Food&Drink
Circus chef’s magical big top menu
Roll up, roll up and meet the travelling circus chef
Trying to chop, dice and sauté your way through each step of a recipe can feel like a juggling act – and that’s without circus performers popping in for a bowl of soup or a quick sandwich between the lunch and dinner rush.
You see, seven years ago, chef Ols Halas decided to swap the chaos of a professional kitchen for something altogether a little more interesting, serving unique and interesting dishes in a travelling circus tent.
As head chef for Circus Sauce, the on-site restaurant for the famous Giffords Circus, Ols is in charge of feeding the hungry patrons who flock to watch acrobats, tight-rope walkers, magicians and clowns as they tour the country.
“I always knew I’d be doing something a little off-piste, but never in a million years did I think I would be joining the circus,” explained Ols, who started work with the travelling troop back in 2013.
“I was working in the French Alps when I received a message from a friend asking,‘Do you want to join the circus?’
“They needed a chef to run a travelling restaurant that followed the big top for the summer.The circus toured through the towns and villages I grew up in and around, so I knew all the local smallholdings and vendors to buy produce from. I was sold.”
Ols uses local produce as the inspiration for the restaurant’s dishes, which include everything from mouthwatering roasted pork belly rolls and lobster lasagne to rum babas with roast pineapple and sticky mounds of Eton mess.
For Ols, some of the most memorable dishes are when the circus staff come together to share a meal after a long day of moving location.
He said:“Every time we move the circus, and when everyone is knackered, we cook a big meal for when they get to the new site.
“It’s a big, one-pot wonder, a goulash or a curry. Everyone sits around the tables in the restaurant tent with a bowl of hot food and a bottle of beer.
He added:“Our inspiration comes from local produce, as well as our travels, the season, restaurant visits, markets, and staff meals where we go over the top.
“For me it’s all about the sharing aspect that comes from serving banquet-style.
“We know we’re going to have a restaurant full of people sitting down at the same time, so we want to empress them with something extravagant!”
And for those who want to bring the magic of the circus home with them, the new Giffords Circus Cookbook features more than 100 recipes, all connected by the excitement and fun of the fair – including Ols’ favourite dish of roast chicken with leek and truffle.
“We knead the suet pastry lid so it blows up like a balloon and you get this wonderful smell as you burst into the pie,” he said.
“I like looking down into the restaurant and seeing the steam rise from the tables as people dig in.”
The Giffords Circus Cookbook by Nell Gifford & Ols Halas, published by Quadrille, is out now