The Art of a Great Festive Gathering

For Kerri McGuinness, F&B Culinary Consultant on Wilde’s Food & Beverage team, Christmas is a philosophy that feels right at home. Here, good food and warm hospitality bring people together from morning until late. This festive period, Kerri takes us through the five chapters of a great gathering, and the memories and traditions that have shaped the way she thinks about hospitality today.

“When we started thinking about the festive period, I kept coming back to one idea: the best gatherings make you want to stay as long as possible! That’s really what Wilde is about all year round. Our cafés, bars, restaurants and social spaces are somewhere to drop in for coffee in the morning, meet over food, order another drink and let the evening take its course. During the silly season, we turn that feeling up a notch. More generosity, more sparkle, more reasons to gather around the table.”

And across Wilde, that spirit extends beyond the table. With seasonal festive menus available at select locations, spaces made for gathering and a bed waiting just upstairs, Wilde is made for Christmas get-togethers that don't have to end with the final course. Whether it’s dinner with friends, a family celebration or the annual festive gathering with colleagues, the idea is simple: settle in and make a night of it.

“Some of my earliest Christmas memories are from the farm where I spent the first part of my childhood in the west of Ireland. Every Christmas Day, from around midday until three, we had a party. There were no formal invitations. People simply appeared. Neighbours, local farmers, friends, family – even the lady who delivered our milk would pop in.

“My Mum would let me help with the canapés. I’d roll pigs in blankets, fold smoked salmon over buttery soda bread and dust far too much icing sugar over little mince pies. There was baked ham every Christmas Eve, covered in a honey mustard glaze, and the very happy sound of Champagne popping on Christmas morning.

“Looking back, though, one of the things I remember most is that open door, and the feeling that everyone was welcome. That feeling has followed me into hospitality, and it’s something I think Wilde captures naturally. Whatever the weather, wherever you’ve travelled from and whatever brings you through the door, you should be able to settle in and feel at home.”

Chapter One: The Arrival

“There’s a moment at the beginning of a gathering when coats come off, new frocks and sparkly shoes make their entrance, cold drinks are put into warm hands, candles flicker, the room fills with chatter and, essentially, permission to party has been granted.

That’s where the festive story at Wilde begins. “For me, the food isn't really about creating one perfect meal. It's about creating a series of moments, and the arrival is the first. You don't need to immediately sit everyone down for a formal dinner. Start with drinks. Bring out snacks. Let people arrive properly. Fizz popping, a spritz being poured, bread and butter appearing on the table – these little rituals tell everyone the same thing: the fun has started!”

Wilde lends itself naturally to that kind of gathering. It can be the meeting point before an evening out, the setting for the celebration itself or somewhere to settle in with friends, family or colleagues and see where the night takes you. At select Wilde locations, festive menus and spaces suited to group bookings make it even easier to bring everyone together under one roof.

Chapter Two: Breaking Bread

There’s something beautifully universal about the phrase ‘breaking bread’. Everyone understands it. Everyone can be part of it. “Bread is also often one of the best parts of the meal. It signals the beginning and all the anticipation that comes with it. I can immediately picture hands reaching across the table, tearing pieces to share, passing butter scattered with flakes of Maldon salt or dipping bread into gorgeous olive oil with crushed rosemary.

“With us, that spirit of sharing is important. It isn't about everyone sitting politely in front of their own perfectly composed plate: the table should have lots of movement, with hands reaching across and plates being passed around.

“The dishes that get people talking are rarely the overly complicated ones. Give me oysters with Champagne, arancini under a mountain of Parmesan, beautiful bread, snacks and picky bits that encourage everyone to get involved.

“Breaking bread also says something bigger about hospitality. It’s a simple gesture that means everyone is welcome at the table. That, to me, feels very Wilde.”

This approach runs through the food and drink experience. Great ingredients, generous plates and fabulous drinks are there to bring people together, rather than distract from the reason everyone gathered in the first place.

Chapter Three: The Feast

“Then comes abundance. Whole fish. Big steaks ready to carve. Lovingly prepared vegetables finished with something herby and crunchy. Condiments for days. Bottles of wine opened and decanted.

“I think we can get too caught up in what a festive dish is supposed to be. Turkey is wonderful, but can oysters, sea bass or a tomahawk steak feel every bit as special? It's a big fat yes from me.

“Oysters are a gateway to Champagne and good times. They suggest the beginning of something gorgeous. A whole fish cooked on the plancha is a beautiful centrepiece and immediately creates a sense of abundance. A tomahawk is one of the ultimate family-style dishes: there's theatre in bringing it to the table, carving it in front of everyone and, inevitably, fighting over the gnarly bits.”

