The Olive Tree
Restaurant: The Olive Tree
Address: 10 Tower Street
Set Menu: £10.50
Rating: * * * *
This Easter I set off in desperation to an alternative therapist. It was a desperate attempt to cure myself of a lifetime affliction, which modern medicine has failed to remedy. After having bits of my body manipulated in a bewildering number of ways, the therapist told me that I was allergic to everything: wheat, yeast, excess sugar, flowery mugs, etc. She also helpfully suggested that I should avoid sugar and alcohol entirely.
I remember noticing that she was a little on the porky side and resembled nothing so much as a self-satisfied party pooper. But I swore I would go wheat-, yeast- and alcohol-free for two months.
This wheat-friendly digression is merely a response to the majority of restaurants that are so wheatist that I end up wanting to cry or hit a bar of Green & Blacks so hard I can feel parts of my body enlarging. However, the Olive Tree scored extremely well on the wheat-free challenge: five dishes overall and three wheat-free desserts. But as I can already hear wheat eaters sighing through their teeth I will enlarge on the non-wheat related aspects of the Olive Tree.
The atmosphere was very relaxing when we arrived, the waiter was as attentive as a Turkish mother-in-law, ushering us in and shushing our attempts to explain that we were early for our reservation. The decor was tacky Christmas mixed with miscellaneous ‘foreign’ influences. The food was a combination of different cultures: Greek, Italian, French and Spanish that worked remarkably well, offering a selection of greek lamb stews, chorizo risottos and pasta dishes.
My friend and I began with generous starters: the chorizo risotto with crayfish tails for me and a French-style creamy mushroom and bread combination for her. My risotto was rich, moist and flavoursome while the mushrooms were sensationally garlicy and smothered with uncompromising amounts of butter, confirming the adage that anything with the words ‘finished with cream’, ‘all-butter’ and ‘pecan syrup’ are bound to be excellent.
The main courses arrived with great rapidity, but were not as exciting as the starters. The Moroccan lamb stew was well put together with delicious sticky coriander rice while my friend’s pancetta and tomato penne could have used more of a variety of vegetables; there was a heavy reliance on onions, olives and parsley but little else. Overall there was an absence of the flair and inventiveness that had made our taste buds tap-dance during the starter.
After the resplendent portions of the previous courses, my dessert was pretty small, but it represented a return to the exciting combination of flavours in the starters. I had vanilla pancetta, strawberries and ice cream that looked like an exquisite art exhibit and tasted even better. The combination of passionfruit, strawberries and vanilla was inspired and the texture of the pancetta was subtly gelatinous.
The Olive Tree is an excellent choice for anyone wanting a quiet, inexpensive meal: not much more expensive than Wetherspoons but infinitely more appetising. A definite recommendation, unlike visiting porky alternative therapists.
