The five strangest Christmas food and drink specials for 2016

Restaurant chains have been busy conjuring up Christmas-themed menus to satisfy customers: brussels sprouts, turkey and cranberry sauce are thrown together with a myriad of other dishes to create a yuletide treat.

But every year, a handful of festive foods and drinks leave us scratching our heads and asking: "Why?" Here are the top five strangest dishes on offer this Christmas.

Nando's: Peri-Berry burger

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Everyone loves a cheeky Nando's, with succulent chicken breast and the chain's spicy peri-peri sauce. Throwing in a bed of spinach and a blended sauce of cranberries, raspberries, blueberries and chillies certainly puts an avant-garde spin on the trademark burger.

Pizza Express: Cauliflower pizzas

After a 2015 Brussels sprouts topping, Pizza Express has turned its attention to cauliflower, creating two limited-edition pizzas: the Cauliflower Cheese and the Cauliflower e Carne, which is sure to raise eyebrows as it features "roasted cauliflower florets, pancetta, Pecorino cheese on a creamy cheese and mustard sauce base".

Benito's Hat: Christmas Burrito

Benito's Hat has a Mexican take on Christmas food, with a burrito containing orange-infused pork belly, crackling, cranberry and sweet chilli salsa. However, for every one of these unique festive treats sold, Benito's Hat will give 50p to charity, so all is forgiven.

Wasabi: Big Christmas Box

Christmas comes in a box at Wasabi this year – a Big Christmas Sushi Box. The traditional smoked salmon nigiri and crab rolls make a cameo appearance and the surprise inclusion of turkey breast slices with cranberry sauce and pumpkin croquette (along with ginger and soy sauce) gives the box a festive twist.

Common's Mince Pie Martini

Manchester's Common bar/coffee shop brings us the mince pie martini: "Gosling's black rum shaken over ice with mincemeat and apple juice and upended into a chilled martini glass." One of the more appetising prospects on the list, the merry martini even comes with shortbread crumbs on the rim instead of salt or sugar.