By Adam Bloodworth
For Halloween-themed food
The Bagatell hotel in Mayfair is causing Bagat-HELL this Halloween. The hotel’s fine dining restaurant is being transformed into a circus where a creepy clown will lurk between tables. Expect surprise performances and the usually plush decor to be turned into something more macabre. A spiced pumpkin halloween dessert is being prepared for the evening by the head pastry chef too.
For the creepiest music
Rake’s Café Bar has a new approach to Halloween: forget trying to make food spooky, how about the playlist! Their Thriller-themed brunch will be soundtracked by all your favourite Halloween hits, so think Michael Jackson’s Thriller, obviously, playing in the background while you sip a special Halloween cocktail called El Diablo with tequila. There’ll be bottomless prosecco and classic brunch food too. There’s also a drinks-only option if you’d rather just dance to the tunes and forget about the food. It sounds like the behaviour of a rakish man: the term was coined in the 18th century to describe someone interested in wine, women and gambling. So hedonism, basically. 90 minute bookings, 12 – 5pm from 25 – 31 October
For live theatre
Soho cocktail bar The Twin White Duke is running Grimm’s Tales-themed evenings for Halloween. Expect burlesque performances from prestigious performer Miss Betsy Rose, with live storytelling and fantastical desserts to go with the drinks. Speaking of the booze, Halloween themed cocktails fresh for 2023 include the Snow White, with tarragon, apple, toffee, almond syrup, absinthe and rum. It’ll be one of many mad creations paired with desserts throughout the evening. A live cellist and later a DJ will ensure the vibes are properly creepy. 27 and 28 October.
For fancy dressing up
Dartmouth House Members’ Club in Mayfair is throwing a black-tie event if you fancy getting properly dressed up for the most sinister night of the year. There’ll be a live DJ, interactive performances (ie, getting scared out of your skin as you socialise) and plenty of food and drink. The Halloween Bal Masqué is expecting to welcome 300 guests. 27th October at 8pm
For the best dressing up
M Restaurant in the Square Mile is throwing a Tokyo-themed brunch for Halloween, “a love letter to the world’s largest metropolis.” Food will be Japanese in theme, so expect dim sum sharers of wagyu beef and tofu bao buns, pork belly yakitori and chicken ramen with kimchi fried rice. For dessert there’s matcha tiramisu with lashings of booze, spooky cocktails, and a live DJ to go on top. There’s even a prize for the best-dressed of the evening. The restaurant’s advice: “Dress to kill.”
Try different dishes
Seven Dials Market in Covent Garden is gearing up for Halloween with special themed dishes from the street food traders. Bad Boy Pizza Society has “scarily” hot sauce and Yum Bun’s candied pecan sweet bao is a play on traditional Halloween trick or treat flavourings. The on-site bar has special cocktails too, including a corpse revival, which we presume is a spin on the classic corpse revival, with gin, Lillet blanc and orange liqueur.
Visit a creepy crypt
Let’s be honest, crypts are pretty creepy at the best of times, let alone Halloween. Now the Indian restaurant Yaatra is partnering with Westminster Abbey to creep out diners with a journey to the hidden crypts of the famous Abbey. Visit areas not often seen by the public for an hour-and-a-half tour, then return to Yaatra for a dark & sinister cocktail with charcoal rim to discuss the tour in somewhere frankly less unnerving.
A fearsome drag brunch
Drag brunches are supposed to be fierce but in a fabulous way. This is London’s most fearsome, so expect the drama to be upped by drag queens making one hellish show. Resident queen Beverly Monét will host lip sync battles and drag performances, and there will be free-flowing prosecco, rum punch and bloody marys as well as brunch food. 28th October
A Halloween party
This party at Skylight Peckham is also offering prizes for the best fancy dress, so don your ghoulish garms and prepare for going head-to-head with other guests to win big prizes. There’s a Halloween themed cocktail on arrival and the resident DJ Annabel is likely to be spinning some of the most recognisable Halloween-themed tunes too. 28 October.
A hotel for Halloween
Why not check into a lovely hotel for a weekend staycation? The Treehouse Hotel at Langham Place is throwing a Friday Fright’s Party, transforming the hotel’s venue The Nest into a ghoulish Halloween hellscape. There will be themed cocktails, live Halloween entertainment, and DJs all night, but if you’re more of a brunch fan, the hotel will mop up the happenings of the night before with a Trick or Treat Brunch on the Saturday. 27 and 28 October.
