Workmate J and I attended a one-day training course recently. It was fully catered and lunch was great! A catering company came to the training venue and set up bain marie hot dishes, salad and fruit. In the photo below, starting from the salad on the plate, moving clockwise: salad, samosa, vegetable curry, tandoori chicken, lamb rogan josh. Buried underneath it all, steamed rice.
And after that, fresh fruit (watermelon, rockmelon, red apple, strawberries, orange and pear).
There was plenty to eat and you could go back for seconds if you wished. We were free to help ourselves to tea, coffee and fruit juice throughout the day. And there was even an ice cream freezer, full of Frosty Fruits, Icy Poles and Billabongs! I really wanted an ice cream but I was too full from lunch, what a waste! :D
As we left the venue for the day I noticed the week’s lunch menu posted on a board. Damn! If our training had been the next day, we’d be having roast pork with apple sauce!
Last year Jac went to a conference where the lunches were full hot buffet complete with surprisingly fancy desserts – she came home raving about the fantastic pannacota she’d eaten that day. In fact, she told me that all the delegates talked about the next morning was how much they were looking forward to lunch!
Have you attended a course or conference which had amazing catering? Feel free to share your best (or worst) experience!
I'm TFP, a food blogger from Perth, Western Australia.
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
i went on a course once where they didn’t have catering, but they took us to an amazing restaurant for lunch :)
i think i had some sort of penne vodka style dish, i remember liking it! :P
My hubby went to a vendor-function at Burswood which served hot fresh (yes! freshly fried) wontons, spring rolls, battered deepfried prawns, scallops in a spoon-taster thingo, thai-style spring rolls, two-types of sushi (that he could see)… There would have been at least about 20 platters brought out for about 30ppl. He said the fried stuff was piping-fresh hot, not the kind of ‘fried-earlier, kept-hot’ sort of thing. How come I never get this kind of catering when we go to the Burswood!
I once attended a week-long training course in a hotel. As the delegates were all required to stay in the hotel, we ended up having fancy 3-course dinners every night. By day 6, we all got sick of the food and the fuss and went out for a pizza!
I don’t usually eat at morning or afternoon tea, and whenever I attend some all-day training course, usually find it way too much with all the food that’s on offer. I try not to eat anything except at lunch, but then have to dodge all the “oh, aren’t you eating” comments at the tea times. I usually find the options for vegetarians to be shocking – one time when I asked for my vego meal they gave something with chicken. When I queried this the catering staff weren’t sure what my problem was. Aiya!
Hey TFP
Great article in the Sunday Times! Last year I went to a professional development course at the convention centre in Perth. It started with an early breakfast at 8.00 am ( and I live SOR!), then morning tea and then an amazing cold buffet lunch with cold meats, beautiful salads and yummy cheese plates. It was the best catered food I’ve ever had. Took the sting out of the fact it was the first day back from the holidays AND my birthday!
Hope you’re all rcovered now :-)
Emma
That sounds suspiciously like DiData (i was there for 5 days last week).
AIM Floreat. Still hands down, the best food in Perth I reckon, and not just for training!
Jac that looks and sounds terrific doesn’t it make you just want to go back and learn more (just for lunch)?!
when I had to go out of town for class or training sessions, my biggest worry was always what we would have for lunch! Such dedication to one’s job is admirable, isn’t it?! Actually, I think those classes are so boring, thinking about food is the only thing that keeps you awake!
Most courses I’ve been on usually have sandwiches with salads or subway. I did attend a very good environmental law course in Calgary where we were served a stuffed chicken breast with a fantastic gravy and nice salad on the first day. On the second day we were treated to a wonderful salmon fillet with a nice dill cream sauce.
i can never forget that fantastic mutton rendang served in my high school event. restaurant quality and all us went for seconds. kekeke…….
I must have Thanksgiving on the brain (subconscious) because I’m seeing roast potatoes AND sweet potatoes by that chicken! The fruit looks good too (no baked sweet treats?).
“Have you attended a course or conference which had amazing catering?”
No, but I saw one around 1990: The MD’s I worked for had a fancy catered buffet set up. Huge chilled prawns (cocktail), appetizers (hot and cold, including with little butane burners), petit fours; the works. All I, lowly and humble clerical staffer, could do was walk by and gaze longingly…(while one doctor clearly showed his pleasure at my displeasure; we never did get along; I got even with him later!). ;-)
p.s.: Rockmellon is our cantaloupe, apparently. :-)
That catering looks amazing! I’d be putting my hand up for training constantly if it meant full Indian buffet. Hehe.
Most I’ve attended have had nasty sweaty sandwiches and the like. I made the mistake of requesting vegetarian once and got the most bizarre combinations – eggplant & strawberry jam, cucumber and tomato sauce. Blech!
Wow – what a gretat spread!!! Function lunches can be really hit and miss – but it sounds like yours was great!
I swear the plates in that picture are from the old Coles cafeteria! Ah, the memories!
On topic, Burswood always has good catering in my experience. Mercure in Perth is also pretty good (buffet style for a conference I went to, hot and cold dishes, lots of choice and soft drink refills).
Worst is one of the local ovals – I probably shouldn’t say which one- off milk, stale scones, disgusting sandwiches- and I have a conference there soon. Think I will just fill my bag with fruit and munchies again.
