Oulton Hall and The Queens bring street food to conferences with new menu launch

QHotels’ Oulton Hall and The Queens have launched a new and innovative conference menu, bringing street food to conferences and events in Leeds.

The hotels’ new lunch menu follows an intensive six-month period of research by QHotels, which took chefs from Oulton Hall, The Queens and its 24 other hotels, into cafes, large chain restaurants and small independents. The group’s chefs sampled the latest culinary trends to assess customers’ eating habits and preferences.

The customer insight and research revealed that the rise of street food remains the biggest culinary trend to hit the UK, and is the cuisine of choice for both Oulton Hall and The Queens’ conference customers.

The new ‘do it yourself’ street food offer allows delegates to play around with key components and flavours, to tailor dishes to their own preferences, as well as choose from a range of different menus, including Pan-Asian, Indian, Mexican, Japanese, boutique fish and chips and chicken.

From noodle bowls, to steamed hirata buns, lamb koftas and roti wraps, the dishes have been influenced by popular cuisine from around the world.

Also, inspired by the rising trend in clean eating, centrepiece salads will feature a selection of different raw ingredients, from nuts to fennel seeds, giving delegates a choice of flavours and textures to be creative with, as well as a choice of completely ‘clean’ hot dishes.

Steve Collinson, Executive Chef at Oulton Hall, said: “The biggest challenge with conference and events menus is being able to produce dishes to suit a wide range of tastes and dietary requirements. Conference food generally consists of two to three safe and standard options, which is something that our new menu has changed.

“The research behind the menu focused on understanding what our customers eat not when they’re at a conference, but what they’d choose at home, in a café or a restaurant. This not only means that conference dining should be more enjoyable, but also means it should be similar to delegates every day food choices, making time out of the office or on the road a little more familiar.”

To find out more about conference and events at QHotels, visit https://www.qhotels.co.uk/conferences-meetings/