The London scene may be anticipating a raft of big name openings this year, but it's not alone. The seaside town of Folkestone has three big openings planned for this year which should put the south coast spot on the foodie map.
Opening in March 2011 is Max's House (see picture) - a new venture with great credentials. It's the brainchild of Ben Spalding and Max Palmer. Spalding was Senior Sous chef at L'Autre Pied and also trained with Thomas Keller and Gordon Ramsay while Palmer was front of house with Marco Pierre White at Harvey's and will be Maitre D' at Max's House.
Following that in May, there will be not one but two Mark Sargeant restaurants opening in Folkestone. Sergeant was once a big name in Gordon Ramsay Holdings, being the head chef at Claridges and more recently overseeing Ramsay's expansion into gastropubs like The Narrow before his resignation in November 2009.
Sargeant's first place will be an upmarket fish and chip shop in Folkestone's old smoke house. His second venture in Folkestone is a seafood restaurant on the harbour. 'We're going to have our own smokeries to smoke our own fish and meat, there will be four stunning rooms attached to the smokehouse. As the fish gets landed directly in between both restaurants, the boiling pots for the whelks and things like that are right behind, so. And 57 mins from St Pancras so it's going to be the new Padstow,' he told foodie blog The Munchies.
There are only just over 50,000 souls in Folkestone, so Sargeant's hunch that London restaurant goers will be happy to head out of town had better be right.
