If you can’t visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Christmastime, you’re missing out on the uniquely festive joy of the season: the Frog Choir sings Yule Ball songs, the castle gets a merry makeover (more on that later), and the food gets even more Potter-y. Because celebrating the holidays is second only to my undying love of theme parks, I tried the Harry Potter English Holiday Dinner at Three Broomsticks. Here’s how it went.
Wizarding Food > Regular Food at Universal
The minute you walk through the archway into Hogsmeade, with its sign reminding you to “Please respect the spell limits,” you’re in a different world: a world filled with wizards and witches, a world where magic happens in every window, a world where you can fly through Hogwarts. And most importantly, a world where you can actually eat all of the food you’ve been dreaming about since you saw it in the Harry Potter movies.
The thing about Three Broomsticks is that it’s actually the best restaurant at Universal Studios Hollywood. It serves really good, well made, not-so-expensive food that’s inspired by the traditional English fare Harry and his friends dine on in the Great Hall. On a given day you can find Bangers and Mash, Roasted Chicken, Shepherd’s Pie and—my favorite—a Ploughman’s Platter that comes with meats, cheeses, pickled vegetables and a Scotch egg. At Christmas, though, Three Broomsticks turns up the merrymaking with a special English Holiday Dinner.
The English Holiday Dinner
There are two Christmas choices on the Three Broomsticks menu, that aren’t available at other times of the year: the English Holiday Dinner, and Hot Butterbeer. The dinner is roasted turkey with gravy, sourdough stuffing, Brussels sprouts, ginger-glazed carrots, cranberry sauce and, in a particularly British twist, a bacon-wrapped sausage. The meal was a lot like if you were invited to Thanksgiving dinner at someone’s house who’s not your family—even if the food wasn’t exactly how you’re used to having it, it was still really good.
The stuffing, in particular, was excellent, and the turkey had a flavorful, herby outer edge. Even though it was December when I was eating this dinner, it was still December in Los Angeles and too warm to have Hot Butterbeer, so I opted for a refreshing Pumpkin Fizz that still tasted like Christmas, but Christmas with ice in it.
Beverages for Adult Wizards
My friend, however, opted for Frozen Butterbeer with an added shot of Fire Whiskey, which is available at the Hog’s Head Tavern that’s attached to the Three Broomsticks restaurant. Fire Whiskey is really just Fireball, but you can also have Jameson’s Irish Whiskey instead, which really cuts down on the sweetness. Butterbeer, for me, is not an every-visit treat: it’s delicious, but the butterscotch drink is too sweet to have all the time, especially when there’s Sticky Toffee Pudding to have for dessert, and all of the treats at Honeyduke’s (pictured below).
Christmas Festivities at Wizarding World
Besides the food, there’s a lot more magic in Hogsmeade. There are Christmas decorations everywhere, and the town is abuzz with talk of the Yule Ball (there are even Christmas ornaments of Harry’s dress robes, Hermione’s purple dress and Ron’s ridiculous brown and orange tuxedo). Once the sun goes down, it snows, which is all the more special because it never actually snows in Los Angeles. Best of all is the Hogwarts Christmas Lights show on the castle, complete with fireworks. Pretty much the only thing that can add to the magic of an already magical season is to celebrate it with witches and wizards, so if you can get to Universal this season, you definitely should.