Rumour has it, you shouldn’t run before you can walk. To extend the analogy somewhat, you almost certainly shouldn’t attempt to ride a unicycle, juggle and sing the national anthem while blindfolded. Alas, this is the equivalent of what The Hungry Blue attempted this week, and amazingly enough we only dropped the juggling balls a couple of times!

The Hungry Blue is a new, exciting pop-up restaurant serving American BBQ, diner and Tex-Mex classics. We’re running until May 18 at the Waterside Restaurant – the training kitchen used by aspiring chefs-in-training at the City of Oxford College.

So here’s where the unicycling and juggling comes in, because The Hungry Blue is exclusively staffed by student chefs with almost no real industry experience between them.

I myself only enrolled on the Level 3 Chef’s Diploma in September, having decided that pursuing my law degree to its natural conclusion in the industry didn’t hold much appeal.

In an effort to make up for lost time (at 27, I’m an ‘old’ new chef) I have started up my own catering company – Lemon Tree Catering – at the same time as training. Upon hearing about this, the college asked me whether I wanted to flex my culinary muscles and operate a Sunday pop-up restaurant.

I jumped at the chance. Rather than serving a conventional Sunday roast, it seemed immediately apparent to me that what Oxford needed was some authentic American BBQ and Tex-Mex classics.

I lived in the States for a few years and love stacks of pancakes with blueberries, mountains of pulled pork, Oreo mud pie and sticky, spicy chicken wings, and I wanted to bring these things to Oxford’s hungry masses.

To say that the Hungry Blue has been a big undertaking would be the understatement of the year. My year at college has given me a lot of experience in the kitchen, but nothing prepares you for being in charge of a whole restaurant – front and back – and attempting to get 40 covers out. My staff kept asking me questions and expecting me to have the answers!

Then there was the prep, the marketing, the coordination, ordering and bookkeeping, and then the cooking and head cheffing on the day. Not to mention a very tiring clean-down. I came home afterwards, burst into tears of exhaustion and relief, and then slept for 12 hours.

The learning curve has been steep, and there are some important changes to be made for next week’s service. Nonetheless, I am incredibly proud of my whole team. Their enthusiasm, talent, bravery and determination were incredible – they embraced a completely alien experience and menu and ran with it, and they all seem very pumped-up for next week’s service.

As experience for their future careers (and mine!), running our own kitchen has been unbeatable. It’s also filled us with a great sense of achievement and pride – every clean plate and compliment are another gold star on our chef whites.

For me, the week will be full of tweaking my recipes to deliver maximum punch – taking the pulled pork to the next level, and experimenting with some recipes for Mexican tortilla soup.

If you’d like to come along and try some of our flavour-packed American classics, you can book a table by emailing thehungryblue@hotmail.co.uk To find out more about the menu and our location, you can also check out hungryblue.co.uk

Spaces are filling up very fast but there’s still some room on the 18th.

We look forward to seeing you (and feeding you!) soon.