Christmas trees, advent calendars, carols, bells, lights, Christmas dinner, a visit from Father Christmas, mistletoe, candy canes, nativity scenes, midnight mass, Yule logs, Christmas Eve, Boxing Day… Christmas is full of traditions and parties, but it is so much more than that.
The Christmas holidays are the perfect excuse to gather your loved ones and enjoy the warm embrace of family and friends. Those who live far from home make the return journey and even the busiest of us find time to share a meal with family, evoking a scene from a heart-warming Christmas card.
Tradition and modernity have long since managed to reconcile their differences at this special time of the year. However much we may remain faithful to our religious traditions, we have always been open to introducing elements from different places and different times. And so, over the years, Christmas has evolved to become what it is today: the most magical time of the year.
BARCELONA: CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS AND TASTES TO DIE FOR
On Christmas Day in Catalonia it is customary to eat Sopa de Galets. It is a soup of vegetable, chicken or beef broth accompanied with large pasta shells. At Christmas this pasta soup is served with a range of different meatballs to form the traditional dish known as Escudella de Nadal.
But we want to go a little further. We have maintained classic traditional fare like sopa de galets, sea bream, kid, and cannelloni, but we have added a very special contrast of flavours and textures.
Our aim is to convert the classic Christmas dinner into a sophisticated and exquisite experience, where art, architecture and the cityscape merge with the cuisine of our restaurants.
Discover our gastronomic delights in Barcelona and, this year, leave the cooking to us. You won’t regret it!
You can make your reservation through the following contacts:
Claris: claris@derbyhotels.com.
Granados 83: granados83@derbyhotels.com.
MADRID: REDISCOVER THE MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS
Red cabbage, turkey from Salamanca and roast sea bream from Galicia or Cantabria used to be the most typical dishes served on Christmas Eve in Madrid. Thanks to the break with the dependence on seasonal food which took place in the last century, sophistication has been welcomed and much more modern dishes have appeared on the scene. Scarlet shrimp and truffle cream; marinated fish and clam tartar; beef shin with aubergine and bone marrow are some of the Christmas offerings proposed by the CEBO restaurant team for those seeking a respite from gastronomic conventionality.
In fact, chef Aurelio Morales trained in restaurants in both Madrid and Catalonia, making him perfectly able to transmit the culinary and cultural soul of recipes, produce and ingredients typical of Spanish cuisine with additional Mediterranean flourishes.
Explore our proposals for Christmas dinner in Madrid, brought to you by the CEBO team and the Michelin-starred chef Aurelio Morales.
You can make your reservation by sending an email to urban@derbyhotels.com.
PARIS: EVEN BRIGHTER AT CHRISTMAS
In France, culinary traditions also vary from region to region. Aperitifs are usually a liqueur or a Crémant d’Alsace sparkling wine served with traditional hors d’oeuvres like foie gras, oysters and other seafood appetisers.
In fact, duck, turkey or pheasant are usually the main course on all menus, although the meat of game animals like deer and wild boar is favoured in some regions.
This year, the City of Light plays hosts to a delicious and elegant way to dine with friends and family. In one of the most emblematic and luxurious areas of Paris you can enjoy a gastronomic feast made up of crunchy Iberian bellota ham with chestnut velvet and crumble of walnut or scallop with roasted Jerusalem artichokes and shaved black truffle, among other exquisite dishes, with a slice of our quintessential Christmas chocolate Yule log to complete the meal.
Discover the whole offering and spend Christmas with us. This Christmas enjoy your friends and family and leave the cooking to us!
You can make your reservation by sending an email to banke@derbyhotels.com.
