With several venues fully booked for Christmas Day weeks in advance and others nearing capacity, some hotel and restaurant operators say the demand reflects a growing trend of Barbadians and visitors choosing to dine out on that day.
In St George, Byde Mill is hosting its first-ever Bajan Christmas Day lunch and has already reached full capacity. Owner Renee Coppin said the Brunchy-Lunch Christmas Day experience centres on Barbadian food, culture and heritage.
“The entire brunchy, lunchy thing is themed around local music . . . . It’s a brunchy, lunchy Christmas,” she said. “We’re pretty much fully subscribed. We’ve hit our quota.”
Coppin said many locals booked to spend Christmas Day in a setting designed to feel like a Barbadian home rather than a restaurant.
She pointed out that the menu will feature traditional favourites, including corn pone, great cake, jug jug, ham, sorrel and local drinks, with a golden apple pie among the desserts.
Good vibes
“I want that when they leave, they feel that they’ve spent time with a good friend, good family, enjoying good food, good company, good music,” she said.
“Even though they’re at a restaurant, I really want them to come away feeling like this has been a really traditional Christmas.”
On Hastings Main Road in Christ Church, recently opened restaurant Narma is also seeing strong interest. General manager Itere Akpevwiehor said reservations for their Christmas buffet lunch and three-course à la carte dinner were already at 70 per cent up to yesterday.
“It is looking promising. This is our first Christmas open and we are looking forward to creating a wonderful, memorable and festive Christmas for our patrons,” she said.
Dis Ole House, in Long Bay, St Philip, is completely booked for both lunch and dinner. A spokesperson said the restaurant will offer a fourcourse à la carte menu featuring traditional dishes such as jug jug, ham, pork, chicken, stuffing, sweet bread, black cake and sorrel sorbet.
Some major hotels are also reporting bumper bookings.
At Radisson Aquatica Resort in Aquatic Gap, St Michael, general manager Gerry Lewis said both Christmas lunch and dinner have long been sold out.
“For Christmas, we have a big lunch and that’s completely sold out. It’s been sold out for about three weeks now,” he told the MIDWEEK NATION, noting that more than 200 patrons are expected, in addition to guests in the resort.
“We are also sold out for dinner.”
Lewis added that about 70 to 75 per cent of the hotel’s Christmas Day diners are repeat guests.
Similarly, nearby Hilton Barbados Resort has recorded full capacity across most of its Christmas Day dining offerings. Assistant marketing manager Bea Dottin said: “We’re actually completely sold out for all the dining periods on Christmas Day in the Lighthouse [restaurant] – breakfast, lunch and dinner.”
However, she said limited space remained for Christmas dinner at their Grille restaurant.
“We do have some space open for Christmas dinner in the Grille,” she said, adding that menus include a six-course Christmas Day meal, soups, desserts such as Christmas cookies and a carving station.
Dottin said the strong turnout is typical for the hotel, though reservations filled faster than expected this year.
“We normally do have a good crowd – a mix of locals and visitors – but this year it sold out sooner than we anticipated.”
She added that there was still some availability for Christmas Eve dinner at the Lighthouse. (NS)