Thanksgiving is a cherished American holiday, when families from sea to shining sea gather to celebrate and give thanks over a bountiful meal.
For the travel-minded, Thanksgiving weekend also provides the perfect opportunity to get out of town, where manic Black Friday disasters are but a faint memory.
See the 11 best locations to celebrate Thanksgiving abroad >
Fortunately, traveling outside the United States doesn’t mean those who love a traditional meal need go without. While not necessarily acknowledging the cultural importance of the holiday, an increasing number of restaurants abroad are preparing special menus and dinners to accommodate those who crave them.
Chef Laurent Manrique, of the New York restaurant Millesime, will be spending the holiday in Paris, where he has been invited by chef Flora Mikula to cook a traditional Thanksgiving meal at her hotel restaurant Auberge Flora. The pair will offer a special menu, including roasted turkey and a scallop and cheddar fondue appetizer. “I am excited to bring to Paris a taste of Thanksgiving and allow those visiting Americans or adventurous diners to celebrate with us abroad,” says Manrique.
Though most restaurants participating in the trend stick primarily to the culinary framework of turkey, stuffing and pie, there are those who fuse the American foundations of the dishes with local techniques and spice. For the third consecutive year, Marrakech’s La Maison Arabe, where Americans make up 40 percent of the clientele, won’t just be serving a Thanksgiving meal at its Trois Saveurs dining room — its cooking-class program will teach guests how to make it (complete with a turkey cooked in a tagine). Even Etihad Airways will offer Thanksgiving-inspired options in addition to regular in-flight menus on the big day. We’ll say thank you to that.
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Aqua Expeditions, Peru
Trade in Thanksgiving football for a visit to the Amazon. Luxury river-cruise outfit Aqua Expeditions will arrange an unforgettable South American outing aboard one of its tricked-out water vessels before wining and dining guests with a Peruvian-inspired Thanksgiving meal.
Spend the day photographing some of the area’s unique wildlife or meeting with fishermen of the Ucayali River and then sit down to a dinner of baked turkey stuffed with breadfruit, a starfruit chutney and cocona side dish and sweet humitas for dessert.
Three-night itinerary (including meals and tours), from $2,700
866-603-3687
Auberge Flora, Paris
Chef Flora Mikula is starting a new trend at the restaurant in the Auberge Flora hotel by inviting some of her favorite culinary masters to cook a meal in its kitchen.
The first of these partnerships will take place on Thanksgiving Day, when Laurent Manrique, chef at the Carlton Hotel’s Millesime restaurant in New York, will be on hand to serve guests and locals alike a time-honored American culinary experience. Mikula and Manrique’s menu will feature turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce as well as less traditional fare like a celery-and-pear soup.
Rooms, from $178; dinner, from $60
44 Bd. Richard Lenoir
33-1/47-00-52-77
CUT, 45 Park Lane, London
At Wolfgang Puck’s first European restaurant, the world-renowned chef will celebrate Thanksgiving with a variety of additions to its steakhouse menu, which is particularly popular with London’s robust American population.
Dinner on the day will feature a traditional meal of turkey with all the trimmings, plus quirky pie sliders (from pumpkin to pecan) and the 1863 cocktail (whiskey, port, lemongrass, ginger). “We wanted to create a special menu so our guests who are spending time in London on Thanksgiving could get a taste of home or an opportunity to experience an all-American tradition,” Puck explains. The pie sliders and cocktail will be available at Bar 45 from November 19 to 25.
Rooms, from $610; dinner (excluding drinks), from $133
45 Park Lane; 44-20/7493-4545
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