Tomorrow our little Googies turns five. Over the past five years we have seen it evolve from a little café, to a café and craft beer destination, to a café, craft beer destination, music venue, ultimate coffee house and restaurant in its own right. To celebrate its birthday, owners Keith and Steve are raising the bar even higher.
Next week Googies will welcome into its kitchen a legend of the Kent culinary scene. Charlie Lakin has been doing fantastic things with Kent produce since he moved down to the southeast from Yorkshire to work at Dunkerley’s in Deal in 2007. From there he moved to The Marquis at Alkham where he’s really made a name for himself. Now he’s made the tough decision to leave The Marquis and Kent behind to pursue a more family oriented life in his wife’s native South Africa. Luckily for us, he is offering the people of Kent a few final chances to sample his handiwork at various venues around the southeast.
Some of you may already be aware that my burger entry won the Googies’ recent burger competition in Folkestone and now holds pride of place on their specials board – at least for another week or so. The story of how this burger came to be can be found here.
Googies, in Folkestone, is holding a competition to design the next Googie burger to coincide with Mr Hyde National Burger Day. While Googies is branching out into themed meals and going a bit more upmarket these days, there’s no forgetting what made them famous – the Googie burger.
June 22 and 23 was supposed to be the much looked forward to Folkestone Fish Festival. I know my husband and I especially were looking forward to the activities and camaraderie the festival was bringing to the Creative Quarter and to Folkestone as a whole. Everyone was banding together to create a memorable and impressive event that would showcase Folkestone and all it has to offer. Then came the wind and the rain. Once again, plans are foiled by the British summer, but we pressed on and enjoyed an afternoon strolling the Old High Street and looking forward to our fish dinner at Googies later that evening.