London at the end of the year is festive. Shops in Oxford Street, Bond Street, Regent Street and in many more affluent shopping districts are beautifully decorated with lights and colorful ornaments.

We are more interested however in London’s unusual culinary treats. The traditional Christmas Markets with their unique foods and beverages are not available year round, and so we headed to those places.

We came across this Christmas Market by chance. Our destination was the annual World Press Photo of the Year exhibition at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall. So moved by the powerful photos depicting conflicts around the world, we went out to get fresh air and to view the River Thames.

The Southbank Centre is a unique metropolitan arts center, with 21 acres of creative space and an extraordinary history. Looking down from the second floor we saw wooden chalets along the Queen’s Walk (London Eye to Waterloo Bridge) filled with festive food, drinks, gifts and treats.

The Christmas Market at the London Eye opened from 15 November to 24 December 2013. It was a German style Christmas Market spreads across 80 authentically decorated wooden chalets that sold unique Christmas presents.

As it was a German style market, its culinary delights ranged from glühwein (German mulled wine), German Bratwurst, cedar planked salmon on the grill to hot roasted chestnuts, coffee Italia, gingerbread hearts and weizenbier (wheat beer).

In early November we received an email offer: "Save 50% on tickets to the hottest Food & Drink event of the Festive Season."

The Taste of Christmas was held at the newly re-launched Tobacco Dock from 21 – 24 November 2013. The Tobacco Dock, is an elegant venue, built in the early 19th Century as a secure bonded warehouse for the receipt and storage of tobacco from the New World.

As in any Taste events, Crowns are the official dining currency of Taste of Christmas. The average dish at Taste of Christmas is 4-6 Crowns (£4-6). Servings are tapas-sized - large enough for the chefs to display their skills and ingredients, but small enough to let visitors try more than a few dishes.

The Taste of Christmas offered signature dishes from 12 of London's Hottest Restaurants: Ametsa with Arzak Instruction, Accigua, Barbecoa, Beard to Tail, Benares, Club Gascon, Disco Bistro, Mark Hix's new restaurant: Hixter, Salt Yard, The Cinnamon Club and The Truscott Arms.

Demos and Masterclasses saw a number of famous chefs such as Michel Roux Jr, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Mark Hix, Monica Galetti, Gizzi Erskine, Eric Lanlard Neil Rankin and Valentine Warner.

We treasured the products from the Christmas food and drink market with over 150 producers offering unusual ingredients and foodie gifts.

An impressive Christmas Market that stays open beyond the new year is one at the Hyde Park Winter Wonderland.  

Opens from 23 November 2013 to 5 January 2014 the Winter Wonderland offers entertainment, attractions, and creative selection of food and drink.

Admission to the Winter Wonderland is free, but visitors need to buy tickets (not exchangeable) for attractions such as Ice Skating, The Magical Ice Kingdom, the Giant Observation Wheel, Zippos Christmas Circus and Cirque Berserk.

The Christmas Market and the food and drink at Winter Wonderland are similar with those at the Southbank Centre Christmas Market, but here they are on a grander scale. The Winter Wonderland has two Christmas market: Angels and Yuletide markets with more than 200 wooden chalets, as opposed to 80 at the Southbank.

The Famous Bavarian Village serves more bratwurst and mulled wine with live music, DJs and dancing throughout the day and evening. The Fire Pit is where mulled wine & farmhouse foods are available around a huge fire pit while drinks are abundant in a number of bars and café such as the Mirror Bar, Après Bar, Nordic bar, The Carousel Bar, Etagen Cafe.

The Christmas culinary delights not only enhance London’s end of year festivities. We are glad to know that t hey also help support a number of charities in and around London.

The Southbank Centre is a charity committed to working with young, emerging and established talent across the artistic community. It currently supports four Resident Orchestras, 14 Artists in Residence and over 100 other artistic organizations.

The Taste of Christmas supports ACF International | Action Against Hunger, an international humanitarian organization committed to ending child hunger and the Jamie Oliver Foundation with projects focus on food education programs for communities and schools.

The Winter Wonderland always has an official charity. It raised over £30,000 for Help A London Child, a project set up for London’s most disadvantaged kids.

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Images: Tobacco Dock, Omar Niode Foundation