The plant-based trend has been steadily picking up steam over the past few years, with restaurants around the world offering a greater variety of vegetarian dishes and innovative companies pushing out an array of meat substitutes that are mind-bogglingly close to the real thing.
However, most venues that don’t market themselves as fully vegetarian concepts still leave a sizeable chunk of meat-based dishes on their menus to cater to diners’ different tastes.
A hotel group, however, has decided to take it a step further. In a bold and somewhat surprising move, the Ovolo Hotels group has announced that it’s gone completely meat-free across its establishments in Hong Kong, Australia and (currently scheduled for a late 2020 opening) Bali, making it the first and only hotel group thus far to do so. That means that as of this month, you won’t find beef, chicken, fish or any other meat-based products on its restaurant, bar and room service menus.
Instead, for a full year – which they have billed as “Year of the Veg” – diners will be greeted with vibrant vegetarian dishes that make use of locally-sourced, sustainable produce. These include a bright and zesty fried tempeh and salad dish at Alibi Bar & Kitchen at Ovolo Woolloomoolo in Sydney; creamy burrata with sweet potato hummus at Ovolo Southside’s Komune restaurant in Hong Kong; and fragrant za’atar roasted carrots with quinoa at Veda at Ovolo Central, also in Hong Kong.
According to the hotel group, the decision to embrace all things vegetarian was made to do their part to act on climate change and environmental conservation. Indeed, it’s been widely proven that cutting down on the consumption of meat in favour of vegetables helps with reducing one’s overall carbon footprint.
“Dining out – enjoying quality food and wine with good company – is one of life’s greatest pleasures. We want to be conscious about what we’re consuming and practice sustainability as much as we can because we believe this can have an enormous impact on the environment and humanity at large,” says Girish Jhunjhnuwala, Ovolo Group’s founder and CEO. “To that end, we’re evolving our food offerings so that our guests can continue enjoying great dining experiences in a more sustainable manner.”
Aside from this new dining initiative, the hotel group has also taken other steps in a bid to become more sustainable, such as eliminating single-use plastic bathroom amenities and replacing plastic straws with environmentally-friendly alternatives.
The vegetarian menus have been rolled out since 1st October, so pop down to find out more if you’re interested.
Please check the establishments’ respective websites for opening hours before visiting, and remember to adhere to safe-distancing measures while out and about.
To learn more about Singapore Airlines flights, visit singaporeair.com. For updates and travel advisories, please visit Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website.
