented restaurant that's got one of the loveliest-sounding NYE spreads going this year. The five course menu of French-cum-British cooking includes: canapés; Strangford Lough oysters; whisky-cured salmon, yoghurt, dill and soda bread; cow's curd agnolotti, Jerusalem artichoke and truffle; venison, salsify and mulled quince; monkfish, cauliflower and sauce jaune; and Cora's decadent chocolate tart. You can get your chops around all of that for £80 per person with a glass of Esterlin champagne. Yeah, we'll see you there with Cora on your arm.
9. Decimo
10th Floor, The Standard, 10 Argyle Street, NW1 2ST
Not only will there be a stunning set menu on offer at this stunning King's Cross restaurant but Decimo's very first New Year's Eve in London will see singer Jane Birkin performing on stage with a live band. The 360 degrees-rooftop terrace will be opened up for guests with views towards the City of London's midnight firework display. Which is, we're fairly sure, a sight that's worth the price of admission alone. Tickets start at £165 and include a glass of champagne at midnight.
10. Frenchie
16 Henrietta Street, WC2E 8QH
Say goodbye to 2019 in style at Frenchie with a seven-course veggie or non-veggie tasting menu that gives any other New Year’s Eve in London event a run for its money. Inspired by the season's most exciting produce, and created by Gregory Marchand and his crack team of dab hands, the menu looks ripe and redolent with extravagant dishes. The evening begins with champagne and nibbles followed by a spread of dishes that include Rhug Estate venison loin wellington, Jerusalem artichoke, gourmand pear and pickled walnut; salsify tagliatelle, Keen's cheddar and vin jaune sauce, smoked egg yolk and black truffle and pumpkin tortellini, portobello mushroom, consommé lapsang souchong and black truffle. After dinner, you can always wander down to the river for fireworks. Early bird sittings take place at 5.30 or 6pm and cost £140pp. Later sittings are priced at £160pp.
11. Volta do Mar
13-15 Tavistock Street, WC2E 7PS
Have yourself an everything Portuguese meal with the New Year's Eve feasting menu at Volta do Mar. The five-course fiesta starts from just £35pp and showcases the very best of Portuguese cooking in the form of fried cornmeal masala, Iberico pork vindalho and charred celeriac feijoada. Cocktails, Brazilian coffee and traditional Portuguese Christmas cake round off what should be a bloody great feed. Accompanied by music and a bon vivant-friendly atmosphere, guests are welcome to dance the night away.
12. Berber & Q
Various locations
This New Year's Eve in London, Berber & Q will be offering a special NYE Feast. Taking inspiration from executive chef Josh Katz's travels in Beirut, the set menu promises to be full of Middle Eastern crowd pleasers. Because who doesn't love hummus and booze?
13. Margot
45 Great Queen Street, WC2B 5AA
Covent Garden Italian restaurant Margot is the place to be for a classy New Year's Eve dinner that'll make the rest of your year look just a little bit drab in comparison. The six course menu includes plates of scallop carpaccio, grapefruit and hazelnuts, lobster-stuffed ravioli in spicy lobster broth and a spectacular roast fillet of beef, foie gras, spinach and black truffle. £145pp gets you five courses, coffee and petit fours. We're in.
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14. The Goring
15 Beeston Place, SW1W 0JW
The Goring (read our review of the Dining Rom at the Goring, here) are keeping it classic with a specially curated six-course NYE menu this year. Push the boat out and spend the evening dining in one of their two stellar restaurants. In the newly launched seafood restaurant, Siren, Nathan Outlaw has populated his menu with lobster risotto, orange and basil and turbot with crispy oyster, champagne and caviar sauce. Over in Michelin-starred The Dining Room, fare spans from Dorset crab and Scottish langoustines to saddle of venison, foie gras and chestnut. After dinner you can enjoy live jazz in the luxury hotel bar or amble over comfortably full to Parliament Square for fireworks. Six-courses in either restaurant costs £290pp.
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15. Arros QD
64 Eastcastle Street, W1W 8NQ
Arros QD will be serving a unique NYE menu set to showcase the expertise of chef, Quique Dacosta. The five-course dinner begins with a Moët & Chandon champagne reception before nibbles including Dacosta's famous cheese stones, parmesan, cream and cocoa butter. You'll then have the chance to tuck into small and larger dishes including black ash rice served with seasonal game and fresh lobster with chili crab dressing. The centrepiece of the evening is a massive paella Valenciana rifling with rabbit, chicken, garrafo beans, rosemary and aioli. An array of celebratory desserts include bourbon jelly, hazelnuts, mint sponge and carbon chocolate slates. The menu costs £110pp and guests can opt for the Moët & Chandon wine pairing for an extra £70pp on top.
