Guest blog - Festive dining at The Ivy Exeter

Step into the magic of Christmas at The Ivy Exeter, where festive dining meets timeless elegance.

Enjoy seasonal menus, sparkling cocktails, and a warm, luxurious atmosphere perfect for celebrations with friends, family, or colleagues. Indulge in unforgettable festive moments and make this Christmas truly special.

Naughty Elves Breakfast Experience

Sunday 14th, 21st and Tuesday 23rd December, 9am to 11am

This festive season, The Ivy Exeter are inviting guests to join in the fun with their Naughty Elves Breakfast. Guests will dine on a selection of festive favourites, while The Ivy’s mischievous elves will entertain with playful antics, creating a festive atmosphere brimming with surprise and delight.

Menus feature festive dishes such as Santa’s Workshop Pancakes with butter and maple syrup, Smoked Salmon with Scrambled Eggs, and freshly baked croissants and pain au chocolat dusted with pine sugar and served with seasonal preserves. Adults can enjoy dishes such as Crushed Avocado and Chestnuts on Caraway Toast or Eggs Benedict with hand-pulled ham.

Not only will children and adults alike delight in the festive food and magical mischief, but families will also be gifted a bundle of goodies to take home and continue the fun once the event ends. Children will receive the brand new Ivy Bear, presented in a festive gift bag, along with a playful elf headband and Santa letter writing kit, complete with pencil, eraser, letter paper and envelope. The grown-ups will also not be forgotten, taking home a beautiful glass Ivy bauble in either a festive red or green colour.

Festive Set Menu

From 12th November to 31st December

From traditional Turkey Ballotine to a tangy Tamarind Beetroot and Endive Salad, The Ivy Exeter festive set menu serves up the best seasonal flavours, reimagined across two or three courses.

The menu opens with warming starters such as French Onion Soup topped with bubbling gratinated cheese, Duck Liver Parfait paired with a rich cranberry chutney and toasted brioche, or Tamarind, Beetroot and Endive Salad with candied pecans and cranberries.

For mains, guests can choose from the indulgent Turkey Ballotine with apricot, cranberry and pork stuffing, served with pigs in blankets and sprout mash; Pan-fried Sea Bass with foraged wild mushrooms in a velvety cream sauce; or a comforting Lentil and Aubergine Bake layered with roasted pumpkin purée and spiced tomato sauce.

To finish, festive desserts include a flambéed Christmas Pudding with almonds and redcurrants, The Ivy Santa - a playful vanilla parfait with milk mousse and a white chocolate blondie - and the signature melting Ivy Chocolate Bombe with honeycomb and hot caramel sauce.

Designed to bring people together over the flavours of the season, the set menu perfectly balances comforting tradition with The Ivy’s signature touch of theatre. So, whether looking to celebrate with family, friends, or colleagues, guests are encouraged to book their table while availability lasts.

Sparkling New Year Celebrations

Around the world in glasses of champagne, celebrate the new year with an indulgent, immersive experience, including an exclusive menu and Laurent-Perrier Champagne as the toast of choice.

Guests will be invited aboard The Ivy’s magical hot air balloon to celebrate New Year’s Eve with toasts around the world, culminating in an exciting new year countdown as midnight strikes.

For the final flight of 2025, The Ivy Collection will sweep guests into an atmosphere of wonder, adventure and the romance of hot-air ballooning. As midnight sweeps across the globe - from Dubai to Athens, Paris to London – guests will raise their glasses with every chime, in anticipation of the final countdown of the United Kingdom. The Ivy’s Champagne Butlers will glide through the room with glasses of sparkling Laurent-Perrier to perfectly complement a specially curated menu of exquisite dishes, each course thoughtfully curated to lift spirits and ignite conversation.

Alongside the effervescent celebration, guests will enjoy a decadent menu. Mains bring theatre and indulgence with Tableside Lobster Linguine tossed with vine tomatoes, garlic and chilli; Sea Bass with Laurent-Perrier Champagne and caviar velouté; and a Succulent Grilled Fillet Steak seared to perfection and laid on a bed of buttered spinach with a luxurious truffle and Calvados cream sauce.

Desserts feature The Ivy New Year Bombe with Champagne jelly, a Champagne Float of Sicilian lemon sorbet and Laurent-Perrier foam, and a decadent Tropical Rum Baba with mango and Chantilly cream.

Perfectly complimenting a menu designed for celebration, Laurent-Perrier Champagne will be just a cork-pop away throughout this year’s New Year’s Eve celebrations. Renowned for its taste and the consistency of its quality, Laurent-Perrier is the perfect choice for sipping into a prosperous and sparkling new year.

New Year's Day Brunch

Once the glittering New Year’s Eve festivities have died down, The Ivy Collection restaurants will be back to make sure guests begin the year in indulgent style with its three-course New Year’s Day Brunch.

Comforting seasonal dishes include Pan-fried Sea Bass with saffron sauce and samphire, Chicken Milanese with truffle sauce and a fried hen’s egg, and a plant-based Recovery Curry with coconut yoghurt, sweet potato, and fragrant jasmine rice. Desserts are equally restorative, from The Ivy Chocolate Bombe to winter berry Crème Brûlée and Colston Bassett Stilton with chutney and crackers. Paired with celebratory cocktails and Laurent-Perrier Champagne, the menu is the perfect way to recover, reconnect, and start 2026 in style.