Convention centres today have to be more than just mere providers of event space. The more savvy ones have invested in a sharper banqueting outfit to ensure restaurant-quality dining experiences
Adelaide Convention Centre, Australia
Banquet capability: The Adelaide Convention Centre’s (ACC) kitchen has a team of 60 staff including five sous chefs, five chefs de partie and kitchen hands led by executive chef Gavin Robertson who has 20 years experience in the hotel industry. In addition, about 140 service staff can be called in for major dining events. Staff represent a diverse range of nationalities and cultures providing expertise in international cuisines, including contemporary Asian influenced and halal menus.
Venue options: ACC caters for a broad variety of functions from intimate private dinners for 25 people to a banquet for up to 3,500 or packed-to-go lunches for 5,000.
Guests can dine indoors in the central building for 3,500 pax or in the east building “under the stars” with an aerial backdrop made from 35,000 fibre optic lights designed to mimic the outback South Australian sky for 900 guests, or dine under the real sky with an outdoor BBQ on the ACC’s Riverbank Lawns.
Outdoor catering is provided through the ACC’s parent company Adelaide Venue Management, which caters from 40 to 500 pax with an emphasis on South Australian produce.
Creative strength: A new concept in catering known as poke (pronounced poh-kay) bowls was showcased at this year’s Destination South Australia Business Exchange event. With a focus on fresh and raw ingredients, these Japanese-inspired Hawaiian salad bowls are filled, buffet-style, with a guest’s own selection of raw fish, salads and nuts. The ingredients were sourced locally as part of a central element of the ACC’s Soils and Seasons food philosophy, and included Port Lincoln tuna, Coffin Bay baby octopus and Spencer Gulf prawns.
HOT SAUCE: More than 90 per cent of produce used at ACC is sourced locally, and there is a keen intent to highlight stories of South Australia on every plate, whether they are luscious oysters from the West Coast, wild Kingfish from the Gulf, or premium lamb from the Murraylands. There is also great focus on sustainably-sourced ingredients.
Bali International Convention Centre, The Westin Resort Nusa Dua Bali, Indonesia
Banquet capability: As the first convention centre in Bali and with more than 26 years of experience, Bali International Convention Centre (BICC) has a team of 30 experienced chefs, 50 associates and managers acting as service leaders, as well as 20 dedicated stewarding associates. BICC is able to deliver all kind of F&B requests, such as four-course dinners, cocktails, and buffet for up to 25,000 people.
Venue options: BICC features 2,415m2 of meeting space, of which two ballrooms and 26 meeting rooms can be used for dining functions. Outside, meeting planners can take their pick of a lush tropical garden, a pool environment and a white sandy beach for social receptions.
Creative strength: BICC recently hosted a 1,000-pax gala dinner for a pharmaceutical association. The client requested for a family-style set dinner with a traditional touch, and insisted that it must be unique and memorable. BICC thus presented a Tumpeng dinner, a traditional rice cone meal with various side dishes. To prepare 100 Tumpeng sets, each to feed 10 people, and to serve them all up at the same time, a team of 200 associates were deployed.
Hyderabad International Convention Centre and Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre complex, Hyderabad, India
Banquet capability: The kitchen team at Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC) and Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre complex comprises more than 35 chefs skilled in delivering a range of global cuisines cooked with the freshest produce. A service team of 72 full-time staff and over 150 additional support staff ensure impeccable service even for the largest gatherings, which sometimes go up to 10,000 guests.
Venue options: In total, the facility provides over 9,290m2 of indoor banquet space and 1,997m2 of indoor pre-function space. The main pillar-free hall spans 6,150m2 and can be divided into six smaller halls. There is also over 4,190m2 of outdoor space, including serene lawns, that make lovely sites for social dining events. Novotel Gardens, for instance, can host an event for up to 750 guests.
Creative strength: A Times Square-themed dinner setup was delivered for the International Building Performance Simulation Association recently, and it come complete with a Broadway-themed performance.
IMPACT Muang Thong Thani, Bangkok, Thailand
Banquet capability: The massive event complex in Bangkok has an equally large F&B team of 151 people. The executive chef leads a team of one pastry chef, five sous chefs, four junior sous chefs, 16 chef de partie and 124 kitchen staff including 13 contract employees.
The kitchen team is supported by a service team comprising a director, an assistant director, a senior manager, 12 managers and 154 other staff including 27 contract employees. The whole team is supplemented by no less than 30 well-trained and highly experienced part-timers who cater to daily function needs.
Venue options: IMPACT Muang Thong Thani features four dedicated convention and exhibition centres providing over 140,000m2 of indoor space, a large portion of which are flexible and can work for dining functions of all kinds. The centre welcomes dining events with 50 to 40,000 guests, and is able to provide outside catering too.
HOT SAUCE: IMPACT Muang Thong Thani is one of the 13 business event partners that has entered into an MoU with the Thailand Convention & Exhibition Bureau to support the Farm to Functions project, which requires parties involved to purchase organic rice directly from farmers and the Amnatcharoen Satjatham Rice Community.
Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall, Thailand
Banquet capability: Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall (PEACH), part of the Royal Cliff integrated resort along the coast of Pattaya, boasts a culinary team with five-star qualifications, and often draws on chefs from its hotels to assist with banquets.
There are some 145 full-time chefs at Royal Cliff and all serve the convention centre. An executive chef and three executive sous chefs sit at the helm. Experienced casual kitchen staff are recruited to help at massive events.
