New restaurant serving authentic Greek food opens in Ossett, Wakefield

Olympus Cafe, at Bank Street, is owned by couple Kostas Katsamagkas and Zeitzan Palazli, who are both originally from Greece but have lived in Leeds for the past five years.

The cafe serves authentic Greek food and bakery items ranging from chicken and vegan gyros to bougatsa – a breakfast pastry similar to a custard pie with phyllo pastry – and chicken skepasti – a sort of Greek chicken sandwich.

They chose to open the cafe in Ossett after the “perfect location” became available. The premises used to be home to an ice cream parlour before it closed earlier this year.

Zeitzan said: “We opened last month and the reaction has been fantastic.

"Kostas’ younger brother used to play for Ossett United and we liked the area, so when this opportunity became available, we decided to take it.

"There isn’t another Greek cafe in the area that serves the food that we serve. In Yorkshire, nobody else does a Greek bakery. We also buy our products from Greece so it is fully authentic.”

Kostas has experience working in the food and drink industry but the cafe is a departure from Zeitzan’s day job at a marketing agency.

“I came to the UK to study for my masters degree in marketing and Kostas arrived for work and we’ve been together for the last four years,” Zeitzan explained.

"I work at the marketing agency during the week and help out here on the weekends.”

Despite the cost of living crisis, the community in Ossett has welcomed the cafe and Zeitzan and Kostas have already built up a number of regular customers.

Zeitzan added: "The reception to the cafe has been amazing. The people in Ossett are lovely and we’ve had so much support.”

“We’ve already got a lot of regulars who come in every week. British and non-British people are coming to us for our Greek food, which is really nice.”

The cafe is open from 10am to 6pm on Tuesday, from 10am to 5pm on Wednesday, from 10am to 8pm on Saturday and from 10am to 3pm on Sunday.