Novotel West, Hammersmith: conference dining

Wed 5th November
A meeting organised by Government Agency XXXX. The intent to was to update users of the agency on its latest thinking, and just under 280 delegates paid a substantial amount of money trying to avoid pitfalls that would cost them more. I have been to many of this kind of meeting over the years, and they are becoming more a feature of professional life, as agencies see them as an income stream, and attendees see them as something to keep on top of what they should be thinking. This was an all day affair, on the first day of snow of the London Winter.
The most obvious and most cost-effective way to cope with that sort of numbers is a buffet, and I have to say that unlike many similar gatherings, this time a choice of hot or cold buffet was provided. With that many people it is likely to be a bit of a bun fight, especially when there is no where to sit down properly. I suppose the idea is that you network and are mobile:

There is aways a bit of a risk with a self help buffet, especially with the outbreaks of Norovirus this but I guess I have to trust the Novotel people here, as they should know what they are doing. I made a bit of a dash for the front of the queue, as the typical attendees of this sort of meeting often forget how to put one foot in front of another, or decide to renew acquaintanceships without concept of what is going on behind them. In the event, it was a good decision, as the buffet was stripped bare very quickly and there was no chance at all for anyone who was late or wanted to return.

A strange mixture. When I saw the original picture from my iphone (not the best for indoor food photography as you cannot control the settings very much), I thought this looks a bit scary, but here it is:

It shows an colourful eclectic mix of fish cake, vegetarian lasagne, lancashire hot-pot and salad. The nature of buffet food. I hear that in some catering circles, it is considered normal to expect buffet guests to put the starter and main course on the same plate simultaneously. On the whole, I would give Novotel many marks for trying to offer something beyond the average, and in terms of hotness, given it was a cold December day, a buffet and self serve, it could have been a lot worse, and scored a 7.2 . Had there been more, I would have gone back for seconds. I regard this rather as a functional meal rather than one to savour, and so I put it behind me and move on to the prospect of something more exciting and attractive, but there is nothing in my diary for a few days........