The best London restaurants open on Christmas Day, from Langan’s to Decimo

The Christmas Day lunch, as even the most inattentive viewer of Eastenders will have grasped, is an emotionally charged occasion with the potential to escalate into an Armageddon of insults more explosive than a shoddily made Christmas cracker.

Far safer to remove what is possibly the biggest point of contention — the lunch itself — and allow someone else to do the cooking and, even better, the washing up.

Below, we’ve recommended the restaurants offering push-the-boat-out celebration lunches, or simply the sort of festive feast we all wish we could rustle up given the time and access to professional chef qualifications.

And remember, while most pubs are open on Christmas Day, do leave the drama at home. There’s the Queen Vic for that.

This long-standing restaurant opposite Green Park tube — so famous it doesn’t even have a street number — must have been the site of an infinite number of celebrations over its 47-year history, which makes it the safest of bets for a Christmas lunch, not least because frivolous fun rather than food quality has always been Langan’s strong suit. Canapés of smoked haddock and mustard croquettes will be followed by four courses (including cheese), with plenty of options at each stage. Pan-seared scallops followed by roast turkey and Christmas pudding sounds like the best bet, but there’s also beef tartare, lobster thermidor and apple pie, among other dishes.

The Americans might celebrate Thanksgiving more readily than Christmas but so long as having turkey on December 25 isn’t a priority, this glamorous Wolfgang Puck-helmed steakhouse at the Dorchester’s 45 Park Lane Hotel is as good as place as any to burn one’s way through a quarter of a grand’s worth of luxury food (drinks are extra). Expect canapés of fruyère gougères, crab and lobster vol-au-vents and smoked salmon blinis with beluga caviar ahead of seared Orkney scallops or roasted foie gras, whole roast bronze turkey or filet mignon of Australian wagyu, and Christmas pudding soufflé with brandy custard. Rest assured that the cooking comes in Stateside portions and, in true American spirit, doggy bags are available to take home for Boxing Day leftovers. Still, it’s not cheap.