Where To Celebrate Thanksgiving Abroad

Where to Celebrate Thanksgiving Abroad

 Whether you're living abroad or traveling for the holidays, here are 15 ways to celebrate Thanksgiving that you'll be grateful for.

Bangkok

Thanksgiving's a tradition at Bangkok's Bourbon Street, and its New Orleans-style dinner buffet is one of a kind in the city. In previous years the Cajun and Creole joint has served spicy deep-fried Butterball and turkey gumbo. This year's two-day long buffet features both a Cajun deep-fried turkey and a roasted version (Butterball, naturally) as well as a honey-baked ham and sides like cornbread and Andouille dressing, mashed potatoes with giblet gravy, and turkey and sausage jambalaya.

 

Berlin

Midtown Grill, an American-style steakhouse in Berlin's Potsdamer Platz, offers a traditional Thanksgiving buffet meal perfect for ex-pats or travelers eager to get a taste of home. Toast to juicy turkey with a glass of sparkling wine and pretend the chef at the live cooking station is actually your Aunt Jean making her famous stuffing.

Cape Town

Ever since Peter Pankhurst, chef of Cape Town's creative and award-winning Savoy Cabbage, spent time in Washington, he has marked Thanksgiving with a celebration. This year's Thanksgiving menu (R325 per person, or about $30 USD) features clam chowder, Gulf shrimp, and sweet potato gnocchi to complement the classic bird.

Doha

If you find yourself visiting Doha this Thanksgiving holiday, head over to Il Teatro at the Four Seasons Hotel Doha. The restaurant offers guests a buffet that features some Thanksgiving favorites including turkey and other specially prepared dishes. The buffet runs from 7 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. and costs around $75 U.S. for the meal with soft drinks included and $105 U.S. for the meal with alcoholic beverages included.

Dublin

Dublin's Merry Ploughboy pub is celebrating Thanksgiving their way: with a live Irish show! Yes, there will be turkey and cranberry sauce, but the real attraction here is the live Irish music and dancing. The Thanksgiving twist here calls for much merry-making, so book reservations online and be sure to check the option to pre-book transit.

Hong Kong

If you're in Hong Kong this Thanksgiving, the Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong is giving you options on how to spend the day. Tempting menus at the resort's five restaurants will offer festive dishes. The team at The Chinnery will serve festive dishes, as will the Clipper Lounge if you prefer a Thanksgiving lunch rather than dinner. A Thanksgiving dinner table buffet offering classic roasted turkey with all the trimmings, pumpkin soup, and more, will be set out at Café Causette. The Michelin-starred Mandarin Grill + Bar will give the holiday meal a progressive gastronomic touch courtesy of executive chef Uwe Opocensky for both lunch and dinner. Thanksgiving takeaway boxes will be available with roasted turkey (in either 7 or 10 kg), stuffing, cranberry sauce, giblet gravy, and trimmings. If you want to celebrate without turkey, get the glazed ham box with sweet potato mash and Madeira sauce. The Family Feast has it all plus dessert and two bottles of organic apple cider. 

Jerusalem

If you happen to be giving thanks in the Holy Land, then hit up the Inbal Hotel. Thanksgiving celebrations at this hotel features matzo latkes and other festive Jewish foods. A more traditional meal can be found at the American Colony Hotel where diners can choose from a buffet-style meal or sit-down dinner with American music, including live jazz. 

London

The Thanksgiving scene in London is a good one. Restaurants all over town, from Wolfgang Puck's Cut 45 to Balthazar, are offering their take on Thanksgiving dinner. At Bar Boulud at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, Dean Yasharian is putting together a Thanksgiving meal that shows off both his culinary skill and his American roots. The three-course menu starts with pumpkin soup; moves into roast turkey with trimmings including sage stuffing, Brussels sprout fondue, and sweet potato and cranberry compote; and finishes with pecan pie. Since Thanksgiving dinner is one you wish you could have again, he's making sure you can. It's on offer from Thursday, November 27 to Saturday, November 29. 

Marrakesh

If you're in Marrakesh for the holiday, you'll have to learn how to cook Thanksgiving dinner yourself. Don't worry, though; you'll have help. The chef instructors at the culinary academy at La Maison Arabe will be teaching a cooking class on making Thanksgiving dinner using Moroccan ingredients and techniques. The class is offered on November 22 and is a hands-on lesson in making pumpkin salad and turkey tagine. If you're feeling unsure about your culinary skills, just hit up the property's restaurant, Trois Saveurs, where another version of Thanksgiving dinner — one with pumpkin soufflé and couscous-stuffed turkey — will be served. 

Moscow

The Starlite Diner — Moscow's first "real American diner," shipped in its entirety from the U.S. — has held an annual Thanksgiving dinner since 1995, with all your old-fashioned, comfort food favorites: whole turkeys, mashed potatoes and gravy, and pumpkin pecan pie with bourbon sauce. This year's dinner starts at noon and lasts until they run out of food. If any of the guests showing up for this meal plan to eat like we do in the states, you'll want to get there early. Would you rather eat turkey on your couch? Starlite has a whole turkey dinner to-go.

Paris

Classic American brasserie Joe Allen in Paris has been offering up Thanksgiving dinners to expats, travelers, and turkey lovers for years. The dinner features everything you could imagine a Thanksgiving table holding: turkey, cranberry sauce, candied yams, the works. A few dishes will help make it the best Thanksgiving Instagram feed ever. A taste of New York is delivered with the Manhattan chowder salsa, and you can indulge in dishes like foie gras with peppers, bourbon and stuffed sliced apples, and roasted pumpkin enchiladas. 

Seoul

Seoul's restaurant-bar Craftworks Taphouse puts on an annual Thanksgiving meal the Thursday and Sunday of the holiday weekend. Expect traditional comfort fixings like mashed potatoes, stuffing, and apple pie à la mode. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for updates to the menu.

Shanghai

Boxing Cat Brewery, one of Shanghai's original microbreweries, also houses a restaurant bringing cross-continental Southern American flavors to the China coast. Their American Thanksgiving feast (400 RMB, about $65 U.S.) features classic holiday dinner (butter roasted turkey, mom's cranberry sauce, bourbon-brown sugar roasted yams) and free-flowing cocktails to match.

Singapore

One-Ninety's executive chef Giovanni Speciale is a Thanksgiving turkey fan. As such, he's excited to offer an oven-roasted turkey and pumpkin pie dinner to hotel guests. Braised beef cheek and king crab croquettes are also on offer, as is a brand-new vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner menu featuring chestnut soup and roasted vegetables timbale. 

 

Tokyo

Tokyo has a multitude of restaurants with Thanksgiving specials, but Beacon's is not to be missed. This steakhouse offers an upscale menu combining robust American harvest flavors with an elegant Japanese aesthetic. Think autumn mushroom soup, roast turkey, and spiced pumpkin cheesecake. As in many Asian countries, finding a turkey for Thanksgiving in Japan is somewhat of a challenge, but demand is high enough in Japan that there are options. Expat meat-delivery company Bond St. Kitchen is offering a turkey dinner package that includes a whole-roasted turkey to feed eight with mushroom gravy, cranberry relish, and cornbread stuffing available for pickup or delivery.