insideKENT Magazine Issue 27 - June 2014 | Page 70

FOOD+DRINK

IN THE ‘ART’ OF FOLKESTONE

googies art café
Open since August 2009, Googies has become one of Folkestone’s most culture-rich social spots,
serving gourmet burgers, craft beers and ‘fairer than fair-trade’ artisan coffees. You’ll always find
friends gathered around the tables, enjoying a bite to eat and great conversation, surrounded by
local art and good music that are at the heart of this vibrant haunt. BY SARAH REDMAN

© El Davo

You can tell lunchtime is here at Googies, thanks
to the enticing smells wafting through the café
from the kitchen downstairs. From breakfast
burritos and Big Apple hot dogs, to nachos and
their signature ‘Googieburgers’, the list is endless,
and the smells ever changing (in a good way of
course).
Googies is a lively art café nestled in the Creative
Quarter of Folkestone. The building itself is hard
to miss, as it outshines its neighbours with an
array of bright block colours. Looking in through
the huge arching windows at the front, there is
a mismatch of tables and chairs, each with their
own story to tell, and Kent-based artists' work
adorning the walls.
On one of the back walls is Googies’ very own
art mural. A Folkestone-inspired, cartoon-like
monochrome feature, this piece of art looks
digitialised and printed on the wall, but it’s actually
completely hand-drawn by Googies' barista and
local artist, El Davo. It took him eight days to
complete, while he worked on the piece in

whatever spare time he had. Yet, this is no
ordinary mural. With parts of the artwork extending
from the wall, there is a very special place for a
piece of flying food, thanks to El Davo’s creative
ideas: “I don’t know how the flying burger came
about, but I quite like it,” he explained.
The mural was first designed for the café’s large
windows, but was then redesigned a further
seven times, until it became the wall it is today.
However, Googies is not only home to the mural,
but also a rather impressive exhibition wall that
holds the work of local artists from Folkestone
and nearby Canterbury. This includes such artists
as Dan Catt, whose colourful pieces are new to
the wall; Sam Capell, whose art is bold and anticorporate; and resident El Davo, with some
smaller illustrations, which include a very colourful
little elephant – my favourite!
Alongside the ever-changing local exhibition wall,
Googies also has some rather superb food. We
started our meal with a generous portion of
cheesy nachos, and another bowl of huge onion

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rings. The delicious nachos came served with
classic sour cream and guacamole dips, and a
lovely, fresh salsa dressing. Googies were also
more than happy to accommodate our wish for
no jalapenos. The onion rings were lightly battered
and wonderfully crispy – a must try, and great
for sharing.
For my main course, I went for the classic pulled
pork, served in a lightly toasted brioche bun, with
a peppery coleslaw relish and freshly cut,
handmade chips. The relish perfectly
complimented the tender pork shoulder, which
was slow-cooked in a homemade Jack Daniels
barbeque sauce. I am also partial to a creative
milkshake or two, so was spoilt for choice with
Googies' shakes. From choices that included
banoffee, lemon meringue and salted caramel,
I chose the latter (my favourite), the sea salt
chocolate brownie twist – and I wasn’t
disappointed. If you have room, definitely give
these a go. It's basically a pudding in a glass,
so I wasn’t complaining.