Breakfast with Santa at Fenwick Canterbury
By Scarlett Shepherd
This year is our first Christmas with our baby, so we wanted to find a special experience for her first meeting with Father Christmas. After many internet searches, we opted for breakfast with Santa at Fenwick Canterbury, and this experience did not disappoint.
Booking
We made our booking for breakfast with Santa in October, and it cost £22.50 per person. The price for both children and adults was the same, and children under 2 were free.
At the time of booking, you will need to choose which breakfast option you would like. There is also space available to inform the team of any dietary requirements, and if you require a highchair.
Overall, the booking process was simple and easy. However, it did feel a little odd having to pick which breakfast we would like in 2 months’ time, but we did not mind doing this if it would lead to a better experience on the day.
Food and Drink
There were multiple options for food to choose from, with different options for adults and children.
The adult options were:
English breakfast
Vegetarian breakfast
Hot smoked salmon, poached eggs, potato rosti and Hollandaise
Crushed avocado on sourdough toast with lime, chilli & pomegranate (VG)
Baked eggs, wild mushroom, spinach, chive butter
The children’s options were:
English breakfast
Vegetarian breakfast
Buttermilk pancakes with chocolate and hazelnut sauce
Eggs on toast with baked beans
The adult’s breakfasts also included a mimosa or orange juice and tea or coffee, with the children’s breakfast including an orange juice.
As we sat down at our table, the servers were very quick in taking our drink orders. We were first greeted with our mimosas and orange juice before the hot chocolate and tea arrived.
The drinks were very good, especially the hot chocolate, which was served in a large cup and was beautifully creamy.
We all opted for the adults English breakfast option, and requested for one of these to be gluten free.
The English breakfast included 2 sausages, 2 rashers of bacon, 2 slices of toast (choice of white or brown bread), 1 egg (choice of scrambled, poached or fried), baked beans, half a tomato and a mushroom. The gluten free option was very similar, however they switched the bread for gluten free bread, and as there were no gluten free sausages there was extra bacon instead.
We feel that the food was of a good quality. The bacon was unsmoked and had a crispy edge to the fat without drying out the meat, the fried egg had a perfectly runny centre, the bread was of a good quality and the sausages had a good flavour with slightly crispy skin. Overall, the breakfast had a great flavour and was hot, although we did feel it was slightly on the small side. We think that the addition of some crispy hot hash browns would have made it perfect.
The Experience
The restaurant at Fenwick Canterbury is located on the 2nd floor.
Upon arriving at the restaurant, we were greeted by 3 elves dressed in red and green, and a member of the restaurant staff.
The restaurant at Fenwick is not the biggest area, but they had sectioned off an area and reserved tables for the dining with Santa experiences. The area was decorated with a Christmas tree, a large red chair for Santa to sit in, and presents scattered around. We liked that while eating we could see Santa sitting in his chair interacting with the elves.
We were pre-allocated a table prior to our arrival, and we were lucky to be sat on the table next to Santa’s chair. The table had been laid out with knives, forks, napkins and Christmas crackers prior to our arrival. The tables that had children at them also had a reindeer hat and colouring activity.
After sitting at our table, it was not long until our drink orders were taken, and the drinks arrived quickly. Following this, it took around 15 minutes for the food to arrive. Which was good, as it gave us time to have a drink and chat with the elves.
Throughout our breakfast the elves went round all the tables chatting to everyone, and when they were not doing that, they would sing songs or be cheeky elves. Overall, we thought the elves were the best part of the experience. They were fun and always remained in character. Having the elves coming around the tables reminded me a little of Disney character dining experiences (although this was a fraction of the price).
Around 45 minutes into our meal, Santa arrived. The elves made an announcement of his arrival, and he came in ringing a bell while he made his way to his chair.
Once we had finished our breakfast, the elves invited us up to meet Santa. We sat on his stool, while we had a chat to him. He was great at interacting with our baby, and there was no rush. We had the opportunity to have a good long chat to Santa, and at the end he gave our baby a bag with a small gift inside, which was a soft reindeer.
Summary
Overall, we had an amazing morning at Fenwick Canterbury with Santa. The food was of a good quality, fresh, and tasty, although the addition of some hash browns would make it brilliant. The drinks were also very good, with breakfast mimosas and hot chocolate.
The experience was made by the 3 elves that were going around all the tables talking to the children and adults. They were all very good actors who remained in character and made the experience fun. Meeting Santa at the end was a lovely way to finish the experience.
We would highly recommend the breakfast with Santa Experience at Fenwick Canterbury to anyone. It had a Disney character dining experience feel to it, but at a very reasonable price.