London restaurants open on Christmas Day

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Don't fancy stuffing that turkey? Then leave it to the professionals

Looking for a traditional Christmas meal, but without all the faff? Or perhaps turkey isn’t your thing, but you’d still like to dine out on 25 December? Tania Ballantine rounds up the best places to eat on Christmas Day 2012.

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Hoxton Grill

81 Great Eastern Street, EC2A 3HU

Christmas meal: £70

don’t want to be slaving over a hot oven come Christmas Day, head to the restaurant at the Hoxton Hotel. In addition to the usuals (smoked salmon, roast turkey), you could lead with a shellfish cocktail or a game terrine, ahead of fillet of beef with fondant potato. The puds are equally inviting, with caramelised pear cheesecake or chocolate fondant with pistachio ice-cream alongside the more traditional mince pies, stilton and Xmas pud options. Veggies are catered for, with a jerusalem artichoke soup ahead of a mushroom Wellington with a Madeira beurre blanc.
Read Hoxton Grill review

Tayyabs

83 Fieldgate Street, E1 1JU

Christmas meal: £15

Want to escape all things Christmas, but are still looking to eat well on December 25? Head to Tayyabs. It’s business as usual at this east London stalwart (whose owners, as you may have guessed, aren’t Christian), with not a whiff of turkey in sight, just the usual roll-call of off-the-clock good Punjabi curries and grills. The kebabs are fiendishly good, as is the chilli-spiked lamb gosht, served simmering in a karahi, and the urad dahl, a fragrant dish of white lentils cooked with garlic and ginger. In fact, it’s all excellent, and all preposterously cheap. You may have to queue, so pack those woolly earmuffs.
Read Tayyabs review