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articles > Food / Wine events

New Year's Eve
Food / Wine

Between champagne and confetti: Let's celebrate New Year's Eve!

By Berlioz Deborah
18/12/2008

Times are tough. With the economic crisis and the fall of the pound, budgets are lean. Still, New Year’s Eve comes but once a year. So you’ll have to celebrate! Champagne, good food, music… Let’s forget the prevailing gloom for a night and enjoy yourself!

But planning a New Year’s Eve party can sometimes be a total puzzle. To help you, France in London prepared a selection of the best French places in London to celebrate the transition to 2009.

However, if you are looking for a real French New Year’s Eve, you can of course go and spend it directly in Paris. Although yu might find that even the champagne is more expensive there than in London at the moment. The French capital offers a wide range of wonderful events for this special night. Here are also some tips to have an amazing time at budget price in what is often described as the most beautiful city in the world.

New Year's Eve in London

Le Vacherin

Le Vacherin
Le Vacherin

With its bistro chairs, eye-level strip mirrors, lace curtains and quirky art, Le Vacherin pushes all the good-old-French-bistro buttons. In addition, the Chef Malcolm Johns is well versed in the repertoire of French cooking. For New Year’s Eve, there is on offer a 5-course menu for £75; which is cheap very good value! You will be able to enjoy his cured duck liver, the gratin of scallops, the tournedos, the crème brulée… and of course his trademark the baked vacherin with truffles! You just can’t go to this restaurant without tasting this delicious French mountain cheese!

NYE Menu: 5 courses for £75 (inclusive VAT but not the service charge)

Location: 76 South Parade, London W4 5LF

Telephone: 020 8742 2121

Website: http://www.levacherin.co.uk/restaurant.html

L'Autre Pied

L'Autre Pied
L'Autre Pied

New Year’s Eve would be the perfect occasion to try the 2008 best new restaurant in London according to Time Out. L’Autre Pied is the second restaurant from David Moore & Shane Osborn (the duo behind double Michelin-starred Pied a Terre). For this party night, the Chef Marcus Eaves concocted a special menu, which should please everyone. Just a foretaste: Terrine of Shropshire Game, Cornish Sea Bream, Roasted Pheasant… Hungry? So book quickly! Places are very limited!

NYE Menu: 6 courses for £79.90 (includes a glass of bellini on arrival)

Location: 7 Blandford Street, London W1U 3DB

Telephone: 020 7486 9696

Website: http://lautrepied.co.uk

 

L'étranger

L'étranger
L'étranger

French cuisine is good yes; but why should we stick with the classics? L’étranger offers original French food with some Japanese influence. And for the New Year’s Eve menu, the chef’s imagination seems to have excelled: foie gras chawan mushi with wagyu beef, icelandic rain deer fillet with fonseca foam and miso reduction, lobster and cucumber roll, and so on. After dinner, you’ll be able to continue your evening at Opal (the downstairs club area of the restaurant) for a “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” party.

NYE Menu: 5 courses for £75 (includes a glass of Krug Grande Cuvée and free entrance at Opal after dinner)

Location: 36 Gloucester Road, London SW7 4QT

Telephone: 020 7584 1118

Website: http://www.etranger.co.uk

Bloody French

Bloody French
Bloody French

Looking for a cheap and convivial New Year’s Eve? Bloody French is just the place you need. The bohemian look of the restaurant, with its black-painted walls, blackboard menus and big shared tables will certainly seduce you. And your purse will probably appreciate the 5-course menu for only £40. You won’t have Haute Cuisine for that price, but it is enough to get something a little out of the ordinary, such as fresh scallops or monkfish.

NYE Menu: 5 courses for £40

Location: 149 Westbourne Grove, Notting Hill, London W11 2RS

Telephone:  020 7727 7770

Website: http://www.bloodyfrench.com

 

Le Café des Amis

Le Café des Amis
Le Café des Amis

Le Café des Amis is a name, which really fits the ambience of that restaurant located at the heart of Covent Garden. Its convivial atmosphere and friendly service make it a real haven from the bustling streets. Moreover, Le Café des Amis offers gourmet food at very reasonable prices, even on this party night. The special menu costs only £44.50 and includes four courses, among which you will find a homemade duck foie gras from périgord, simmentale beef fillet, or a passion fruit & surprise banana bavarois for example.

NYE Menu: 4 courses for £44.50

Location: 11-14 Hanover Place, London WC2 E9JP

Telephone: 020 7379 3444

Website: http://www.cafedesamis.co.uk/

 

And what about celebrating in Paris?

Lido

Lido
Lido

If you want to have something really cliché for your New Year’s Eve in the French capital, you can choose to spend it at one of the most mythical places in Paris: the Lido. But you’ll have to be ready to spend a lot of money for that, since the evening will set you back by more than 580 euros each. For that price however, you will enjoy an exceptional menu, created and specially prepared by the Lido’s Chef Philippe Lacroix. Once your taste buds have been seduced by his amazing cooking, it will be time to delight your eyes with the dazzling show “Bonheur” (Hapiness), a whirlwind of sequins and feathers! Finally, an orchestra will make you dance until the end of the night. Booking essential.

NYE Menu: 5 courses for €580 (inclusive a bottle of champagne per person, the show and the party)

Location: 116 bis avenue des Champs-Elysées,  75 008 Paris

Telephone: 33 (0)1.40.76.56.10

Website: http://www.lido.fr/us/cabaret-paris.html 

Les Bateaux Parisiens 

Les Bateaux Parisiens
Les Bateaux Parisiens

Another expensive and cliché evening would be the dinner cruise on the “Bateaux Parisiens”. The Parisian ship company offers “all the magic of a night in Paris” during a two-and-a-half-hour cruise with an elegant dinner and music by three musicians and two female singers. After a delicious dinner of foie gras, scallops, beef and French cheeses, it will be time to dance! And you must concede that dancing until dawn with the Effeil Tower sparkling in the night is not devoid of charm.

NYE Menu: from €320 to €500

Location: Port de la Bourdonnais, 75 007 Paris

Telephone: 33 176 641 445

Website: http://www.bateauxparisiens.com/ 

Fauchon Paris Le Café 

No need to spend all your savings to celebrate New Year’s Eve. Symbol of the refinement and the Parisian chic, Fauchon will exceptionally open its doors on the 31st of December for an amazing party. The dinner will begin at 8.30 in a cosy lounge ambience, before the DJ comes in to make you dance on the best of the French music from the last 20 years. And this will cost you only €90! And if you do not feel like eating too much, you can arrive after 11pm and opt for the €50 formula, which just includes a drink.

NYE Menu: Formula 1, Dinner and evening: €90; Formula 2 (includes a drink from 11pm): €50

Location: 30 place de La Madeleine, 75 008 Paris

Telephone: for bookings call the 33 6 16 06 08 80

Website of the event: http://www.unjeudiapary.fr/ 

Regine's 

Regine's
Regine's

Just want to dance on New Year’s Eve? Then you musst do that in one of the most mythical nightclubs of Paris! Regine’s is a very exclusive nightclub, which has over the decades welcomed successive generations of the silk-tie-and-satin-knickers brigade. Even if the club's exotic, kitschy interior has seen better days, it won't disappoint you. To welcome 2009, Regine’s on offer an exceptional party where champagne will flow from 10pm until dawn.

Open Bar Champagne: €85; €70 in advance

Location: 51 rue de Ponthieu, 75 008 Paris

Informations and bookings at 33 6 28 07 06 05 or per e-mail : soiree31decembre@gmail.com

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