NEW MENU AND HEAD CHEF AT B BLOCK

Award-winning pizza restaurant and cafe B Block in Keynsham’s The Chocolate Quarter has announced its new pizza menu, crafted by newly appointed Head Chef Jake Proctor.

Pizza-obsessed Head Chef Jake has created a brand-new menu for B Block, inspired by simple ingredients with fine dining concepts. Joining the team from celebrated restaurant Bertha’s Pizza, Jake is bringing new ideas to the restaurant renowned for its wood-fired Neapolitan-style pizzas.

Jake and the B Block team share a passion for pizza and local ingredients, marrying the two and creating pizza combinations, which has made the restaurant a destination for Keynsham. Taking inspiration from all around the world, the new menu will delve deep into traditional and middle eastern flavours whilst still using the freshest ingredients that are sustainably sourced from local suppliers.

Foodies can munch on its new sausage-based pizza, for which the team season the pork mince in-house and shape it into balls, topped with lots of garlic slices, garlic oil and Parmesan crisps. Or try a traditional Neapolitan classic with anchovies, olives and capers on a crispy woodfired base for a Mediterranean meal that gives you that summer feeling. The new B Block menu will still feature diner favourites like the Harissa Lamb Pizza, replacing the tomato base with a more traditionally Turkish flavour with well-seasoned roasted red peppers, tomatoes and red onions. This popular pizza will also have a vegetarian option with delicious aubergine dumplings instead of lamb.

Jake’s passion for pizza started when he tried his first wood-fired pizza in Italy on holiday and he first started cooking while studying at university. After five years cheffing in Sheffield he moved to Bristol to be head chef at Bertha’s Pizza.

For B Block’s new Head Chef, pizza isn’t a passion, it’s an obsession. On holiday in Italy, he once ate sixteen pizzas in ten days! Jake explains; “B Block has a loyal following for its pizzas, made in a brilliant wood fired oven. I’m excited to be joining Adrian Kirikmaa and the team to continue building its reputation for producing the best pizzas this side of Napoli, plus bring some new flavours and combinations for customers to try. I love the ethos of B Block being about bringing the community together with food, so the menu is designed for every generation to enjoy.”

Jake will continue the traditional Italian style of cooking championed by B block with two magic ingredients – time and heat. Just like in Italy, B Block’s oven is hotter and the team give the dough longer to ferment, which relaxes it more and makes it easier to digest. The focus will remain on quality toppings.

The new menu will also be trialling a courgette pizza with soy sauce and paprika marinade, which has proved popular in taste tests so far. With experimentation and tradition at the heart of this new menu, B Block is giving exciting new options to pizza lovers with weekly and fortnightly specials coming up to keep testing the boundaries of this Italian dining-out classic.