Sustainable dining: Ovolo unveils ‘year of the veg’

Ovolo Hotels has launched the ‘Year of the Veg’ becoming the first hotel group to go completely vegetarian across all its restaurants, bars, and food services for an entire year. Inspired to act on climate change and environmental conservation, the designer hotel collection is phasing out meat to focus on creating compelling plant-based cuisine instead.

With more consumers choosing to reap the benefits of plant-based and vegetarian cuisine, Ovolo decided the time was ripe to leave animal products behind; World Vegetarian Day on 1 October proved the perfect moment to launch ‘Year of the Veg’.

The shift in direction embodies Ovolo’s philosophy of connecting with its customers’ demands. Now, guests and diners will be able to nourish their bodies with meat-free meals, which are packed with fresh, locally-sourced produce and embrace the ideals of ethical eating.

For Ovolo in Hong Kong, the movement towards vegetarianism began at Veda at Ovolo Central. When it opened, Veda was Hong Kong’s first vegetarian hotel restaurant and its delicious, innovative cuisine quickly won fans and accolades, heralding the city’s movement towards healthier, more conscious consumption through plant-based cuisine.

Having laid the groundwork with Veda, Ovolo Hotels is seizing the opportunity to cater to Hong Kong’s sustainably-minded gastronomes by turning 100% vegetarian. Komune, the lively all-day dining destination at Ovolo Southside is cutting meat from its menus, and the hotel will soon debut an exciting new restaurant concept that will be fully vegetarian, too.

The movement will extend to Australia, with Ovolo’s Australian locations also going plant-based for the year.  Monster Kitchen & Bar (Ovolo Nishi, Canberra), ZA ZA TA (Ovolo The Valley, Brisbane), and Mr Percy (Ovolo 1888 Darling Harbour, Sydney) are also debuting exciting new all-vegetarian menus to celebrate ‘Year of the Veg’. It will join Alibi Bar & Kitchen, at Ovolo Woolloomooloo, which set the standard as the first 100% plant-based hotel restaurant in Australia and New Zealand.

To further the plant-based cause, Ovolo is also revamping its room service menus. For ‘Year of the Veg’, guests will be able to enjoy an array of tantalising vegetarian dishes in the comfort of their design-forward Ovolo guest room.

Commenting on this bold new direction, Ovolo Group’s founder and CEO, Girish Jhunjhnuwala, said: “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. To that end, we’re evolving our food offerings so that our guests can continue enjoying great dining experiences in a more sustainable manner.”