MARION SAUVEBOIS meets Ollie Halas – a chef with a difference whose restaurant is not one of bricks and mortar but one serving tasty treats in a touring circus tent...

RUNNING a restaurant is fraught with logistical pitfalls at the best of times as every chef will freely admit.

But imagine having to dismantle your establishment, cart it around the South West only to build it again from the ground up - once a fortnight.

Juggling construction, DIY, three-course banquets and impromptu puppetry shows is just one of vagaries of life as head chef of Britain's only touring restaurant, Circus Sauce, for Ollie Halas.

If this was not, strictly speaking, spelled out in his job description, the clue was in the title: 'travelling circus chef'.

"What we do is bonkers; it really is mad," laughs Ollie. "It certainly is a unique restaurant. We move around quite a bit but it's an amazing lifestyle.

"I don't really think you can call just call it being a chef. You have to do bits and bobs - DIY, painting, use a sledge hammer - and you have the logistics. It's a very strange set up and it was very hard to get right. Moving a restaurant every week or every two weeks is very taxing but it's fine once you learn how it all works."

Started by Giffords Circus owners Nell and Toti Gifford in 2003 to cater for the acts and visitors, it soon grew into a restaurant in its own right welcoming spectators to a unique post-show dining experience.

Three seasons ago, Ollie received an email asking whether he would run Circus Sauce. As luck would have it Ollie had attended one of Giffords Circus's very first shows as a young child and fallen in love with its period village green feel, burgundy and gold wagons and acts reminiscent of a bygone days.

Soon he had hopped on the caravan trail and was, for all intents and purposes, a circus nomad.

"The email just said, 'Do you want to work for the circus?' It was really surreal," recalls the 26-year-old. "I never ever thought I'd be working for the circus. I think the whole concept works to our advantage. It's great to be part of something so special. It's a big family."

When he took the helm as head chef, the eatery hosted an average of two patrons after each show. As the forever evolving menu grew, so did the clientele. This season the restaurant has increased its capacity, sitting up to 60 diners.

The Circus Sauce kitchen is housed in two traditional showman's wagons with an adjoining canvas awning restaurant. The tent is dressed with vintage Giffords tapestries, grand communal candle lit oak tables and a quirky eclectic mix of crockery - designed by Nell Gifford's sister Emma Bridgewater - and furniture.

Sledge hammering aside, handling gas bottles was a learning curve for the young chef who learned his trade at some of the most prestigious restaurants in the region including Barnsley House, Bibury Court and Made By Bob in his hometown of Cirencester where he still lends a hand in between tours.

During these formative years working alongside Bob, he developed a passion for fresh locally-sourced ingredients, moving away from 'twee' cuisine in favour of clean untampered flavours.

His decidedly rustic food philosophy leads him and his team on daily foraging trips around the big tent, wherever the tour takes them. Recently Ollie has made use of an elderflower bush fortuitously discovered behind the restaurant for a refreshing cordial. Nettle and wild garlic unearthed in the vicinity of the circus green have also appeared on the menu.

As travelling gastronomes Ollie and his chefs have also taken on the tricky task of sourcing produce, sometimes at a moment's notice, in the towns they set up tent in.

"We build the tent and then we usually go on a bit of a jolly and see what's around," he adds. "We have a look at the markets and the butchers and we go on forages. It was a bit hard at first. You move around a lot and you have to find out where everything is, the good suppliers, in ever new place. Our menu changes weekly depending on what we find and it also depends on our mood. It's full of surprises and it's worked very well. I've always loved food and I want to make food people want to eat. They can just sit, relax and enjoy.

Even when I was four years old my mum said I invited people to stay and I prepared something for them. It would just be a bowl of pasta."

Each evening, circus goers enjoy a three-course al-fresco feast of hearty classics in the post big top buzz, occasionally rubbing shoulders with stars of the show. All the food is served on large sharing platters, for guests to enjoy together.

A typical menu may include lamb hotpots, crispy pork, hearty Stargazey fish pies, mounds of Eton mess or treacle puddings.

"It's nostalgic food served in an unpretentious way and it really goes with the circus's vintage feel. People cram around this grand old oak table and they can see us cook in the kitchen. It may be a bit strange at first for people to share and all eat together but then they relax and there is this great atmosphere. It's like having a banquet or a big dinner party every night.

"It can be incredibly hard work but when you hear the roar from the tent it's amazing."

Spontaneity runs deep to the core of Giffords Circus and the restaurant is no exception.

Chefs once put on a small improvised show for diners as they awaited their desserts.

Now the skit has become an integral part of the dinner 'production' and guests have been known to return to the restaurant especially for the puppet show.

"It started off as a joke," he explains. "We made a couple of chef puppets and it kind of caught on. So we do every night before dessert. People now come back for it.

"It's a silly show and it shouldn't be in a restaurant but it works somehow."

Soon a spot of juggling may feature alongside puppetry as Ollie is receiving a few pointers from the professionals in the big tent.

"I am thinking about it but it might be a bit dangerous in a restaurant."

The Giffords Circus 2015 summer tour Moon Songs will come to Marlborough on August 20 and run until September 1. The circus and restaurant will then set up tent in Cirencester between September 4 and 14. For more details and to make a reservation at Circus Sauce go to www.giffordscircus.com/resto/ or call 0845 4597469.