Guests may be thin on the ground, but the Hotel de Paris is putting its best foot forward this festive season with a patisserie workshop for adults and children in the patio courtyard.

Participants are invited to decorate their own Christmas cakes to take home, using ingredients provided, after a short tutorial by one of SBM’s top pastry chefs. Christmas Garden in the Patio runs on December 9, 12, and 16 and costs 75 euros per person or 120 for a parent and child. Reservations and more info: +377 98 06 71 71.

Also in the patio is a boutique selling a wide range of traditional Christmas delicacies, including four versions of the Christmas log. Alissia is always on hand to guide the buyer – in any one of four languages – and prices are very reasonable, especially bearing in mind the quality of ingredients. Prices start from 12 euros for chocolate fir trees, in dark or milk chocolate, and the star of the show is the Fleur de Miel (honey flower). Principle ingredients are sourced from along the French and Italian Rivieras, and it serves between six and eight people at 70 euros.

PHOTO: Philippe Joannes, Culinary Events Director, second from right, is the mastermind behind SBM’s atelier and boutique in the Hotel de Paris outdoor Patio Ian Brodie