Andrew's tour of the South East That's all Volks

Date Published:

29/10/2008

Andrew goes in search of a coffee van and finds cheese, seafood and Parmesan ice cream

I went to Whitstable to seek out Volks Coffee, added to the Map by RoundBritainAPaunch. After 30 minutes asking both natives and directory enquires alike if they knew where it was, I gave up and threw myself on the town, to see what else the town has to commend it besides its famous oysters

Cheese please

A wander round led to me to The Cheese Box, a cute little shop selling nothing but artisan English cheeses. I fell into chatting to owner, Dawn Hackett. "We sell proper English cheese here, and it should be eaten as such; don't put it near an olive or sundried tomato," she advises. Turns out, I first met Dawn when she sold cheese from her van at various sites in South London. She gave up life in the Smoke and put down roots here. "Historically Kent wasn't a big cheese producing region, the ground was marshy and salty." But there are now a handful of producers in the region, one of whom, Ashmore Cheeses (originally from Dorset), has just taken the gold and bronze medal for their wares at the British Cheese Awards - The Kelly's Goat was particularly good. Another item of note is potted cheese, Dawn explains, "when people had bits of cheese left over, they'd often mince it down, put it in an earthenware pot and seal with clarified butter to preserve it. We call it country wisdom," she says.

Ice cream

A few doors down is Sundae Sundae, a retro ice cream parlour and sweet shop run by husband and wife, Steve and Jan Graham. There's a range of the traditional flavours for the kids but to one side is the grown up range. Here we find Parmesan ice-cream; "It goes great with Parma ham and a tomato salad," says Steve. He also does a chilli ice cream which he says is best left to get to practically melting point and then used as a dip for hot, grilled, tiger prawns. Other flavours included cracked black pepper and lemon grass. I try some of the rhubarb and custard flavour; amazingly, it manages to taste of both rhubarb crumble and custard as well as the boiled sweet of the same name. It's rich and custardy and even leaves a little bit of rhubarb stuck in my teeth. Brilliant. Steve's coming to the end of the season now, flying south for the winter to a holiday home in Spain. "We take the next four months off, opening again at Easter,” he says. It may sound like an easy life but during the rest of the year it's just Steve and Jan manning the shop six days a week. Steve's website bears the information: "Opening times vary with the seasons, so check the 'open and closed' sign on our door!", which made me laugh.

Finally a trip to Whitstable wouldn't be complete without slurping down some oysters. I head to Wheelers oyster bar where half a dozen of the beautiful bi-valves sets me back a mere £4.

And as for the Volks Coffee van, Dawn gives me the gossip. "The council moved him on, I think he does a couple of farmers markets."

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