Once my department at my former job had a half-day training session. We had nasi lemak packed for us from a caterer. It was so delicious! Coconutty rice, otak-otak, egg, ikan bilis and peanuts and a fried chicken wing. YUMMY. My work team has also had several appreciation dinners to thank partners and volunteers who’d helped us for events we helmed, and the catering is usually quite tasty. We packed back fried calamari after one such occasion and nuked it in the microwave for lunch the next day. Delish. Too bad the chicken rendang we packed didn’t fare as well in the microwave, because it was really delicious. They would also have monthly staff bonding meetings across the entire organization (it was a pretty big place) and there’d always be food involved. Ice cold cokes, beers, and yummy finger foods which varied depending on the department in charge of it that month. Once we had sardine puffs, curry puffs and Malay kueh. OMG, sooo good.
yes, this yr i attended one @ a 5 star hotel. the organiser served breakfast, morning tea break, buffet lunch, afternoon tea break and ended the conference with a superbly good buffet spread again….i was in cloud 9 :)
@Sam – yes, I’ve had functions and catering at Burswood previously too – comparatively good. But I definately didn’t get the menu my hubby did. But then again, I know what budget my organisation would have had and I’ve been on the other side organising catering too…. never mind catering for vegetarians, try catering for wheat intolerant diets! *throws out the sandwhiches/turkishbread/wraps*.
Isn’t it funny that we barely remember these work classes and seminars; but, we always remember the food! :)
I must be the unlucky one never to have experienced a nice conference or training day lunch :( I usually have problems with the quantity as well as the quality. About 15 years ago when I was still vegetarian I attended a day conference in London, the lunch buffet was really meat heavy and the only veggie ” main ” choice was samosas, I went to take a couple and the waiter barked ” Just ONE samosa !! ” at me. I explained that was the only main item I could eat and he said I could only have one or there wouldn’t be enough to go round !!! I walked off really angry, a couple of minutes later another waiter came up and said ” its ok its ok you can have another one ” but by that time I told him where he could stick his grudging samosa.
Still, at least the phrase ” Just ONE samosa ” has proved a useful comedy classis ever since :P
Erryn,
I went to training in the city where everyone pre-ordered sandwiches and rolls for lunch at the start of the course. At lunch time, we walked up the street to a cafe, picked up our pre-made sandwiches and rolls and had lunch. I had a roast beef and potato salad roll, the first time I had potato salad in a sandwich. It was great. Mmm, I’ve had penne in a cream and vodka sauce before, with chicken and mushrooms – it was yummy.
Currie_lah,
That sounds awesome, especially battered deepfried prawns and scallops! Lucky hubby!
gcroft,
Catered food can get samey after a while. I was on a three-day course where we also got sick of the food and on the last day did a run to Chicken Treat. Barbecue chicken and chips never tasted so good!
CW,
Same. I don’t usually have morning/afternoon tea (only when someone at work has a birthday) and I don’t usually need snacks either (well, not on weekdays at work; snacking is more of a “home on the weekend” activity :)). Serving chicken as a vegetarian option?! That’s terrible! Clueless! [insert swear word here!]
Thanks, emma! That cold buffet lunch sounds like something Jac would love – she loves cold meat, salad and cheese. I always prefer a hot lunch myself so get very excited when there’s something other than sandwiches and salad on offer. I have just the hint of a cough left – I’d say 98% back to normal, not bad!
Charlene,
Mwahahahaha, you could be suspiciously right! :P
Earl,
After all that eating I was just worried I’d fall asleep after lunch!
kathy,
Yep. When a class is dull, the only highlights of the day are the meal breaks. At this training we also passed around a big bowl of lollies/candy the whole time. All welcome distractions!
Jon,
Yum, that stuffed chicken breast and gravy sounds lovely! (Even though it’s breast, not thigh :P) Salmon’s not my favourite fish but I’d be happy to eat it at a training course instead of the standard sandwiches and salads.
Fresh Fry,
Fantastic! I’d love to be served rendang at training!
Cindy,
Yes – over here we call cantaloupe rockmelon. No, it was just the fresh fruit for dessert, no baked sweet treats. It was still great though. Mmm, I can eat roast potatoes and sweet potatoes any time, so they would’ve been most welcome!
That catered buffet you describe sounds pretty grand. I would’ve been totally envious too, if all I could do was look.
Megan,
Ewwww, sweaty sandwiches! Disturbingly, eggplant and strawberry jam sounds interesting to me! Hahaha! :D
Lisa,
I was totally stoked. I only wished the course was longer than one day!
Sam,
Ohhh I loved the old Coles restaurant in the store in Perth. I loved the breakfast fry-ups. I went to a course held at the Mercure ages ago – like over 10 years ago, I can’t remember what we ate but I remember it was good. Bad catering is so depressing. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but off-milk and stale scones?! Argh!
Dea,
I was totally green with envy reading your comment! Nasi lemak, fried calamari and chicken rendang, AND leftovers for lunch the next day! You are so lucky! :D And sardine puffs and curry puffs! I think I’d like to attend staff functions and training in Singapore. :)
Beauty,
Fantastic! What a great way to end a conference, with a big buffet!
Currie_lah,
It must be a nightmare for people with special dietary needs. As my sister (CW) wrote above, she asked for vegetarian and got served chicken! What the?!
kathy,
Hahaha, yep! My fondest, most vivid memories all revolve around food. :)
Greenlady,
Aw! What a plonker (the waiter re: the samosas)!
I always find, and it drives me crazy, is for morning tea is always sweets… pastries, cookies etc… is it just me? but I can’t imagine anything worse than sickly sweet pastries for (what would be my) breakfast.
Post-economic downturn… every training session I’ve been to is cold meats and salads, or rolls and wraps. I don’t mind either, but I miss warm lunches at training.