The Smokehouse, Folkestone

On a whim we motored down to the coast today for a wander round Folkestone and, if we could get in, a bite to eat at a new place called Rock Salt. Unfortunately things conspired against us in a big way, as not only was the restaurant fully booked but the fishing boats had not been out yesterday so there was very limited availability anyway! However, their fish & chip shop over the road was open and serving a reduced menu.

The building is a modern conversion of a typical south coast dock building, complete with double hight ceiling dining room and a little take away area. The decor is very inviting, lots of stylish pale blues and greys, and some great steel fish sculptures hanging from the roof add interest. We sat on benches at wooden tables and perused the menus printed printed on the place mats. Apparently a fishing boat had come into Hythe and unloaded a cargo of cod (amongst other things) so there was some fresh fish available. We shared a starter of mussels popcorn, which turned out to be surprisingly tasty lightly battered mussels served with a lemon wedge. Not being huge fans of deep fried things, Dee chose baked lemon sole, while I went for baked mackerel. Both came with a good helping of very nice chips, and both came in cardboard boxes, which made eating with proper knives and forks feel a bit odd. Oh, and yes, there were scallops on the menu, but no, I didn't have them! It's a first, I know....and perhaps if they'd actually had any I might have been more tempted...

The lemon sole was very nice, still on the bone and tail on, but well enough cooked that the meat came away from the bones very easily. The mackerel was very tasty indeed, skin and tail on, but no bones, delicious. There was a good selection of drinks available, including a choice of beers, soft drinks etc. but as the weather was very wintry and the on-shore wind bitterly cold, we went for mugs of hot tea. What we actually got were mugs of hot brown. Shame, because the rest of the meal was really very good and reasonably priced. We will definitely go back, but we'll book in advance at Rock Salt next time. If you fancy a box of fish and chips while you stroll along the front, I'd certainly recommend The Smokehouse though.

After our lunch we went for a good walk round Folkestone, starting on the front and ending up at the newly established Creative Quarter. Here we found a strange mixture of art galleries, shops selling militaria, pop-up clothes shops and trendy looking bars. At the top of the hill was a cosy looking café where we stopped for a decent cuppa and a cake. Fresh & Easy turned out to be a real find, with a huge choice of teas, homemade cakes and tarts, and the best cup of café mocha I've ever had! We shared a strawberry jam tart made on cinnamon pastry and a chocolate ganache tart made on pistachio pastry, both of which were spot on. Dee had a little pot of English breakfast tea, which came with a very cute little milk jug in the shape of a cow.

Folkestone is one of the forgotten places of the south east, but there is much to recommend it. The town is working very hard to drag itself back up to the dizzy heights it once enjoyed, although the High Street is a clone of every other in the country. There are some nice looking bars (a special mention for Googies is in order, beer, coffee, regular live acoustic music, homemade speciality burgers....worth a look!) and restaurants of the quality of The Smokehouse and Rock Salt can only help. So next time you're at a bit of a loose end, drive down to the harbour area and go for a stroll, you might be pleasantly surprised with what you find.

Imperial Dynasty, West Malling

Arguably the best Chinese restaurant in Kent, possibly the south east of England. Ok, so you pay a bit more for it, but believe me it's worth every every penny. West Malling is a nice market town just off the A20 between Maidstone and Wrotham. There are a number of good places to eat, including The Swan and The Farmhouse (see earlier review), as well as several cafés and bars. The High Street has a mixture of old buildings, many of which date from the seventeenth century, there are some interesting little shops too so it's a nice place to visit all round.

I.D. (as it is known) is at the bottom end of the High Street in a charming old building, the dining room features a large inglenook fireplace in which stand three half-sized terracotta warrior statues and in spite of an up to date feel there are still many original features and beams in place. The menu is a mixture of traditional and contemporary dishes, with a number of set menus on offer. Dishes start from around £4.50 and go up to about £9.50, with seasonal specials like lobster and oysters often available at reasonable prices.

We ordered the mixed hors d'oeuvres and Mongolian lamb to start, which arrived quickly and were nicely presented. The lamb came with all the usual accompaniments you expect with crispy duck...the cucumber and spring onion, pancakes and hoisin sauce...lovely! We decided to go with a seafood theme for the main course, huge tiger prawns in a mandarin sauce and a fantastic sizzling dish of scallops (Yes, I know...scallops again!) and king prawns in ginger and sesame with a bowl of special fried rice. Unsurprisingly after all that we had no room for desert, so I can't comment on them I'm afraid. The staff were attentive and friendly, the dining room was nicely decorated in creams and cappuccino tones, a few nods to the festive season without being over the top, all in all a very pleasant place to be. We have eaten here three or four times over the last few years and the whole experience has always been consistently good. There are enough unusual dishes to keep you coming back to try new things, all in all it has to be highly recommended!

