Sunday 10 March 2013

The Hackney Belly's first event

So...our first event, a 3-course middle-eastern style meal, took place last Wednesday in Hackney Wick. 40 people in a warehouse shop on canteen-style tables and benches, went through quite a lot of food(with plenty left, in the old middle-eastern tradition of eat until your pants-button pops out..)



We started with Nell's very original Falafel Pancakes. A pancake made of falafel mix(plus the usual suspects..). Unfortunately, we have no pictures for that. However, we do have a picture of the Hummus  that was served with it. Freshly made on the day, it was a proper smooth hummus topped with Mesabaha, a traditional mix of warm chickpeas, lemon, garlic and tahini, and our very own Harissa. Here it is:


We moved on from there to a traditional North-African fish cooked in lots of hot and sweet paprika and garlic called Hrayme. This ruby delight was served on a bed of warm fluffy couscous mixed with our very own preserved lemons and squash. The fish, Hake, was purchased at Billingsgate market in the morning and we cleaned it and sliced it ourselves(great way to get it cheaply and assure freshness and quality). To those who are against the devouring of animals, a vegetable caponata with a Middle-Eastern twist was served. but we'll just show you the fish now:


The crowd cried: no more! But just before the wheelbarrows were brought in to carry people home, Nell pulled out a stunning desert from under her sleeve that left everyone speechless(because their mouths were too full to talk): a chocolate and Tahini pudding, topped with sesame seeds, candied orange zest and mint. Get a load of this one:


Yes, it tasted as good as it looks...They were quite happy:


The event was a great success, and we will do another one as soon as our hands retain their feel after scrubbing too many dishes at the end of the night! Follow our twitter/facebook to get notifications when it happens:

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/TheHackneyBelly
Twitter- https://twitter.com/TheHackneyBelly

Omer

Monday 4 February 2013

New Products for a New Year

A very belated Happy New Year seeing as it's now February.

Hackney Belly survived their first Christmas and their first quiet January.


We've been busy in the kitchen jamming, chutney-ing and creating new recipes!
After finding a lot of customers who were gluten intolerant or vegan had trouble finding treats to fill their bellies without upsetting them, we started working on a few recipes that would fit their diet.
So now our stall covers the meaty and wheaty and the vegan and gluten free variety.


New Onion Marmalade 
To go with a multitude of dishes from Duck Confit to Cheese on Toast

Then we have
Banana, Date and Linseed flapjacks. 
Gluten Free Recipe (Contains Oats), Sugar free and Vegan

then!
Banana, Hemp seed and Choc Chip Muffin
Gluten Free recipe and Vegan

Cookies! Two varieties!
Apple, Linseed and Cinnamon Cookies
also
Choc Chip and Linseed Cookies
Gluten Free recipe and Vegan (Contains Oats)



Not to leave out the savouries!
Roasted Squash, Sage and Goats Cheese Muffins
Gluten Free recipe
                                       


Roast Tomato, Basil & Mozzerella
Gluten Free recipe
                                      

The response has been good so far and we're improving recipes and working on new ones every week in time for our Cally Market stall on Saturdays and Camden Passage stall on Sundays.

Keep your ears and eyes open for new Hackney Belly products. 

See you soon!








Thursday 13 December 2012

Christmas Spiced Pudding, Mince Pies, Ginger Bread Biccies, Yummy Hampers, Frosty Fingers, Busy Crazy Bees! Christmas is here!

The Hackney Belly have been as you can imagine incredibly excitably busy!
The two markets (The Cally Market every Saturday and Camden Passage every Sunday) are doing really well. We've been selling out of mince pies and savoury muffins and people have been coming back to buy more jam after finishing off previously bought jars in a week! 
AAAAAAND! We're going to be at a Christmas Pop up market in 
Dalston Pier 20th-23rd December!!!!
All this amazing new work as well as providing fresh sandwiches to three cafes! 
It's been quite a busy but fun and festive month!!!

The past two weeks we've been making (alongside our muffins and scones) lots and lots of mince pies, gingerbread men and started making delicious spiced vanilla bread & Butter pudding using delicious Artisan Food Sourdough bread which didn't get cut up for sandwiches, so nothing gets wasted!



Its' hamper time too! Omer bought some beautiful wicker baskets which you can fill with jam, chutney, mince pies, Ginger Bread men/trees/stars and give as a lovely belly gift or to keep for yourself!

















As you can imagine the kitchen has been really busy so we got a few friends to kindly help us out. We could not have done this without the kindness and generosity of such great friends!

Missy and Thuy have not only helped out in the kitchen. They've braved the cold and worked on our market stall at The Cally Market. 
Missy making delicious bacon and cheddar muffins
Thuy making Scone dough
My lil sister Arooj and partner Andrew also helped out in the kitchen 
Bossy me in the middle

Andrew Inspecting a muffin!

My beautiful sister icing the gingerbread











It's definitely been pretty exciting!
We work hard but have a lot of fun in our Kitchen.
Listen to good music and make delicious food 
The Hackney Belly way.

As you can see the outcome of all this love and fun in the kitchen turns out a looking like this!




