Licky Chop at Climpson's Arch

One of my foodie friends is going out with a chef. A pretty ideal match.

He is currently working at a pop-up out in London Fields. It is in Climpson's arch, and is the perfect place on a warm summer evening.

The railway arch has a huge coffee roaster at the back, a bar and seating area as well as DJ set in the middle, and then a shipping container turned into a kitchen outside, with a large outdoor seating area and huge ovens.

The menu changes every weekend so it is presented on a blackboard by the kitchen. It is only open Thursday until Sunday, so they spend the week sourcing ingredients and planning the menus. Just to wet the appetite a bit...

Steak onglet with chimmichurri salsa. 

Lamb belly with jersey royals and wild garlic pesto.

Steak tartare with cured egg yolk.

Squid with black ink creme fraiche.

Strawberry sorbet with meringue, fresh strawberries and basil and mint sauce



Espresso martinis in the sunshine, with flowers by Grace and Thorn.

We all just order a dish of everything on the menu and then pass them around. You end up trying things you have never tried before, and marvelling at the amazing tastes. They also have amazing 7% vintage cider, and great rose as well as local ales and lagers.

The perfect way to spend a lazy sunday afternoon, or to experience the DJs at night.

Candied bacon and chocolate chip cookies

This is my classic cookie recipe that I use for almost any occasion. I bake them for home, I bake them for work, and I bake them and serve them with Haagen Dazs dulce de leche ice cream for a dessert. I wanted to make sure they were the perfect squidyness in the middle, and that they wouldn't firm up if kept for a couple of days in a tin.

I spent a weekend once trying out loads of possible combinations of the recipe, and kept going until I perfected them. I experimented with different fillings, cooking times, sizes, cooking time and fridge keeping time. 

At the moment, there is a huge trend for salt and sweet food so I decided to transform my cookies into something more interesting. And these are definitely interesting!

You will need...

125g softened butter

100g light soft brown sugar

125g caster sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

Half a teaspoon vanilla extract

225g self raising flour

Half a teaspoon salt

200g milk chocolate chips

5 rashers bacon

. Turn on the oven to 220C

. Place a piece of foil on a baking tray and lay out the bacon in a single layer. I bought bacon medallions to maximise the amount of meat and minimise the amount of fat. Sprinkle with some brown sugar and cook for 15 - 20 minutes, flipping half way through, until crispy

. Turn the oven down to 180C

. When the bacon is cooled, break it into small pieces with your hands. I found this easier than using a knife

. Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper

. Cream the butter and the sugars with an electric whisk (or by hand if you don't have one). Then combine the egg and vanilla

. Sift in the flour and salt, then stir in the chocolate chips and bacon pieces

. Wet your hands slightly and start to make balls of the mixture, about the size of a walnut. You can make them whatever size you want, but you might need to adjust the cooking time slightly

. Place a few of the balls on a baking tray ready for cooking. The balls will essentially 'melt' in the oven so make sure they have enough space. It might take a batch or two before you perfect this!

. I find cooking them for 7-8 minutes is perfect. They should be pale golden around the edges but still look a bit uncooked in the middle. They will have risen a little from the self raising flour.

. Transfer the whole sheet of baking powder to a wire rack to cool. They will lose the rise and flatten out as they cool. Then put a new piece of greaseproof paper onto the tray and do your next batch

. I find that the first batch is never as good as the others. I think it is because the tray is better at baking the cookies when it is already hot. It might take you a batch or two to get into the swing of it, but once you have mastered it (and it isn't tricky) then you will find yourself making these the whole time!

Enjoy!

& Blend.

My food journey so far

Since graduating from university, I have been lucky enough to get some time travelling before I began work. In 9 months I travelled to Mexico, Morocco, India and New Zealand.

I thought I would share some pictures of some of the best and most memorable dishes of my travels.

Chilaquiles, Mexico

Mexico had some of the most amazing food. This is chilaquiles, an epic Mexican breakfast. I began my travels on the Yutucan border, in Playa del Carmen. We befriended a local, who took us for breakfast at this awesome tree hut themed cafe. It was here I experienced chilaquiles. Tortilla chips, chicken, chicken sauce, onions, avocado, green salsa and so much more made this one of the best breakfasts of my life.


Curry, India

I was staying on the coast of Kerala, where the place we were staying in did a communal dinner in the evening. There were only 8 guests, but the food was amazing. We had different variations each night, including fish curries, vegetable curries, and the odd meat curry. I actually didn't eat meat for the 5 week trip, and felt so much better for it. Paneer became a big part of my life! Coupled with a Kingfisher beer and watching the sunset, it made for some pretty memorable evenings.

We also tried out a few cooking courses when in India, and even when we weren't paying for a lesson, the hosts of our homestays always invited us into the kitchen to watch them cook. So here is the start of a barracuda curry, and me trying my hand at rolling out chapatis.

Fergburger, New Zealand

For anyone who has been to Queenstown, or even just to New Zealand itself, you have no doubt heard of Fergberger, if not tried one (or many, like me). Undoubtedly the best burger I have ever had. In the world.

The choices are endless, and they are gigantic. They only close for 2 hours a day, between 4am and 6am, and even then they get complaints but they have to clean the grills at some point! Their speciality, as a burger always does in New Zealand, contains beetroot.

Fresh fish market, Essaouira, Morocco

We were told that as we were in a fishing port, we would definitely have to go down to the fresh fish market at the port. We headed over to see the most amazing array of fish and crustacea. You pick and choose what you want, and then they weight it, price it and fry it for you. Sitting on some plastic chairs in the sunshine with amazing seafood was pretty priceless.

So I have had some amazing dishes from all of my travels. There are so many more that stay with me, but the most amazing things I learned were about how food changes with different regions of a country, and understanding why that is.

I hope the journey continues!

Turn on the oven

Food is one of the biggest things in my life. Luckily for me it is the same for my boyfriend, so we share this love together and hope it will take us around the world.

I have always enjoyed food. I was baking with my grandma when I was tiny, and my love of food has developed through my teenage years, into adulthood.

I love to cook, I love to bake, and I love to try new experiences and tastes. I'm going to document my journey with food, including recipes, reviews of restaurants, bars and pop-ups, and the one-off high-end cuisine.

It's time to turn on the oven.