Thanksgiving in Madrid

Madrid's most famous New Orleans Creole restaurant couldn't miss out on such a special celebration. So they've created a delicious set menu that features a starter (you choose between cream of artichoke soup with parmesan or leafy green salad with apple); a main of fried turkey, rice, cornbread, baked sweet potatoes, coleslaw and cranberry sauce; and you choose your dessert from between apple pie or sweet potato pie with pecans. The menu includes two drinks and coffee or herbal tea, and the price varies, depending on if you go at midday (€32) or for dinner (€37), which is served in two shifts, at 9pm and at 10.30pm.  

A central Madrid hotel on Gran Vía also celebrates Thanksgiving with a menu created specially for the occasion and served in the restaurant on the 14th floor. For €35 you'll gobble down a delicious cream of clam soup, a traditional grilled turkey with gravy stuffed New England style with all the trimmings, including coleslaw, mashed potatoes, turnips, sautéed carrots, steamed peas, glazed onions, Brussels sprouts and cranberry sauce. If you can still fit more in, which, after all, is the goal of Thanksgiving, there's pumpkin pie for dessert, served with fresh whipped cream.

Making a change from the set-menu format is Pecado Carnal, where they're putting out a more original type of spread for Thanksgiving Day: an all-you-can eat buffet. Before you get too carried away, you should know that for your €39.95 you have an open bar for drinks in addition to the buffet, but you have a maximum of two hours to stuff yourself, and you can choose from one of the two seatings, either at 8.30pm or 10.30pm. You'll find dishes such as coleslaw, courgette (zucchini) soup with lobster, turkey stuffed with foie, broccoli and cranberries with mashed potatoes and a delicious gravy (attention: you can order a whole turkey for your group and carve it yourselves if you like!), and for dessert you'll have their spectacular pumpkin cheesecake. Did we mention that Pecado Carnal translates to 'carnal sin'?

At the aptly named Cornucopia restaurant they've been celebrating Thanksgiving for more than 20 years with a traditional American menu. Their offer includes a selection of appetisers and home-made bread with extra virgin olive oil; a starter, which you choose, either New England clam chowder or a green salad with crunchy seaweed and sesame oil; a main dish of grilled turkey cooked with sage and white wine, filled with fine herbs stuffing and accompanied by creamy mashed potatoes; for dessert you can dig in to either pumpkin or apple pie, and digest it all with a cup of coffee or tea. The meal costs €46 per person, and includes white or red wine.