#TCTuesdays on Dee 106.3 with Olive Tree Brasserie #Blog

Lisa Edwards
5th April 2017

With only 10 days to go to the Chester Food and Drink Festival we felt we deserved to take some time out and pop along to Dee 106.3 with Gavin Matthews to talk to Danny Hobson, Assistant General Manager and Company Trainer at Olive Tree Brasserie, Chester.

Olive Tree Brasserie, Chester is the 3rd restaurant in the group (the others being in Preston and Lytham St. Annes), and it opened its doors in July last year. What a great asset to the restaurant options in the city. Serving Greek and Mediterranean food with a modern twist.

Danny is so passionate about the restaurant and in the fresh local produce and authentic produce they import from Greece to ensure that they only prepare and serve the freshest of dishes. All of the dishes are prepared from scratch by their talented chefs, from the Houmous to the Arni Kleftiko which is a slow roasted shoulder of lamb dish.

Along with him, Danny brought some amazing traditional food for us to taste. We did a lot of mmmm and wow whilst we tucked into the mixed dip platter appetizers of  Pitta Bread with Houmous, Taramasalata, Tzatziki and Htipiti (which is a smoked red pepper, feta and chilli dip and was my personal favourite).

We then tried the starter dish of Spanakopita, a traditional dish of filo pastry filled with spinach, leeks, fresh herbs, feta and halloumi (which looks rather like a giant greek pasty). This is served with a garnish of salad and Tzatziki. It was absolutely delicious, although we did make a mess in the studio (well Gavin did!!) with the filo pastry.

The main dish that Danny brought along was Kota Souvlaki, which is a skewer of tender chicken breast marinated in paprika, oregano and olive oil. We had herb rice with it, but you can have chips or sweet potato fries. This dish was a real wow factor, the chicken just melted in our mouths it was so tender. In fact Gavin commented that it was the best bbq style chicken he had ever tasted – praise indeed!

As part of Danny’s role he carries out all the training of staff for the restaurant group. The main things he looks for are Passion, Common Sense and Honesty in a person. His ethos works, the staff in the restaurants are excellent and really do provide a fabulous service to their customers.

You can find the Olive Tree Brasserie stand at the Chester Food and Drink Festival where they will be serving meze food for consumption. Its definitely worth a visit.