16. Ice Bar
31-33 Heddon Street, W1B 4BN
This cool (ha!) Mayfair venue will be offering guests a unique New Year’s Eve in London with the opportunity to countdown 2020 at -5 degrees in a space decorated in gold. Yep, that's about as extra as it gets, really. As well as the Ice Bar, the adjoining Fire Bar, Enchanted Terrace and Yuu Kitchen restaurant will also be dressed in gold for the occasion. Sharing plates from ex-Nobu head chef Jon da Villa such as seared bluefin tuna belly with kizama grated wasabi, salsa and yuzu miso, king crab with jalapeño mayo gratin, flying fish roe and chives, and salmon and yellowtail sashimi will all be on the menu. Live entertainment from a percussionist and saxophonist will accompany a DJ from 8.30pm to 3am.
17. Arcade Food Theatre
103-105 New Oxford Street, WC1A 1DB
Arcade Food Theatre, one of Foodism's best markets in London, is set to play host to a fairly stellar spread of edible New Year's Eve celebrations. And some DJs, cabaret performers, magicians, stilt walkers and fortune telling bearded drag queens that have been brought along for the ride, too. Each kitchen will be open until 1am, giving you the chance to choose from the almost overwhelming selection of Oklava, Pastorcito, Casita Do Frango, Chotto by Chotto Matte, Lina Stores, Flat Iron Workshop, TŌU and Pophams bakery for your NYE meal. Tickets cost £20 per person with a glass of fizz on arrival or you can add three food tokens (1 dish per token) for £50 per person. We'd do the latter and eat well.
18. Bernardi's
62 Seymour Street, W1H 5BN
Go into the New Year with a full stomach after a decadent dinner at Bernardi's where you can be given the choice between a five course set menu for £65 or a six course dinner for £85. What's on the menu? Expect superlative stuff like beef carpaccio, veal ragu with gnocchi, and chateaubriand. If you want to make it extra, extra special, head to the with Bernardi's private dining room which will be available to hire for the entirety of the Christmas week.
19. The Gate
22-24, Seymour Place, W1H 7NL
For those planning to go meat-free in 2020, The Gate's plant-based New Year's Eve tasting menu is the perfect way to start the start the year off in the right way. For £59 per person, you can work your way through dishes like creamy Jerusalem artichoke soup, courgette flower and chocolate tulip. A very vegetarian New Year's Eve in London indeed. For our complete guide to the best vegetarian restaurants in London, just click here.
20. The Frog Hoxton
45-47 Hoxton Square, N1 6PD
Over at The Frog Hoxton, Adam Handling and head chef Jamie Park have cooked up an inventive six course tasting menu that reflects the vibrancy of the local area and throws in a bit of New Year's indulgence for the badness. Spiced duck liver and cherry choux? Baked scallop and coral butter? Retired dairy cow, braised shallots and chestnut sage? There's all that, and more, my friend. The NYE tasting menu is priced at £75 per person for 5.30/6pm sittings or £95 per person for 8.30/9pm sittings. Matched wines are priced at £65 and matched beers at £50.
21. Berenjak
27 Romilly Street, W1D 5AL
Modelled after the hole-in-the-wall eateries that line the streets of Tehran, Berenjak offers the perfect Soho pit-stop for a fine and filling feast ahead of a heavy night of partying. Serving up its much-loved a la carte menu with a selection of mezze and kebabs that are perfectly designed for sharing with your friends, loved ones, and even the people you don't want to ever come across in the new year, Berenjak looks like a great spot this December 31.
22. Brigadiers
1-5 Bloomberg Arcade, EC4N 8AR
Brigadiers will be making your New Year's Eve in London special this year by drawing on the traditions and conviviality of an Indian army mess for a grand-sounding Bollywood Feast Party. The talented kitchen team have created a four-course tasting menu featuring the evening's main event – a grand shahi lamb biryani, complete with all the trimmings. Entertainment will run throughout the night courtesy of the London School of Bollywood, dhol drummers and a resident DJ playing a fusion of Bollywood and contemporary hits. Wine pairings, champagne magnums and free flowing lager and cocktails will complement the feast and ensure that your glass is always topped up. Because – c'mon – we know that's half the reason you're going out for NYE anyways. Starts from £75 per head.
23. Oblix East
31 St Thomas Street, SE1 9RY
Toast 2020 in the tallest building in Europe while dancing the night away at Oblix East – an All That Glitters-themed New Year's Eve party that looks to be one of the more boisterous offerings going on this New Year’s Eve in London. Live music will be provided by the Hot Gold Jazz Orchestra and DJ Tony will take guests into the early hours with some soulful funky beats. Celebratory drinks and tasty canapés will be on offer, and with tickets priced at £250 per person, this isn't one to miss.
