Olive Tree Brasserie Leeds: I tried the new £700,000 Greek restaurant that has landed on South Parade

And, luckily, we have plenty of excellent options here in Leeds. But when Olive Tree Brasserie announced it would be arriving on South Parade with a menu that is 40% vegetarian and vegan, I knew I had to visit as soon as possible.

Olive Tree Brasserie, which first opened in Lytham in 2007 and later Preston, Cheston and Stockton Heath, has taken over the former Stockdales building, following a £700,000 investment.

It opened to the public earlier this month with a wide variety of menus available, from a la carte and prix fixe to bottomless brunch and new daily specials, serving Greek-inspired food.

The stylish restaurant features neutral beige walls with rustic wooden tables, giving the whole venue a warm feeling. It’s also gorgeously lit – a generous amount of natural light seeps into the venue thanks to its large windows.

But the most striking feature of the new venue is the interior doorway arches separating two the seating areas. They make the restaurant seem bigger and far more open.

The menu doesn’t disappoint either. The a la carte menu includes a number of gyros dishes, grills and kebabs as well as burgers, fish and chips and salads – all Greek-inspired.

The sheer number of options made for a difficult choice. Ultimately, I chose the loaded halloumi fries as a starter, which arrived with vegan bacon, chilli, spring onion and pomegranate, and only set me back £11.95.

My guest and I shared this as it came in a much larger quantity than we expected. It was, therefore, also fantastic value for money.

The mains arrived shortly after. I ordered the plant-based moussaka for £16.95. This is a classic Greek made of layers of thinly sliced potato, aubergine, courgettes and red peppers. The tomato-braised lentils added a delicious tart taste to the dish and balanced out with the vegan creamy béchamel sauce topping.

My friend ordered aubergine fritters with tomato chutney, spinach and feta arancini and gigante beans, a Greek baked butter bean stew, as part of the three meze dishes for £14.95 offer.

Not only was this an absolute bargain, the portion sizes were huge meaning she barely made a dent through one of the dishes. Her favourite, and mine, was the aubergine fritters which were crunchy and aromatic.

The restaurant also has traditional Greek desserts on offer. This includes affogato, walnut cake and loukoumades which were all tempting to try but we were simply too stuffed for dessert. It is something that I am certain parallels the other meals we had the night we visited and we look forward to returning to try them out.

What sets Olive Tree Brasserie apart from other venues that may offer the same cuisine and restaurants in its vicinity is the atmosphere. There’s a certain airiness to it all and paired with friendly front-of-house staff and fresh food at competitive prices. It’s a venue I can see being a Leeds-favourite soon.

Factfile

Address: 8 S Parade, Leeds LS1 5QX

Telephone: 0113 426 9515

Opening hours: Sunday-Thursday, 11am-10pm, Friday-Saturday, 11am-10:30pm

Website: https://olivetreebrasserie.co.uk/leeds-2/

Scores

Food: 10/10

Value: 9/10

Atmosphere: 10/10

Service: 10/10