A flavour of the Caribbean.

OCHIS Caribbean and Mediterranean Restaurant is using the universal language of food to provide students with a taste of African life.

Dennis Brooks, owner of Ochis in Darlington is continuing his work at Haughton Education Village with year 10 pupils from schools across the town.

Ochis works with the village to provide pupils with a week-long training programme, in which they think up a range of mouth-watering dishes, before designing their own menus and cooking up a tropical storm of delicious treats.

And with the recent appointment of renowned chef Ian Gardner, who has worked as far afield as Sandals Hotel in Jamaica - as well as at the Talbot in Bishopton, near Stockton - the restaurant is hoping to increase the training opportunities it provides, as well as developing an outside catering service.

Dennis said: "The simple fact is, Ian's range of skills from making patisserie cakes decoration and cooking Caribbean, Italian, Spanish and Thai dishes, are second to none. "When Ian worked at the Talbot, people came from as far away as Newcastle to dine there.

"We also have people coming from as far away as Newcastle, but hopefully, that will now increase and we are also hoping to expand by doing outside functions."

The experts at Ochis have also advised on the menu for the Taste of Africa awards dinner at the Tall Trees in Yarm on October 26.

Dennis said: "We are advising on the menu and will go down on the night to use our expertise to assist the chef."

The restaurant is also catering for the Sugar and Spice festival in Gateshead - as it has done for a number of years - which celebrates Black History Month and the 200th year since the abolition of slavery.

Dennis is also hoping Ochis can increase its training services, by demonstrating the culinary skills of its experienced chefs to students at Darlington College.

It already provides cookery workshops for schools across the North-east, as well as cocktail classes for older students.

Dennis believes that getting young people interested in food from around the world is a great way to raise their cultural awareness.

He said: "If you don't understand things, you tend to keep away from them and it is easy for people think, 'I don't know what this food is so I won't go to that restaurant'.

"But if we can reach out to kids, they say, 'we've been there and we like it'.

"It is important to open the eyes of young people to different cultures - and getting them to taste different foods is a great way of doing it."

The comfortable, friendly atmosphere at Ochis reflects laid-back life in the Caribbean and provides a range of fine authentic cuisine and wines from around the world.

CAPTION(S):

FOOD FOR THOUGHT: Chef Jerome Black, who provided the recipe below, serves up a meal to Ochis owner Dennis Brook