Dubai hotel celebrates Christmas in August

If it’s August, it’s got to be Christmas.

Yes, you read that right. For the third year in a row, one Dubai hotel aims to increase revenues over the summer slump with an annual unseasonal Christmas brunch.

Le Méridien Dubai’s Yalumba and Warehouse restaurants will be dressed up with holly and mistletoe this weekend, and diners will be able to tuck in to traditional favourites such as turkey and gravy, ginger ham with Brussels sprouts and bread sauce, and Christmas cookies.

“You’d be surprised,” Warehouse restaurant manager Thierry Kremper says when I ask why anyone would want to eat a turkey dinner in August.

“It's one of the most-anticipated aspects of the summer, along with the trees, ornaments, Xmas Yule logs... you name the Christmas staple, we’ve got it covered.”

His menu also features plenty of options for the unseasonally inclined, from sirloin and organic salmon to vegetarian sushi and Singaporean noodles.

“We wanted to bring something innovative and unique to Dubai’s brunch scene so we conceptualised the mid-summer Xmas brunch three years ago,” he says. 

Now, it’s doing so well that the hotel has already reporting over 300 bookings at Yalumba and 200-plus at Warehouse.

But those numbers must be at least partly due to the fact that this Friday will be the last brunch before Ramadan begins next week.

Warehouse’s midsummer all-inclusive Xmas “drunch” is priced at Dh299, while eating at Yalumba is either Dh449 or Dh499, depending on your choice of drinks. For details, contact the hotel: lemeridien-dubai.com.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.