Gala Dinner Menus From G20 Summits Over The Years

EVEN as news reports come in of the extensive food options that have been prepared for the G20 delegates in Delhi — from chaat to Mughlai and South Indian cuisines, with a special focus on millets — Slurrp is revisiting a few of the gala dinner menus from the summits held in previous years around the world. 

Let’s dive in!

Prepared by Chef Jamie Oliver, the menu for the London gala featured ingredients like free-range eggs from Prince Charles’ farms and fresh seasonal produce sourced from across the UK. The full menu included —

Starter

Organic salmon from Shetland, served with samphire and sea kale, a selection of vegetables from Sussex, Surrey and Kent, and Irish soda bread.

or

Goat's cheese starter (v)

Main course

Slow-roasted shoulder of lamb from the Elwy Valley in north Wales, with Jersey Royal potatoes, wild mushrooms and mint sauce.

or

Lovage and potato dumplings for the main course (v)

Dessert

Bakewell tart and custard.

2009 (September) — 3rd G20 Summit — Pittsburgh, US

At the Phipps Conservatory, leaders were served cocktails before sitting down to a five-course meal of lamb, striped bass, pepper tarts and more. Most ingredients were grown locally, while the recipes were sourced from The Fallingwater Cookbook.

2010 — 5th G20 Summit — Seoul, South Korea

The InterContinental Hotels Seoul created a special dinner “experience” for the summit, with an eight-course meal that used only ingredients that were farmed and produced in South Korea. Interestingly, none of the items on the menu — titled “Uniquely Korean-Inspired Produce” — were traditional Korean dishes.

Among the dishes that were carefully sourced and curated for the summit dinner were “Korean caviar inspiration” (caviar from albino sturgeons, among the most expensive varieties in the world); “mountain ginseng and pheasant essence” (soup with tortellini stuffed with pheasant and mushroom, and a ginseng garnish); Korean beef with truffle infused potato foam and spring vegetables; followed by apple mango mousse encased in a white chocolate dome (for dessert).

2014 — 9th G20 Summit — Brisbane, Australia

Croissants, Danish pastries, fresh fruit (including Bowen mangoes and  pineapples from the Sunshine Coast), and coffee was what the visiting dignitaries began their day with at the summit in Brisbane. A sumptuous lunch starring quality Australian seafood — think Moreton Bay bugs, rock oysters, Mooloolaba prawns and crab — alongside Scenic Rim beef and fresh Lockyer Valley vegetables followed. As for dinner, Porterhouse steak (cooked Aussie-style on the barbecue) and tender Warwick lamb took centrestage. TimTams, pavlovas and Penfolds wine completed the meal.

2016 — 11th G20 Summit — Hangzhou, China

The banquet for the 11th summit comprised a mouthwatering selection of dishes, predominantly fresh seafood prepared with local ingredients. Hors d'oeuvres, pine mushroom soup, sweet and sour Mandarin fish with pine nuts, stir-fried shrimps with longjing tea leaves, orange-flavoured crabmeat, Hangzhou-style fillet steak and braised vegetables formed the main component of the gala dinner. For dessert, there were assorted pastries, fruits and ice cream, tea and coffee. The wines served included a 2012 red and a 2011 white, both from Changyu (China’s oldest winery).

2017 — 12th G20 Summit — Hamburg, Germany

Local delicacies, Beethoven’s music, and a performance by the renowned Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra formed the mainstay of the world leaders’ experience during the G20 gala dinner in Germany. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US President Donald Trump and other leaders and their spouses dined on “turbot fillet from the North Sea with spinach followed by fillet and cheeks from Friesian beef”. For dessert, the guests could choose cheese or raspberries.

2018 — 13th G20 Summit — Buenos Aires, Argentina

Held at a time when Argentina was expanding its beef exports, the menu for the Buenos Aires summit was unsurprisingly meat-heavy. For their first lunch, the attending leaders were served rib eye steak, with a flan, coconut ice cream and dulce de leche dessert. The menu for the gala dinner featured king crab (from Argentina’s southern Patagonia region) while the following day’s meal had a main course of braised Patagonian lamb. An appetiser served with all the meals was choripan (chorizo sausage grilled over coals and served between bread). Fine Argentinian wines accompanied each of the courses.

2019 — 14th G20 Summit — Osaka, Japan

At Osaka, the menu for the leaders’ dinner was just as exquisite as you’d expect. Adjectives and exposition are unnecessary, we’ll just list the very comprehensive range of foods that were served to the dignitaries: 

-Roasted Sweet Corn Flan with Crustacean Gelée and Shiso Flowers

-Consommé of Boiled Pike Conger and Soy Sauce Flavored Senshu Eggplant

-Deep-Fried Citrus-Spiced Anglerfish with Assorted Vegetables Dressed with Sesame Purée

-Bamboo Charcoal Baked Tajima Beef Wrapped with Young Bamboo Leaves, Fermented Koji Malted Rice Sauce, Steamed Taiko Burdock and Boiled Grains, and Maitake Mushroom with Sansho Flower Buds

-White Peach, Matcha and Three Flavours of Monaka Wafers

For leaders who were vegetarian or had halal or other dietary requirements and preferences, the following substitutions were made available: 

-Kurakakoi Kelp, Dried Mushrooms and Tomato Water Broth with Japanese Yam and Lotus Root

-Kamonasu Eggplant Flavored with Seasoned Miso and Aroma of Shiso Flowers

-Charcoal-Baked Whole Beets (instead of the Tajima beef)

There was an extensive drinks menu as well, with a selection of teas, sake, wine and matcha.

2021 — 16th G20 Summit — Rome, Italy

At the Quirinal Palace, the menu was as refined as the setting. As per a White House communique, this is what US President Joe Biden was served alongside the other leaders at the summit: 

-Salmon marinated with herbs and fennel

-Risotto with pumpkin and white truffle

-Sea Bass with roasted artichoke, potatoes, and other vegetables with a carrot puree and a mayonnaise-based sauce with saffron

-Tangerine Cream Dessert

2022 — 17th G20 Summit — Bali, Indonesia

Bringing together the cuisine of its various regions — Bali, Java, North Sulawesi, Lampung, West Sumatra, North Sumatra, and Aceh — was very much the inspiration for the menu of the gala dinner hosted in Indonesia last year.

For the appetiser, the G20 leaders were served “Aneka Ratna Mutumanikam” (meaning diversity in one), a dish consisting of mangoes, seaweed, salad with Balinese hot sauce seasoning, and Manado crab meat corn cakes.

The main course comprised Wagyu beef tenderloin typical of Lampung, rendang — a Padang specialty, cassava and potato mousseline, asparagus in Balinese turmeric sauce, and Balado eggplant puree. Desserts included Acehnese chocolate mousse, tuille rice, black glutinous rice with grated coconut, and mango coulis.