I came to London from the States for a 2 year secondment. But that was over 12 years ago! I love it here, but I obviously still want to always celebrate Thanksgiving. So I thought I'd tell you about the 2 places I've eaten at this year, along with where I would have gone if I'd booked in time!
Thanksgiving at the Hard Rock Cafe
On Tuesday, my friend and I went to Hard Rock Cafe. There are actually two locations of Hard Rock Cafe in London - one in Piccadilly, and there's one near Hyde Park. Fun fact: the one in Hyde Park is actually the original, first ever Hard Rock Cafe! I didn't know that, I thought it was an American thing, but no, that's the original one. The waitress told us that the founders, 2 Americans, came up with the idea when they used to see so many musicians walking past, and they just thought it would be a cool idea to showcase old rock memorabilia and have a restuarant dedicated to rock royalty. It was opened on Old Park Lane in 1971 and is the home to the first piece of memorabilia they collected - a red guitar given to them by Eric Clapton.
The Hard Rock Cafe had a Thanksgiving menu that they ran Thursday to Sunday. The main was a traditional Thanksgiving roast turkey meal, with roasted vegetables, classic stuffing, sweet potato mash, cranberry sauce and gravy, for £22,75 for an adult or £11.25 for a child. (They did have vegan options available.) Dessert was pumpkin pie with caramel sauce and whipped cream for £8.95.
They also had a speciality cocktail which was good - it was a cranberry mojito with rum, cranberry, lime, mint and ginger for £12.35, or £16.75 if you wanted it served in a collectable Hard Rock Cafe glass you could keep.
Overall it was good. It's a chain restaurant so I guess it's handy because they probably do it everywhere, not just in London - they probably do it all over the world. I've been checking the Hard Rock Cafe website and whilst other locations don't mention Thanksgiving as an event, I was checking AFTER Thanksgiving so it could have been removed (and just not removed from London's as it's still on their page). Meanwhile their Thanksgiving roast does feature on their International Instagram. So I guess if you're American and in some random place looking for somewhere to spend Thanksgiving, and there's a Hard Rock, definitely check there because chances are they'll probably be doing a Thanksgiving menu. If you're elsewhere in the UK, there are also Hard Rock Cafes in Manchester and Newcastle.
Thanksgiving at The Riding House Cafe and Rail House Cafe
Then on Thursday, I went to where I usually go every year. There's actually two of these two restaurants though; they're sister restaurants.
One is called the Riding House Cafe and that one's in Fitzrovia - and it's really nice! It's very well known outside of Thanksgiving, but it's also super well known amongst Americans as being one of the nicest Thanksgiving menus in the city.
They do a set menu and it's family style, by which I mean it's all served on platters and in serving bows, like you'd have it laid out at home. That's a big difference with Hard Rock Cafe - there it was individual dinners, like a regular restaurant which makes sense - but at Riding House Cafe, they serve everything in a family style which just makes things a little more traditional and special.
The food at Riding House Cafe is amazing; it's always amazing. But their Thanksgiving is another level, so you definitely have to book months in advance if you want to get a table, because it's so popular. So if we forget to book months in advance... which may have happened this year(!)... the place that we go to is their sister restaurant called Rail House Cafe.
The Rail House Cafe is in Victoria and it's exactly the same type of setup, with incredible food. Either one is lovely, it's just that I kind of like the atmosphere in Fitzrovia a bit more. Rail House Cafe is super easy to get to though as it's so close to Victoria station. If you're heading to Fitzrovia it's just a 6 minute walk from Oxford Circus Underground.
So that was my Thanksgiving in London this year. If you're new to London and you're reading this ahead of your first Thanksgiving in the city, do check out the places here - I hope you're in time to book for Riding House Cafe! And - if I booked in time - I'll hopefully see you there!
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