That’s an idea we’ve really embraced in thinking about festive food at Wilde. Rather than covering everything in cranberry sauce and calling it Christmas, it’s about taking the food and drink we believe in and giving it a sense of occasion.

At select Wilde locations, our seasonal festive menus bring that philosophy to the table, making our spaces an easy choice for everything from dinner with a few close friends to a larger end-of-year celebration. Some locations also have spaces particularly well suited to festive group bookings, so the food, drinks and setting can all be taken care of in one place.

“Sometimes making something feel festive is incredibly simple. More butter. More Parmesan. A wine being decanted. Candied orange in a Negroni. Pomegranate scattered over smoked salmon. Icing sugar falling over a yule log.

“It’s food that feels a little more generous, a little more indulgent and perhaps like something you wouldn’t necessarily order on an ordinary Tuesday. But the most festive ingredient of all is probably just the feeling that somebody has made it with a little extra love.”

Chapter Four: The Craic

“At some point, dinner stops looking quite so pristine. The plates have moved around. Napkins aren't where they started. Glasses are being topped up.

“A great dinner is built around good conversation, infectious energy and generosity, and that's where the craic comes in. For me, the craic is the essence of not taking yourself too seriously. It should feel relaxed and lived-in, not like somewhere you’re afraid to move your wine glass in case you ruin the table setting.

“It's easy to get wrapped up in making the perfect roast potato, but years later, that's probably not what anyone will remember. They'll remember the impromptu conversations, the holiday plans hatched for the year ahead, the proper laughs that made their cheeks hurt, or the special bottle of wine somebody decided it was finally time to open.

“That's the job of great festive hospitality: create the setting, take care of the details and then give people the space to make the memories themselves.”

It’s also where staying at Wilde comes into its own. There’s no need for someone to start checking train times just as the night gets going. When dinner turns into drinks and one bottle becomes another, your apartment is only upstairs. No long journey home required.

Chapter Five: One for the Road

“By dessert, my hope is always that nobody particularly wants to leave, and that all guests are happy and full, glasses are still being topped up and desserts have landed in the middle of the table for everyone to attack with spoons.

“Then comes that lovely final stage of the evening. Coffee. Petit fours. Perhaps one final cocktail. Festive gatherings shouldn't feel rushed.”

With Wilde, “one for the road” doesn't necessarily have to mean going very far at all. Wilde gives you the best of both worlds: a lively place downstairs to eat, drink and celebrate, and your own space upstairs when you finally decide to call it a night.

It makes it particularly well suited to festive get-togethers where everyone wants to properly switch off – whether you’re bringing together friends who live in different places, celebrating with family or turning the annual work Christmas gathering into an overnight stay.

Christmas at Wilde

“For me, the five chapters tell the story of a Wilde Christmas perfectly. The arrival. The first drink. Breaking bread. That feeling of abundance when the main event reaches the table. The conversation getting louder. Desserts arriving. One last drink becoming another.

“Wilde is warm, generous, familiar and relaxed. There's a dinner-party spirit to our spaces. Food is made to be enjoyed rather than admired from a distance, drinks keep coming and nobody is watching the clock too closely.”

 Across our Wilde locations, the details may differ – from seasonal menus at select properties to spaces that can accommodate festive group gatherings – but the philosophy remains the same: brilliant food and drinks, warm hospitality and somewhere people genuinely want to spend time together. And when the celebrations are over, Wilde is already home for the night.

“My own Christmases look quite different these days. Since having my son, Tommy, we've spent them in Spain with my mum or in Devon with my in-laws, so we haven't established too many firm traditions of our own yet. But we have started making them.

“I love preparing the tray of goodies with Tommy on Christmas Eve. So, for me, Christmas means being grateful and making memories. If Tommy carries even some of these happy, food-filled moments with him when he's my age, my gratitude will know no bounds.

“Perhaps that's why I believe so strongly that the festivities aren’t really about what's on the table. Of course the food matters. At Wilde, we put genuine thought and consideration into it. We think about the first drink, the snacks, the sharing dishes, the feast, the wine, the cheeseboard, dessert and everything in between. But all of those things are there to make something else happen. They give us an excuse to gather. To share. To pour another glass. To reach across the table. To laugh until our cheeks hurt. To make plans we'll hopefully keep. And to create the stories we'll still be telling at Christmas tables years from now.