Christmas Day 2026 falls on a Friday. The finest restaurants in New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, Dubai, and Singapore will open — for one service only, with menus created specifically for the occasion, at prices that match the scarcity. Seven restaurants across six cities where December 25th becomes the most considered meal of your year.
By the Restaurants for Kings editorial team·
The logic of Christmas Day dining is simple: most restaurants close, which means the ones that open operate with absolute clarity of purpose. The rooms are full of people who chose to be there — celebrating, proposing, marking a birthday that falls in December, or simply refusing to spend the day behind a closed door. The energy is different from any other night of the year. RestaurantsForKings.com has identified the finest tables confirmed to operate on December 25th, across the full range of occasions from proposal dinners to birthday celebrations.
A note on booking: Christmas Day sittings at fine dining restaurants fill completely by November. Read this in spring, book in autumn. Read it in November, call today. Browse our city guides for local recommendations by destination.
New York City · Contemporary American · $$$$ · Est. 2009
BirthdayClose a Deal
Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Upper East Side room: the most civilised Christmas lunch in Manhattan.
Food9/10
Ambience9/10
Value8/10
The Mark Restaurant sits within The Mark Hotel on East 77th Street, a block from Central Park. Jean-Georges Vongerichten's kitchen serves a room of elevated simplicity — ivory walls, dark wood, crisp linen — that reflects the Upper East Side neighbourhood more than the chef's downtown restaurants. The Mark consistently operates on Christmas Day with a dedicated four-course prix-fixe that draws hotel guests and neighbourhood residents alike, maintaining one of the most reliably civilised atmospheres in New York during the holiday period.
The Christmas Day menu typically showcases Vongerichten's signature flavour-forward restraint: an Egg Caviar appetiser (a signature since 1985, soft-scrambled egg nestled in its shell beneath Osetra caviar and chive crème fraîche), followed by a seasonal wild mushroom soup with truffle cream. The main course centres on a Prime Rib Roast with Roasted Bone Marrow Jus and Yorkshire Pudding — a deliberate nod to the European Christmas tradition — alongside a separately offered Whole Roasted Sea Bass with Preserved Lemon Beurre Blanc for those who prefer lighter protein.
For a Christmas Day celebration in New York — birthday lunch, family gathering, or a quiet solo dinner — The Mark delivers service that makes every guest feel specifically attended to. The hotel context means late-evening tables are available, which is unusual among Manhattan's Christmas Day options. Book via OpenTable; Christmas Day tables release in October and require a credit card guarantee.
Address: 25 East 77th Street, New York, NY 10075
Price: $175–$250 per person, Christmas Day prix-fixe; drinks additional
Cuisine: Contemporary American / French
Dress code: Smart casual
Reservations: Via OpenTable; book October onwards for December 25th
The Nobu Park Lane opens every December 25th. It's the closest London has to a Japanese Christmas.
Food9/10
Ambience9/10
Value7/10
Nobu London Park Lane, the second UK outpost of Robert De Niro and chef Nobu Matsuhisa's global operation, occupies the first and second floors of the Nobu Hotel on Old Park Lane, a five-minute walk from Hyde Park Corner. The dining room runs over two levels connected by a central staircase, with 260 covers across the restaurant and bar. This scale — combined with the hotel's 24-hour operational structure — makes it one of the most reliably open fine dining options in London on Christmas Day, when the majority of Michelin-starred independents close entirely.
The Christmas Day menu at Nobu Park Lane is a curated selection from the broader menu, centred on the kitchen's best Japanese-Peruvian preparations: Black Cod with Miso (marinated for 72 hours, then lacquered under the grill), Yellowtail Sashimi with Jalapeño and Citrus Ponzu, and the signature Lobster with Wasabi Pepper Sauce. The festive menu includes a Kobe Beef Tataki with Ponzu Dressing as the centrepiece main course, available alongside a dedicated Christmas tasting menu built around seasonal Japanese ingredients and a European holiday structure.
London Christmas dining options at the luxury level are limited. Nobu Park Lane represents a reliable, high-quality option for groups of two to twelve, with the added advantage of the hotel bar for pre-dinner cocktails and post-dinner digestifs. Book directly through the Nobu London website from October; the Christmas Day sitting is a single service running 12:30pm to 4pm (lunch) and 6:30pm to 10pm (dinner).
Address: 15 Old Park Lane, Mayfair, London W1K 1LB
Price: £180–£280 per person, Christmas menu; drinks additional
Cuisine: Japanese-Peruvian
Dress code: Smart casual
Reservations: Via Nobu London website; book October–November for December 25th
Dubai · Contemporary International · $$$$ · Est. 2010
BirthdayProposal
Christmas lunch on the 122nd floor of the tallest building on earth. The view is the occasion.
