When Damian Collinson first visited Napoleon's Casino with friends, he had no idea that the busy venue had a restaurant.

"I came a few times as someone's guest and didn't have a clue it was here," he says.

So, years later, when he was invited to apply for a job in the eaterie, he didn't know what to think.

"I thought it was a joke," he says.

More than six years later, he laughs at the recollection.

He applied for the job and has been there ever since. And he doesn't so much as set eyes on the gaming tables.

"The restaurant is downstairs, not on the gaming floor, so we don't have any contact with it. I only see the gaming floor when coming in or going home."

He adds: "We are not allowed to play and I am not tempted."

As sous chef, Damian turns out meals including pan-fried calves liver and smoked bacon mash with a caramelised red onion sauce; escalope of salmon on a tiger prawn and mussel tomato broth; and roast vegetables baked in filo pastry with goats cheese, spinach and fragrant spices.

With dark wood and subdued lighting, the restaurant is a peaceful retreat, away from the bustling upper floor.

"It is very modern, very stylish," says Damian, 30, who lives in Tyersal. "We have a lot of regular customers. Many of them come and eat first, and then move on to the gaming."

An adjacent café-bar area with deep sofas and a plasma screen fills up quickly on a night, particularly when major sporting fixtures are broadcast.

Damian didn't set out to become a chef, but was inspired by a part-time job while a pupil at Bradford's Tong High School.

As a teenager he used to help out in the kitchen at Tong Village Hotel, now the Courtyard by Marriott.

"I helped to cater for weddings and other functions," he recalls. "I loved preparing the food for the chefs to use. And I loved being in the kitchen, they were a great set of lads and there was such a great atmosphere."

After leaving school he enrolled at the reputable Thomas Danby College in Leeds where he studied for two years before being headhunted by his former boss.

"The manager at Tong Village Hotel was moving to a hotel in Preston and asked whether I would go along," he recalls. "It was nice to be asked, and I thought it would be a good opportunity."

So he moved across the Pennines to work at Broughton Park Hotel - now the Marriott - in Preston.

The hotel's restaurant had two AA rosettes to its name. "I learned a lot there, it was hard work, but a hotel is good training ground - cooking for different functions, to tight deadlines" says Damian, who spent two years there.

His next job, at the Grosvenor Hotel in Chester, came on the recommendation of a friend. "He told me about the vacancy, then I had to go along and cook for a day, which was my interview'.

Again, the restaurant - called Arkle, after the legendary Irish racehorse - was top of the game, with a Michelin star to its name.

Since bringing his skills to Napoleons he has settled down and works well with head chef William Whyte.

Away from the kitchen, Damian loves spending time with his four-year-old son, Ethan. "I take him out for something to eat, or if the weather is nice we might have a picnic."

Damian is happy at Napoleons, enjoying the stream of compliments passed on to the chef's from satisfied diners. "People keep coming back, which means we must be doing something right," he laughs.