Come down to The Cally Market, Camden Passage and Dalston Pier for some tasty treats for you or a friend. There are amazing finds on different stalls for foodies and vintage clothes hunters alike!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Tuesday 20 November 2012

To market to market, to sell our great scones!

It's been an eventful week!

We got our own fabulous logo made by the amazing Izzy Gaon














We also held our very first market stall at The Camden Passage last Sunday... and sold out of all our baked goods!
Nell(me) out of the kitchen for a bit
Omer happy as can be
Our amazing friends Melissa and Thuy were kind enough to volunteer in the kitchen and help me with making our beautiful sell out muffins and scones.
We made Smokey Bacon and Mature Cheddar Muffins, Rosemary and Cheddar Muffins, Kale, Carrot, Cumin and pumpkin seed muffins, Apple and Cinnamon Muffins and some lovely mini scones to go with our jams!
Also started on the Mincemeat for our pies next week... lots of spice and brandy to warm you up in the winter!
Thuy and Melissa
 



The Camden Passage market was also new... so we were quite nervous that we wouldn't sell much...
So Sunday arrived and we set up our stall and before we even finished we sold a Bacon and Cheddar muffin... then another... then a scone and so on until over halfway through our time there we sold out of all our savoury muffins followed swiftly by sweet muffins and then the scones... we even sold a fair few jams and chutneys too!
We also got positive feedback from 100% of our customers!!!


Apple and cinnamon muffins (above)
Kale, Carrot, Cumin and Pumkin seed muffins(below)
Scones to go with our delicious jams






Omer and his lovely girlfriend Klaudia with our sellout scones










We're looking forward to starting our second market this Saturday at The Cally Market and continuing our Sunday Market with The Camden Passage.
I'll be making double the amount of muffins and scones followed by ...
Mince Pies and Gingerbread Men and Xmas shaped Cookies!!!!!!!!

See you there!!!




Monday 12 November 2012

So where are we now...

Hey all,

Been a while but up until a few weeks ago The Hackney Belly had nothing special to report.
Business as usual. 

We didn't get the Deli in Morning Lane... Our decision... too close to Christmas to invest in another premises....next spring will be better for us.
Good note is that we have our own kitchen which we love!!! 
We have our own fridge, Oven and induction hobs and lots of space!

The sandwiches are doing well and we started wholesaling jam to another cafe.
We've been experimenting with product ideas, savoury muffins, making jams and chutneys.
Gotta make Mince meat for Mince pies this week.


Kale, Carrot, Cumin and Pumpkin seed muffins

We needed to make more jam as we realised there was a demand for them.
I get a text message from Omer at 8am saying that he's bought a 100kilos of fruit from New Spitalfields market at 7am and to get to the kitchen early... I got there as soon as I could and I got fronted with the image below 
boxes of berries 
By the end of the day I knew we needed help so emailed the amazing Thuy who was kind enough to assist us on Saturday. She went through a ridiculous amount of berrys to ensure we didn't get any mouldy pieces that could potentially ruin a whole batch of jam. She took one break and didn't complain one bit...she is an absolute star!!!


Thuy checking raspberries

posing with the fruit



raspberry jam cooking away

Omer and I finally finished 10pm Saturday night... scrubbing jam off the walls, floor and surfaces.
Our eyes were blurry we had bits of jam on our eyebrows, shoes ... but we were happy.. we have a years supply of jam.. we hope to sell out before then though.






Friday 27 July 2012

Working like a dog

Hey so we're just working... and working.
I did leave Omer alone for a week so he worked whole days... When I say whole days I mean 20 hours in a day with 4 hours left over to stop yourself going mad and to remind yourself what your name is.
He forgives me. I relieved him for a day or two with Andrew assisting me

I came back and got straight back into it.
The night shifts, the early mornings... All that prep and making of... sandwiches.
Sandwiches....   The bread and butter of our business consisting of two slices of bread, spread and filling.
The Hackney Belly started out on these simple yet world known goodies. Used in your kids packed lunch or in your posh afternoon tea at The Wolsley.

Soon, we will have our deli and be known for other things other than sandwiches... amazing dishes and preserves. fresh greens groceries from your local allotment. Great Coffee... music and good times at The Hackney Belly!

Unfortunately, the premises we hoped to bag in Hackney is looking less likely to happen... I won't go into detail but the way the deal hs been going it's probably safer for us to duck out of the mess as we just don't have the big budget bank to deal with it if it all goes down... I think a pub or wine bar... even big brand business's could survive the whole deal that changes daily.

Good news for now is that we may be able to start working in our own kitchen next week!
Instead of sharing with Artisan Foods and German Deli... getting in their way and also working round their clock which gets in our way.
We'll finally get our own space!!!

Small steps make big waves (yep cheesy whatever!)

Friday 6 July 2012

What happened this week?

Some early morning prepping:



Some cats:




First delivery(all packaging is compostable by the way):


Some markets:





First bike delivery:





Some advertising:



More prepping (Falafel!) :o)



Sandwiches in shop!:


God knows what the future holds 
(probably a sandwich right now)