Food8/10
Ambience10/10
Value7/10
Atmosphere sits on the 122nd floor of the Burj Khalifa in Downtown Dubai, at 422 metres the highest restaurant in the world by floor height. Dubai is not a city that observes Christmas as a national holiday, which means December 25th operates as a normal business day — and the restaurants, including Atmosphere, operate with their full capacity and menu. This makes Dubai one of the most reliable luxury Christmas Day dining destinations on earth: no special menu, no single sitting, no premium above the standard price.
The Atmosphere kitchen produces contemporary international cuisine calibrated for a clientele that travels extensively: Seared Hokkaido Scallop with Cauliflower Purée and Black Truffle Vinaigrette, a 30-Day Aged Prime Rib Eye with Béarnaise and Bone Marrow, and a signature Chocolate Sphere dessert — a hollow dark chocolate ball dissolved at the table with warm caramel sauce, revealing a composition of Valrhona mousse, raspberry gelée, and hazelnut praline crumble. The wine list stretches to 550 labels.
For a Christmas Day celebration that requires neither the stress of London availability nor the premium pricing of New York, Dubai in December is a legitimate strategy. The city is experiencing peak season weather (25–28°C), the restaurant operates both lunch and dinner services, and the view from 122 floors — desert, ocean, and city stretching in every direction — removes the need for any other decoration. Reservations are available via the Atmosphere website year-round.
Napoleon dined here. Christmas lunch in a room that has not materially changed in 240 years.
Food9/10
Ambience10/10
Value7/10
Le Grand Véfour in the Palais-Royal is among the most beautiful dining rooms in the world: gilded mirrors, painted glass ceiling panels depicting mythological scenes, and dark red velvet banquettes that have hosted Victor Hugo, Colette, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Josephine. The restaurant dates from 1784 and received two Michelin stars under chef Guy Martin, who has held them for over two decades. Paris, uniquely among major European capitals, sees a significant number of its finest restaurants open on Christmas Day — and Le Grand Véfour is among the most coveted of these sittings.
The Christmas Day menu at Le Grand Véfour follows the classic structure of a French réveillon: an amuse-bouche sequence, a cold appetiser (typically a terrine of foie gras with Sauternes jelly), a fish course of Turbotine with Champagne Beurre Blanc, a meat course of Roasted Bresse Chicken with Morel Mushroom Jus and Black Truffle, a plateau de fromages, and a dessert built around the traditional Bûche de Noël reimagined through a luxury lens. The wine list is specifically composed for this service with a focus on Burgundy and Champagne.
For a Christmas Day in Paris — the city that arguably invented the Christmas fine dining tradition — Le Grand Véfour is the room that carries both historical weight and gastronomic credibility. The location within the arcades of the Palais-Royal means guests arrive through one of Paris's most atmospheric outdoor spaces. Book via the restaurant website from September; the Christmas lunch sitting is confirmed with full pre-payment.
Address: 17 Rue de Beaujolais, 75001 Paris
Price: €350–€550 per person, Christmas menu with wine pairing
Cuisine: Classic French
Dress code: Formal / jacket required
Reservations: Via restaurant website September onwards; full pre-payment required
Best for: Christmas, Birthday, First Date, Impress Clients
Tokyo treats Christmas like its most glamorous birthday — and Alain Ducasse in the Chanel building is exactly right for it.
Food9/10
Ambience9/10
Value8/10
Beige Alain Ducasse sits on the 10th floor of the Chanel Ginza building in Tokyo, a glass-and-steel tower in the heart of the luxury shopping district. The restaurant has one Michelin star and operates with Ducasse's signature French precision filtered through a Japanese service aesthetic — quieter, more attentive, more concerned with the space between courses than with filling it. Tokyo celebrates Christmas with unusual enthusiasm for a city in which Christianity is observed by less than 1% of the population; it is culturally a romantic and celebratory occasion, and the restaurants open accordingly.
The Christmas Day menu at Beige centres on a four-course structure that begins with a Hokkaido Sea Urchin Millefeuille (layers of potato, cream, and sea urchin pressed into a crisp rectangular terrine and served with Ossetra caviar). The main course is typically a Bresse Pigeon Roasted in its Own Juices with Trompette de Mort Mushrooms and a Black Truffle Jus flown from Périgord. Dessert at Christmas centres on a chocolate composition using Valrhona Guanaja 70% and seasonal Japanese mandarin.
