Thanksgiving Dinners

Thanksgiving Feast in Aid of Benjamin Franklin House at the Butcher’s Hall
For a spectacular Thanksgiving feast in London, head to the Butcher’s Hall where a traditional meal is served in high style. All of the proceeds from the event go towards the work of Benjamin Franklin House, which is fitting as Franklin not only suggested that the turkey become an American national symbol, but also practised cooking it as part of his early work on electricity. Tickets are £68, or £28 for children and include a reception, Thanksgiving meal and drinks.

Ffiona’s, Kensington
This popular British restaurant has (perhaps unexpectedly) been serving an acclaimed Thanksgiving dinner for 19 years. If you’d like to celebrate at home but don’t have space to cook, they’ll prepare a takeaway feast for you!

Christopher’s, Covent Garden
The grill’s Thanksgiving dinner is always popular and it’s easy to see why: £45 gets you three courses from a tantalising menu that features delights such as Maryland crab cake and pumpkin pie with honey bourbon crème chantilly.

Le Caprice, Piccadilly
The restaurant’s traditional menu features crab and sweetcorn chowder, roast turkey with all the trimmings and a chocolate and pumpkin pie. Unlike many other menus, you can order the courses here individually.

Bodeans BBQ, Various Venues
With four branches around London, these laid back American diners are a great option for a relaxed Thanksgiving. Their special menu offers three traditional courses for £20.95.

Thanksgiving Drinks

The Big Easy, Chelsea
Thanksgiving tipples grace the menuwith a special Pumpkin Martini, Apple and Cinnamon Margarita; classic Egg Nogg; or Black Fig Sidecar. All £7.95 each. Plus a live band will be playing to cheer you on with toe-tapping music from 8.30pm.

The American Bar at the Stafford Hotel, St James’s
One of only two remaining American Bars in London (the other is at The Savoy), this is a great place for a post-Thanksgiving dinner cocktail. Select from a range of traditional favourites, or go for the special Thanksgiving Cognac Sparkler, which mixes Cognac with sparkling cider.

Bar 45, 45 Park Lane
If you can’t make the CUT restaurant‘s Thanksgiving dinner on 22 November, you can still sample their cranberry Thanksgiving cocktail 1863 (named after the year the holiday began in America) and Thanksgiving Pie Sliders at the hotel bar between 19-25 November.

The Rubens at the Palace Hotel, Victoria
For the duration of November you can enjoy Thanksgiving inspired cocktails in the hotels’ bars.

Thanksgiving Entertainment

Jetlag Bar, Warren Street
Their Thanksgiving menu is accompanied by an all-day programme of entertainment that includes a film screening, American Football coverage and live music from Mr Lee.

The Blues Kitchen, Camden
Be thankful for late opening hours at this popular live music venue, where the Thanksgiving party carries on until 1am. Live music will be provided by Mike Newsham, the Astrojets and Miraculous Mule from 9pm. The bar is also offering traditional food as well as a chance to win a Fender Telecaster – see their website for full details.

The Sports Cafe, Piccadilly
Watch NFL all night as part of this bar’s all-American celebration.

More Thanksgiving celebrations in London

Second up in our World in London project, after France, is America. We’ve asked Julie, writer of  London travel blog A Lady in London, to tell us where she heads when she gets homesick for the US while in London… 

Every US expat in London gets homesick for American cuisine from time to time. Whether it’s Tex Mex, pepperoni pizza, or a glass of California Cabernet, we’ve all experienced a longing for our regional specialties.

A common American expat craving is for good southern barbecue. There are a few restaurants in London that serve American barbecue, but one stands out above the rest. It is called Bodean’s, and while it has locations in several London neighborhoods, its Soho restaurant is the best.

Bodean’s offer some of the tastiest southern BBQ outside of the United States. It specializes in Kansas City Barbecue, a style that is characterized by sweet, tangy sauce and a variety of meat from pulled pork to burnt ends.

The best barbecue dish at Bodean’s is the Pulled Pork Meal, which in addition to pork includes traditional sides of coleslaw and creamed corn. Other favorites include the ribs, burnt ends, and macaroni and cheese.

But Bodean’s isn’t just about the food. Americans love Bodean’s for its events as well. Known for being one of the best places to watch American sports, the televisions at the upstairs bar and downstairs dining room are always showing baseball, basketball, American football, and other important sporting events. There is even a private cave-like room downstairs with a TV for watching the games.

Aside from sports, Bodean’s gets back to its American roots with special events like American Thanksgiving. Homesick expats from all over London flock to Bodean’s on Thanksgiving day for a big traditional feast and the company of fellow Americans.

But it doesn’t take a 49ers game or Thanksgiving meal to get Americans to Bodean’s. From birthday dinners to casual meetings, Bodean’s is the perfect place to spend hours catching up with friends or introducing non-Americans to our country’s best southern cuisine. If that’s not enough, it’s one of the few places in London where Americans can enjoy a bottle of Coors Light without being made fun of.

That alone is reason enough to stop by.

Do you have any more ideas about America in London? Let us know in the comments below!