Festive dining in Ubud tends to be planned as a single decision. In practice, there are four separate evenings between 24 December and 1 January; they are not interchangeable, and each carries its own deadline. The booking deadlines are the detail most guests overlook, and two of them fall earlier than expected.
The Four Sittings
The festive period at Apéritif Restaurant is designed around four distinct dining experiences rather than one extended celebration.
Christmas Eve takes place on Thursday 24 December, with dinner beginning at 6 pm. It is the earliest of the four and works well for guests arriving in Bali that day who would like to begin their holiday with a fine dining Christmas experience.
Christmas Day follows on Friday 25 December, with both lunch at 12 pm and dinner at 6 pm available as a seven-course menu. The midday sitting offers a relaxed alternative for families, while the evening service creates the more traditional Christmas dinner atmosphere many guests imagine.
New Year’s Eve takes place on Thursday 31 December, starting at 6 pm. It is the only sitting with a dedicated theme, Midnight Masquerade, featuring violin and piano performances throughout the evening. Guests are encouraged to wear masks as part of the celebration, and seats are limited.
New Year’s Day on Friday 1 January offers a quieter beginning to the year. There is no separate festive theme or dedicated menu, allowing guests to enjoy lunch and dinner during the usual service hours in a more relaxed setting.
Which Sitting Suits Which Table
Each festive dining occasion offers a different pace, depending on how guests prefer to spend the holiday period.
Christmas Eve asks the least from a travel-tired party. Guests arriving at Ngurah Rai International Airport that morning may already have spent 1.5 to 2 hours travelling before reaching Ubud, making a 6 pm dinner on 24 December a gentler start than a later celebration would be.
Christmas Day lunch leaves the evening open. It suits families travelling with children, guests who prefer an earlier finish, and anyone with another commitment later that day.
Christmas Day dinner is the traditional choice, and the sitting many guests picture when booking a fine-dining table during the festive season. It is also the busier of the two Christmas services.
New Year’s Eve is the occasion to sit. As the only service with limited seats explicitly stated, it is the one to reserve first for guests planning a fine-dining New Year’s Eve celebration in Ubud.
New Year’s Day is the most relaxed of the four. Lunch on 1 January offers a calm way to begin the year, providing a refined alternative to the previous evening’s celebrations.
The Notice Each One Needs
All festive dining services require reservations, allowing the kitchen and service teams to prepare each experience carefully.
Lunch requires a firm 24-hour booking notice. That produces two deadlines worth writing down. Christmas Day lunch has to be booked by 24 December, and New Year’s Day lunch by 31 December. The second is the one nobody plans for, because it falls on the evening of the masquerade, and a guest who decides over breakfast on 1 January that lunch would be pleasant has already missed it.
The vegetarian, vegan and pescatarian menus require the same 24 hours. Most allergies and other dietary restrictions are accommodated with advance communication, which exists so the kitchen can plan rather than substitute on the night.
Groups Across the Festive Week
For larger celebrations, the private dining room offers a more intimate setting with seating for up to 10 guests at a single long table. It includes a minimum spend and is arranged directly through reservations rather than the standard booking process. It suits a family travelling together over Christmas, where the point of the evening is for everyone to stay in one conversation.
Larger parties can also be accommodated in the main dining room, which seats up to 60 guests.
For any group, advance communication about dietary preferences is especially valuable during the festive period. Larger tables often entail different requirements, and providing details in advance helps the team prepare the experience with care.
Dress Across the Week
The fine-dining dress code applies to all four festive sittings. Smart casual to formal attire is recommended, while sportswear and beachwear, including singlets and flip-flops, are not appropriate for the dining room.
As the restaurant is fully air-conditioned, guests may wish to bring a light layer regardless of the weather outside. The dress code remains consistent throughout the year, including during the festive season.
New Year’s Eve adds a celebratory element rather than replacing the usual standard. Masks, sophisticated attire, and touches of black, white, or silver are encouraged for the Midnight Masquerade theme. Guests arriving without a mask will still be welcomed and dressed appropriately for dinner.
The Hour Before
Pinstripe Bar sits adjacent to the fine-dining room and opens daily at 4 pm. It is a speakeasy concept drawn from the Prohibition Era, with an Art Deco interior, a cigar humidor and live jazz.
Throughout the festive week, it solves the arrival problem that larger tables always face, since guests who arrive early have somewhere to sit and the party starts together. On 31 December, it does more than that, serving as the natural place to work out how a mask behaves before the first course.
Wine Across Four Sittings
Apéritif Restaurant holds the Star Wine List of the Year 2026 South-East Asia, and the cellar sits inside the dining room.
For festive tables, wine preferences are best discussed during the reservation process. A specific bottle for Christmas Day, or a pairing across the seven courses, is easier to arrange with notice.
For larger groups especially, a carefully selected collection of bottles matched to the menu can create a more seamless experience than individual selections made during the evening.
Booking
Reservations are handled directly by email at res@aperitif.com and by WhatsApp. The two event pages list the menus and prices, and they are the place to check as the dates approach, since the New Year’s Eve details are still being confirmed.
The short version is that the two Christmas sittings and the masquerade should be booked well ahead, and New Year’s Day lunch should be booked on 31 December at the latest, before the evening starts.
