Tag: Christmas menu

Caffe Nero’s Festive Menu 2024

Christmas, coffee, Family Life, Food & Drink, Home, Restaurant, snacks

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

Whether you’re at work and wanting to grab something different for the time of year, or out shopping at the weekend and need a break, Caffe Nero have a new menu for Christmas 2024 that includes sandwiches, cakes and drinks that we can all enjoy.  We were sent off (happily) for a working lunch to find a few of Caffe Nero’s yummy delights!  

All of the items we tested are on Caffe Nero’s Festive Menu. We started with the Pigs Under Blankets Panini and the New Italian Festive Porchetta Focaccia.  Both sandwiches are best when heated up, which the Caffe Nero staff are happy to do as they make your hot drink.  We liked the Pigs Under Blankets for the festive sausages, bacon and added onion relish and when it’s hot, it’s especially nice!  The Italian Porchetta Focaccia has not just the porchetta ham but mozzarella and pesto.  This sandwich is sweeter than the Pigs Under Blankets and you can taste the pesto and mozzarella most with the ham and the sweetness of the focaccia bread being second.

We then tried one of the delicious Caffe Nero Classic Mince Pie. Made with shortbread pastry and filled with raisins, currents, sultanas and mixed peel with spices, this was a very sweet mince pie which can be eaten hot or cold. I chose to have it cold with my hot panini sandwich but you could add cream or ice cream to this easily.  The mince pie is really sweet, and has a lot of filling and really light pastry to it too. We would have tried a few drinks that day but the coffee machine was broken, but seeing as we still had a lot to try, we went back another day!

Next day we tried the Festive Feast Panini with bacon, chicken, cranberry & apricot stuffing and cranberry sauce in a sourdough panini.  This panini was also heated up and tasted of sweet cranberry and chicken with a herb-tasting panini. The New Brie, Bacon & Cranberry Panini was also warmed which allowed the Brie to melt all over again and give the counter-taste to the bacon and cranberry. We also got a cake today, a delicious New Black Forest Chouxnut. If you’re not familiar with a chouxnut, it’s a ring doughnut made with choux pastry which is filled with a Black Forest cream and topped with cherry ganache. The filling is incredibly sweet and the topping makes it very decadent – great for work or a treat and even better if you can share it with someone!

We also tried the New Tiramisu Latte.  This latte has a tiramisu syrup flavouring and dusting of chocolate powder, and even has a sponge finger added on top to give it more of the tiramisu dessert flavour! We liked this for the heartiness of the latte and the added tiramisu coffee and chocolate flavouring which made it feel extra Christmassy.

We loved the variety of the sandwiches, cakes and drinks, and there were so many to choose from that we couldn’t try them all. They’re full of flavour and have lots of Christmas spirit to them. All of the Caffe Nero Festive Menu is available to view online (we made our choices before we even left the office!) and are all in store from now on. Vegan and Vegetarian options also available.

https://www.caffenero.com/uk/menu/festive

Christmas at The Ivy Market Grill

Christmas, Days Out, Family Life, Food & Drink, Gifts for Her, Gifts for Him, Restaurant, Winter

Disclaimer – We received this item free for the purpose of this review/feature but all words and opinions are our own.

There’s nowhere better than The Ivy this Christmas to meet up with friends, celebrate with family or finish off a joyous evening at the theatre. With The Ivy’s new festive menu, you can take the work out of Christmas and dine on their sumptuous, all-Christmas menu. We visited The Ivy Market Grill at Covent Garden this week to see the Christmas lights turned on and start the celebrations with a gorgeous meal!

All venues of The Ivy throughout the country are decorated from now until New Year with an Alpine theme of snowmen, skiing and winter chalets. Here in Covent Garden, we couldn’t move for the amount of people stopping to admire the snowmen, skis and the festive trees at the front door and have their photo taken. As you enter, the restaurant is dotted with fully lit Christmas trees throughout the floor, providing a backdrop to each of your yuletide photos.

We were also privy to the luxurious private dining rooms which were set up and ready for guests that evening. There are two private dining rooms at The Ivy Market Grill in Covent Garden, one which can sit 18 on a long table or more on 3 round tables, and the other room comfortably seats 10-12. Each room had a Christmas tree and lots of candles to create the Christmas mood, with each table laid with candelabras and floral centre pieces.  A perfect setting for your department outing, or to meet up with family without the hustle and bustle of the bar and other patrons.

Upstairs, the Covent Garden level tables are split between outside dining (with appropriate heating and throws to keep warm!) or indoors with booths, tables or at the bar. The atmosphere on this Tuesday night was much like a Friday with lots of people dropping in for after work dinner and drinks.  We tried out some of the staples on the menu including this Stilton salad and then the smoked salmon and rye bread. For mains we had seabass and duck curry then ice cream with shortbread and I tried the Birthday Dessert Box – a luxurious dessert of a golden orb, vanilla ice cream, honeycomb pieces, chocolate strands and a hot caramel sauce poured over, with a taste of birthday cake and a huge amount of calories! It’s presented in a ‘box’ which reveals the dessert underneath.

This Christmas, The Ivy have a special festive menu which includes some of your favourites like The Ivy 1917 Cured Smoked Salmon like we tried above, plus some takes on the usual dishes.  There’s the Goose, Turkey and Duck Shepherd’s Pie which is a step-up from the Shepherd’s Pie you find on the menu all year round, and of course being Christmas, there’s the obligatory Turkey Ballotine with all of the Christmas trimmings.  There’s also some new cheeky extras – like the Pigs In Blankets side dish! Two courses (served until 6:30pm) are available for £55 or 3 courses (available 11:30am until close) is £60.

It’s not just the A La Carte menu that’s been updated but this year, you will be able to sample the Boxing Day Brunch with The Ivy, complete with a Bloody Mary and brunch served all day. 

The Ivy is open on Christmas Eve all day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day as well where there’s a great 3-course menu for £87.50 per person. For dinner on the 2nd quarter of the 21st century, you can sample all of the delights of The Ivy without any of the leftovers!

Finish off your meal at any of The Ivy’s bars. We were treated to the Nyetimber Classic Cuvee and there are some delicious Christmas-inspired cocktails to try including the Christmas Mojito, Fig Leaf & Pear Negroni and Ginger & Honey Margarita.

 I cannot wait to go back to The Ivy later this month when I meet up with friends for our annual Christmas dinner.  We love the food, and the service is always so special plus the atmosphere at this time of year is exactly as you dream it should be – Alpine Christmas all the way.

A La Carte Festive menu is available now until New Year: https://ivycollection.com/christmas/

Gift Cards are available for The Ivy here: https://gifts.ivycollection.com