Swissôtel Al Ghurair Dubai celebrates the season with festive feasts

Swissôtel Al Ghurair Dubai transforms the months ahead into a sequence of gatherings designed around food, light and the particular warmth that accompanies the close of the year. A twenty foot Christmas tree, strung with golden lights and dressed in scarlet ribbons, will be illuminated in the hotel lobby on 10 December at five o’clock in the afternoon. The occasion draws families together for Swiss style afternoon tea, followed by a workshop in which children design gingerbread houses, the space fragrant with honey and spice.

The hotel’s kitchens have prepared complete turkey dinners for collection, honey glazed and dressed with chestnut stuffing, roasted root vegetables and sprouts, accompanied by traditional cranberry sauce and turkey gravy. Weighing between five and six kilograms, each bird feeds six. The roasted bird comes with Swiss chocolate cake, a chocolate log, mince pies and a traditional Stollen for those who wish to complete the table. These dinners remain available from 21 November through 7 January, collected between eleven in the morning and nine in the evening.

A Thanksgiving supper is held on 26 November from seven until half past ten in Liwan restaurant. Here the kitchen presents a full feast while the children move between stations, painting faces and designing cards, before a pumpkin biscuit decorating workshop. Afternoon tea runs through the season as well, a spread of savoury pastries, warm scones and seasonal sweets, built around Swiss technique and accompanied by children’s selections. The ritual unfolds in an air of genuine domestic ease, where the calendar’s turning becomes occasion enough to gather, to eat well and to linger.

Imagery courtesy of Swissôtel Al Ghurair Dubai.