For Tokyo-based or travelling diners, December 25th at Beige provides the most European Christmas experience the city offers, in a room that commands extraordinary skyline views across the Ginza rooftops. The restaurant does not charge a Christmas premium — tables are priced at the normal tasting menu rate of ¥25,000–¥35,000 (approximately $165–$230) — making it among the best-value options on this list.
Address: Chanel Ginza Building 10F, 3-5-3 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
Price: ¥25,000–¥35,000 per person / approx. $165–$230 including service
Cuisine: French (Ducasse)
Dress code: Smart to formal
Reservations: Via Tablecheck; book 4–6 weeks ahead; no Christmas premium
How to Find Fine Dining Restaurants Open on Christmas Day
The search for Christmas Day fine dining is made harder by the fact that restaurants typically do not confirm their Christmas schedules until October or November. The most reliable strategy is to identify restaurants in the categories most likely to open — hotel restaurants, large-capacity groups, internationally operated chains — and contact them directly before the holiday publishing cycle begins. Waiting for a "Christmas Day dining" roundup to appear in a newspaper means competing with thousands of other readers for the same seats.
Hotel restaurants are the category of highest reliability. They operate continuous service for hotel guests on all dates, Christmas included, and their dining rooms are almost always open to external reservations. The restaurants in international hotel groups — Four Seasons, Nobu Hotels, Aman, Rosewood — are the safest options across all major cities. Outside of hotel restaurants, independent fine dining rooms in cities where Christmas is not culturally dominant — Tokyo, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong — operate normally on December 25th with no additional premium or reduced service.
In London and New York, where Christmas Day closure is the default, the number of open fine dining options has been shrinking gradually over the past decade as chefs and staff advocate more strongly for the holiday. The surviving options are worth booking early and with gratitude. See our guides to London restaurants and New York dining for the full picture, and our birthday occasion guide for December birthday strategies. Browse all cities for global Christmas dining options.
Booking Christmas Day Restaurants: The Essential Checklist
Confirm the date in advance: call or email in October to verify whether the restaurant will be open on December 25th and what the booking window is. Christmas Day tables almost always require full pre-payment or a credit card guarantee, so have a card ready at booking. Confirm the sitting time: most fine dining rooms operate a single lunch or a single dinner sitting on Christmas Day, not their usual all-day service. Ask explicitly about dress code — some restaurants relax requirements on Christmas Day while others tighten them. Confirm what is included in the Christmas price, specifically whether service charge, champagne reception, or festive extras are in the menu price or charged separately.
For cities in non-Christian-majority countries — Dubai, Tokyo, Singapore — none of these concerns apply. Book as normal through the standard platform. The advantage of spending Christmas in one of these cities is not merely logistical; the dining scene operates at full capacity during what is, for Western visitors, the most pressured booking date of the year.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which fine dining restaurants are reliably open on Christmas Day?
Hotel restaurants are the most reliable category for Christmas Day fine dining, as they serve guests who have nowhere else to go. Jean-Georges at The Mark, Nobu London, and Atmosphere at the Burj Khalifa all have strong track records of Christmas Day service. In Tokyo and Dubai, where Christmas is not a national holiday, almost all restaurants operate normally on December 25th. In Paris, a significant number of fine dining rooms open specifically for Christmas Day lunch and dinner with specially curated menus.
Do restaurants charge more on Christmas Day?
Almost universally, yes. Christmas Day menus at fine dining restaurants are typically prix-fixe and priced 30–60% above the standard tasting menu. A restaurant that normally charges £150 per person may offer a Christmas Day menu at £220–£250. The premium reflects higher food costs, increased staffing levels, and the scarcity of the date. At hotel restaurants, additional elements such as festive entertainment, a champagne reception, or a gift may be included in the price.
When should I book a Christmas Day restaurant?
The highest-demand restaurants — any hotel fine dining room, any Michelin-starred venue operating on December 25th — should be booked by October. November is the absolute minimum for most fine dining Christmas Day sittings. Restaurants that release Christmas Day bookings in September or October typically see their menus confirmed and full by mid-November. If you are reading this in December, your options have narrowed significantly.
Is Christmas Day better for lunch or dinner at a restaurant?
Lunch is the traditional Christmas Day restaurant sitting in London, Paris, and most of continental Europe. Dinner is more common in New York, Dubai, and Tokyo, where the cultural rhythm of the day is different. At the highest-end restaurants, a single sitting runs from noon to 4pm (lunch) or 7pm to 11pm (dinner), not both. The advantage of Christmas lunch is returning to a festive environment in the evening; the advantage of dinner is a longer, later, less rushed meal. Both are exceptional at the right restaurant.