Product sites

A few people have asked where they can buy some of the food I mentioned in my last blog, so here's a short list of their websites -

www.coffeelate.co.uk - delicious blend of coffee, Caribbean spices & chocolate.

www.britishsausages.co.uk - I particularly recommend the Churchill and the Knebworth.

www.backyardcompany.co.uk - great jerk sauces, great for warming you up in this awful weather!

Bluewater Glow Food Festival

We went to the first Bluewater Glow food festival on the way to visit Dee's mum down in Devon. The festival was a bit disappointing but there were several highlights. The guys from Coffeelate were there again (see my previous entry on the Ideal Home Christmas Show), so I bought a few more bars...yes Mel, one is for you...The Great British Sausage Co, The Backyard Co and a few others are worthy of mention.

The Great British Sausage Co make really tasty, fairly big sausages. The signature dish is The Churchill, made with pork shoulder meat, black pepper & white pepper. They were giving out samples, freshly grilled, juicy & delicious. They also had venison & port, pork & leak and pork, apple & cider amongst others. When I say they're fairly big, I mean you only get four sausages in a one pound pack!

The Backyard Co make Jamaican jerk sauces, and to showcase them at their best they were griddling a huge stack of jerk chicken breast, offering small free tastes, or a big slab in a bun for a fiver. Guess which I went for? It was fantastic! Just hot and spicy enough to get your lips and tongue tingling but not so hot it wasn't enjoyable. Well worth a look if fruity, spicy sauces are your thing, or you love barbequeing. I didn't get to try any of the hot versions as they'd sold out, but I bet they're worth trying.

There were a few other good ideas, a lady who made biscuits and hand iced each one. She had boxes of Christmas themed ones, clothes and shoes, all sorts! (picture below). Also there was a wonderful chocolate producer that offered single plantation South American cocoa chocolate bars, blends, beautiful looking gift boxes and some really clever chocolate sculptures & figures. Apparently the high heeled shoes (pictured below) are their most popular product!

The Neville Bull in Birling

We went in search of a new country pub to try at lunchtime today and stumbled across a potential winner! Birling village looks like a typical Kentish village, and the Neville Bull looks like a typical Kentish pub, until you get inside. I've never seen a more eclectic mixture of flags, pictures, ornaments, samplers, bits & bobs and goodness only knows what in one place before!

The bar is filled with a variety of furniture, including a big green leather sofa and a mixture of old dining tables, chairs and benches. Every surface is covered with nick-nacks and every flat wall has a picture or two on it. It could be overwhelming but is actually very charming. There is a real focus on local produce, even behind the bar. There was Kentish cider, wine and beer on offer, including a pale ale brewed in Birling village itself. It doesn't get much more local than that! Unfortunately I didn't discover until we were leaving that they offer a "beer bat", a third of a pint of each of the real ales on offer for those who have trouble choosing. Even the fruit juices we're Kentish.

As well as the main menu there was a fairly large selection of specials written on blackboards in the bar. We ordered two starters to share between the three of us, and it's a good job we didn't choose one each because the portion sizes were very generous indeed. We shared a whole baked Camembert with a basket of about half a loaf of hand cut fresh bread (a starter for one person? A whole cheese! Really???) and a portion of eight large tempura prawns with soy and chilli dips. The prawns were delicious, hot and crispy, but the Camembert was a bit disappointing to be honest. It hadn't been baked enough, so it wasn't runny enough to dip the bread in so we asked them to put it back in again for a while. Unfortunately whatever they did to it made it hotter also changed the texture to something akin to an omelette.

Mum and I both chose the steak & kidney pudding from the specials board, while Dee chose the chicken pie from the main menu. Both came with vegetables and chips, which turned out to be a huge dish of cabbage with bacon and cream sauce, a second huge dish of carrots and peas, and a third huge dish of thick, crispy chips. Probably enough of six, and we certainly came nowhere near finishing them. The puddings were fantastic...about a pound of steak and kidney in a shell of suet pudding that was just the right mixture of light & soft on the inside and lightly crisp on the outside. Ridiculously too much for one person, and again, neither of us managed to finish ours. Dee's chicken pie was not really a pie, in that it was actually a bowl of chicken stew with a puff pastry lid. This seems to be the norm for pub pies at the moment, and it's a great shame because you can't beat a real pie.

Unfortunately I can't tell you about the deserts because we were so full we didn't come very close to finishing the main course. What we had was delicious, traditional pub food in a friendly pub with an open fire and a warm welcome, but like the ornaments there was far too much of it. I'm certain we'll go back there, but we won't eat for a couple of days in preparation!