Best Christmas drinks in London

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Some like it hot: on the terrace with exotic warm drinks al fresco at Harvey Nichols

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On these long, chilly nights you don't want to be clutching an icy glass of pinot. It's all about cupping your hands around hot Christmas drinks steeped in exotic spices, ideally with a shot of something “medicinal”. Fortunately hot toddies, buttered rum, spiced cider and mulled wine are having a bit of a revival. Here's where to find the hottest drinks in town, and how to recreate warming cocktails in your own home.

Kumo
In this jewel of a bar hidden below Beauchamp Place, Knightsbridge fashionistas can warm their bones by their drinks as Kumo's showstopping Rum Blazer (£9.50) is served flambéed. Rum infused with figs, raisins and vanilla is heated through, then set aflame for added impact. Kumo also does a Sake Berry Blazer (£9.50) which owes its inspiration to the bar's Japanese influences, and is gently heated to give you a lovely warm glow.
11 Beauchamp Place, SW3 (020 7225 0944)

Villandry
With a food store, bakery, restaurant and bar all under one roof, Villandry gives you Christmas shopping and those all-important post-shopping drinks in abundance. Try the Very Berry Christmas (£6.75) — calvados, apple, winter fruit cordial and hot water. Or how about the Chocolate Vice (£6.75)? It's hot chocolate spiked with dark rum and topped with smooth cream and plump marshmallows. The all-day menu soaks up the booze, with Toulouse sausages and mash at £11.50, or steak and ale pie for £12.50.
170 Great Portland Street, W1 (020 7631 3131)

Broome & Delancey
This diner's hot spiced bourbon (£6.50) is Christmas in a glass: cider mulled with ginger, vanilla sugar, cinnamon, orange and lemon zest, then livened up with a large tot of Woodford Reserve Bourbon. The Manhattan-style bar also serves a classic eggnog (£6.50) with cream, eggs, milk and sugar, gold rum and bourbon combined in an indulgent winter tipple.
35-37 Battersea Rise, SW11 (020 7228 9400)

Harvey Nichols
not much tempts us out of the warmth of Harvey Nicks in full-on Christmas shopping mode, but we'd make it to the terrace and its winter drinks menu. The names speak volumes — Cinnamon Toast (£8.95), Winter Woolly (£9.50) and Hot Toddy (£10.95). The café also does a delicious hot
chocolate with peppermint schnapps and lashings of whipped cream (£6.95), and classic mulled wine (£6). Fifth Floor Restaurant head chef Jonas Karlsson offers a taste of his native Sweden with “vit glögg”, a white mulled wine with
ginger, orange peel and cloves.
109-125 Knightsbridge, SW1 (020 7235 5000)

Hix Oyster & Chop House
Champion of all things British, chef Mark Hix has eschewed the exotic for homely mulled cider from Pass Vale Farm in Somerset at £3 a glass.
He's also partial to a “bull shot”, a hot cocktail meant to bolster aristos out shooting grouse. Featuring vodka combined with beef consommé, lime, black pepper, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco, it's best served from a Thermos flask.
36-37 Greenhill Rents, Cowcross Street, EC1 (020 7017 1930)

Ice Café at Somerset House
London's most glamorous ice rink, sponsored by Tiffany & Co, is back in the romantic courtyard at Somerset House. As much fun as dancing on ice is the après-skate scene at the Ice Café where they serve comfort food — and comfort drinks. Warm up your mitts with a mug of mulled wine, or an apple toddy made of cider brandy and cider (both £3.75). Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas without enjoying that slightly wobbly spin on the ice.
Somerset House, Strand, WC2

 

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