After so long away it’s great to put our feet back onto solid ground in old Blighty

Phoned Judith’s Aunty Joyce to make sure she was ok, only to find that she was without heating or hot water. Gas board had condemned the boiler and could not replace until after Christmas. As per usual her pride had left her venerable. Its incomprehensible to think anyone can leave a 90+ person without heating or hot water.

Phone hot, steam out of ears, l call the agent, only to find that they were doing everything possible to get the problem resolved. No engineers were able to fit a new boiler until after Christmas; social services had said they couldn’t help. Owner of the flat wanted to supply electric heaters only to be told by the social services that it was unsafe. Plenty of  hurdles but no resolution. In the end, l asked them to provide electric oil heaters. We then took Joyce out to food shop, set up her heaters and invited her to Gwens for Christmas. 

Booked Sunday lunch at the Rocksalt Folkestone, but on Sunday morning we were calling 111 (out of hours doctors emergency service) for Gwen. She had had a hot bath and started bleeding. Fortunately it wasn’t life threatening, in fact it looked far worse than it was. So after getting a green light from the doctor we continued with our lunch plans in Folkestone harbour. Although he did suggest we take Gwen to her own doctor on Monday morning, especially with her taking warfrin blood thinner 

The restaurant itself looks out onto the harbour and has an upmarket ambience with friendly and efficient staff. Unfortunately the food didn’t inspire, it was very under whelming, lacking any originality or inspiration. In fact very ordinary. Not that the food wasn’t cooked well, it was. But most of the dishes could have been found in any run of the mill workman’s restaurant in France and a fraction of the price.

Judith started with a salad of Jerusalem Artichokes and goats cheese. The slivers of artichoke were tasteless and the small amount of cheese on tired leaves were not lifted by the dressing. My fish soup was full of flavour, but the toasted bread would have been better if they had been bite sized. These then could have been coated in the aioli sauce and topped with the grated cheese before dropping into the soup. Mums soup of the day was also full of flavour. My main course of lemon sole was very tasty, Judiths Squid was tender but the overall combination was nothing inspiring. The flavours didn’t jell together and the squid were insipid. Rick Stein’s Squid & Potato Stew with Rouille has a more balanced infusion of flavours and textures. Gwens Cod was big white and fluffy and her inclusive priced lunch was excellent value. She finished with an interesting Christmas trifle that was flavoured with Gluhweine. Not to my taste, but it was gooey enough for her.