PEACH boasts more than 15 years of experience when it comes to catering for events that range from intimate settings of 50 people to large banquets with around 8,000 guests.
Venue options: PEACH’s mix of versatile column-free halls and 18 breakout rooms can easily host dining events of various sizes, from intimate dinners for 10 people to almost 7,000 guests for a cocktail reception.
Creative strength: When PEACH hosted ICCA Congress 2007, it delivered memorable banquets that showed off Thai fusion dishes and the freshest seafood. Interesting themes as well colourful decorations and table set-ups were abundant in the event, which drew numerous compliments from attendees as well as ICCA’s CEO Martin Sirk.
HOT SAUCE: PEACH’s award-winning culinary team has won multiple awards and certifications including the ISO 22000 Food Safety Management Certification, the ISO 9001 certification for Quality Management Systems, the Thailand Tatler’s Best Restaurants Awards, and the Thailand MICE venue standard award.
Also worth mentioning is PEACH’s commitment to using organic ingredients, sourced locally where possible or harvested from its own gardens, to reduce its carbon footprint. Furthermore, the F&B team evaluates past data to find ways to reduce food wastage.
Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Malaysia
Banquet capability: The centre’s award-winning 52-strong culinary team is supported by more than 130 kitchen hands and helmed by executive chef, Hisham Jaafar. The team explores local produce, Western and Asian cooking traditions, as well as ingredients that can be tastefully combined into tailor-made menus that cater to the needs and dietary requirements of multicultural and multi-ethnic delegates and visitors.
Venue options: The elegant Grand Ballroom accommodates 2,000 guests while the Banquet Hall can seat a 500-pax banquet. Both come with a pre-event foyer where spectacular views of the iconic Petronas Twin Towers can be enjoyed. Additional flexible space throughout the centre can host a variety of dining functions and their full glass façade provides views of the surrounding scenic park.
Creative strength: The centre’s Culinary Team spent two months curating a unique menu for the regal Chaîne des Rôtisseurs Gala Dinner. The Chaîne des Rôtisseurs is an international association of gastronomy established in more than 80 countries and founded in Paris in 1950.
The menu featured Italian cuisine infused with Asian flavours and was paired with a selection of fine wines. A highlight was the Fresh Peach Floret dessert, which was intricately handmade and took 48 hours to prepare.
HOT SAUCE: The centre boasts Malaysia’s largest commercial kitchen at 3,157m2, with five kitchens, namely Chinese, Western, cold, pastry and Malay kitchens, all equipped with advanced culinary appliances.
Kyoto International Conference Center, Japan
Banquet capability: Sixteen chefs are on site, with five full-time serving staff backed up with as many as 150 additional staff to wait on major events. The two kitchens are able to meet the dining requirements of up to 3,000 people attending a buffet-style event, while the centre partners with outside caterers for larger occasions.
The team is able to tailor menus to clients’ specific needs, including providing vegan and vegetarian dishes, meals that meet Muslim guests’ dietary requirements, as well as plates that are specially prepared for allergy sufferers.
Venue options: The centre has two dedicated banquet halls – the 540m2 Swan, which has a reception capacity of 300 guests, and the Sakura Hall, which covers 805m2 and can accommodate 500 people. Both look out to scenic mountains and the convention centre’s expansive Japanese garden adjacent to Lake Takaragaike. The garden also serves as a venue for up to 3,000 people. Additional indoor spaces include the 1,100-person capacity Event Hall and the Annex Hall, with a capacity of 630 guests.
Both Swan and Sakura Hall boast their own independent kitchens too.
HOT SAUCE: The gardens are a major draw for events, particularly when they are combined with an impressive meal and entertainment. Kyoto International Conference Center is able to put on private fireworks displays above the adjoining Lake Takaragaike, with the fireworks company sufficiently skilled in their art to incorporate the logo of a meeting or a special message into the display. Events can also utilise laser displays and 3-D mapping art on the uniquely shaped exterior of the centre.
Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore
Banquet capability: Sands Expo and Convention Centre, located at the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort, has a 360-strong culinary team, with 91 in banquet operations, spread across 51 individual kitchens.
Three kitchens are located on Level 3, 4, and 5, catering Chinese and Western cuisine and pastries. There is also a mise-en-place on Basement 4 for the chefs to prepare cooking ingredients.
To deliver Sands Expo’s celebrity chef menu, chefs from the nine celebrity chef restaurants on site personally helm the kitchens at the convention centre when they are commissioned to prepare a meal at an event. They are supported by a team of commis chefs and chefs de partie from the MICE banquet team.
Venue options: The Sands Expo is capable of catering to large groups. The Sands Grand Ballroom – the largest in South-east Asia – is capable of hosting up to 6,600 guests for a banquet. One of the biggest banquet dinners held at this venue was a seven-course Chinese dinner for 6,500 people in 2016.
Individual restaurants such as Club55 and celebrity chef restaurants with private dining rooms can provide more intimate experiences for smaller event groups.
HOT SAUCE: Over the years, the Sands Expo is seeing more meeting planners opt for healthier food options and locally sourced ingredients, which are available in its Harvest Menu.
With more than 100 dishes on the Harvest Menu, the centre ensures an ample variety of flavours, where no snack items are repeated during coffee and tea breaks throughout an event.