24. Frog by Adam Handling and Eve Bar
34-35 Southampton Street, WC2E 7HG
If you want to be in the middle of all the action this New Year's Eve, then head over to Frog by Adam Handling and Eve Bar in Covent Garden. The decadent nine-course tasting menu will feature some of Handling's signature dishes like 'Mother, truffle' and 'Lobster, Wagyu fat' alongside some more luxurious additions like 'Monkfish, spiced carrot, lemongrass'. To keep the party going on until the wee hours there will be a selection of London's best DJs (including Alex Sessions) in subterranean bar, Eve, from 10pm. The NYE tasting menu is priced at £185 per person, which includes a welcome glass of Taittinger 'Prelude Grand Cru', Champagne NV, all of the above entertainment and a midnight glass of Adam Handling Sparkling Wine.
25. Kanishka
17-19 Maddox Street, W1S 2QH
The end of a decade deserves something pretty special – wouldn't you agree? We'd say so. Which is why a special meal at Kanishka looks like it'd go down a treat on 31 December. Delivering sensational food, wine, cocktails and music in one of London's most glamorous spots, Kanishka has created two special New Year's Eve menus including one vegetarian menu that will have you feeling full and satisfied while still ready to send it into the night. Enjoy dishes like chicken tikka pie, cumin-scented berry compote, tenga lobster masala, and gor rice pudding brûlée to name but a few. As well as the option to choose from three courses of your liking, each menu comes with a celebratory cocktail on arrival, petit fours, coffee and tea. For those planning on bringing in the new year at home, there's an early bird sitting available between 5:30-7:30pm. As for the night prowlers? Well, from 12:30-3:30am anyone can walk in onto the Kanishka dancefloor, grab a glass of Champagne, some delicious bar nibbles and throw some shapes for the first few exciting hours of the decade.
26. Adam Handling Chelsea
75 Sloane Street, SW1X 9SG
Mark the arrival of 2020 at Adam Handling Chelsea for a proper old school British time. Dedicated to the very concept of luxury, Handling and head chef Jonny McNeil have put together spectacular five and seven course tasting menus, featuring the likes of 'duck liver, hazelnut, fig' and 'salt-aged beef, chestnut, caper', paired with classic and premium wine pairings. Live entertainment for the evening will be courtesy of four-piece band, The Tricks. Rock amicably into 2020 from 8pm until 1am. Be prepared for all that, plus a complimentary glass of Adam Handling Sparkling Wine at midnight.
27. Sager + Wilde
250 Paradise Row, E2 9LE
Been a tough year? Sorry to hear that. Had the best year of your life so far? Excellent news. Regardless of how the past year has treated you, make sure you send 2019 off into the past over an excellent dinner at Sager + Wilde. The menu looks absolutely off-the-wall. A glass of champagne on arrival comes followed by: homemade focaccia with olives; champagne arancini and white truffle mayo; burratini, charred endive and caramelised walnut; beetroot gnocchi with fresh goat cheese and cime di raoa; mains of beef sirloin, slip sole or roasted cauliflower; sides of roast potatoes and creamy spinach; and a dessert of panettone and ricotta gelato with a cheeky digestif cocktail. Priced at £39 before 7pm without a pasta course or £55 after 7pm and including the pasta course, this looks to be a grand time for all. Whether S+W are the main event, or a stop gap on the way to something else, they'll make sure you're catered for carefully.
28. Seabird
14th Floor, 40 Blackfriars Road, SE1 8PB
If you want to make sure the first thing you see in 2020 is a stunning view of London and not the back of someone's head in a dirty warehouse rave, you should head to Seabird restaurant at The Hoxton this New Year’s Eve in London. The £195 hot ticket here will include a welcome glass of champagne and a sharing feast that includes an oyster selection, Scottish langoustine, octopus roll with sobrasada aioli and padron peppers, and 35-day dry-aged rib eye. Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.
29. Gunpowder Tower Bridge
4 Duchess Walk, SE1 2SD
How does a New Year's Eve champagne party by the River Thames sound? Good? Yeah, thought so. Gunpowder are hosting just that, and you should definitely try and get yourself down there for the occasion. And the £40 feasting menu, obvs. Rammed with dishes like tandoori fig and goats cheese, whole beef rib in Kerala pepper sauce and chicken kalmi kabab in tandoori spices, the menu looks hard to top. A complimentary glass of Heidsieck & Co. Monopole 2010 Gold Top Champagne will be served on arrival with bottles available for just £55 thereafter. Situated right next to Tower Bridge, it'd be rude not to complete your NYE frivolity with a walk along the river as fireworks fill the night's sky.
30. Big Mamma
Various locations
We've got good news for anyone that's tried (and failed) to get into either Gloria or Circolo this year because both of the ballsy Big Mamma restaurants will be fully bookable for New Year's Eve. The usually unbookable hot spots will be the perfect place to ring in the new year with friends or family. A special a la carte menu will be available – priced at £52pp – alongside a complimentary glass of prosecco. Highlights from the menu include lobster risotto for two and a Christmas tree pizza with mozzarella di bufala, broccoli cream, crunchy potatoes, stracciatella and burnt datterini tomatoes. Merry Christmas one and all.