Matt and Cat\'s Isle of Wight Eating Out Guide
Crave, Ventnor Crave, Ventnor
5
Crave, Ventnor

Ventnor’s Crave is one of that small and select class of venues that is spectacular enough for us to drive across the Island on a whim; not knowing what was on offer but confident that whatever they were offering, we wanted it.

Crave is an extraordinary little ice-cream shop, making their own ice-cream on site and offering a large and ever-changing range of exciting home-made flavours. Every time we have been there has been something new – and the selection is epic. Flavours we’ve seen include moonshine apple strudel, battenberg, banoffee and carrot cake. There are many more, always including a dairy-free option. And here’s the good bit – you get to taste them. Yes, if you’re not sure which to choose (and you won’t be) then you can get personal ice-cream advice from the expert staff, and then sample a little spoonful.  And then maybe another. Yes, the whole family can. Even the kids. And yes, they are patient, and friendly. They are confident enough in their product to think you’re going to like it – and they are right.

We have eaten Crave’s ice cream many, many times. Once, after our first course of the excellent Ventnor Haven‘s crab on chips, the jolly ice-cream lady conspiratorially mentioned that she had ‘something under the counter’ that Matt might like. Her suspicion was correct: a Thai sweet chilli ice cream. An unexpected flavour, that he absolutely loved. He had a double scoop in a cone of the sweet, coconutty, ice cream flavoured with lemon-grass, ginger and slivers of candied chilli that gave it a sparky kick. Cat had a tub of Ventnor Rocher: chock full of hazelnuts, plus a scoop of millionaires shortcake with its firm chocolate chunks, caramel and pockets of shortbread.

Matt and Cat’s bill
Crave, double scoop: 2 @ £3.30
Total £6.60

Crave also serves churros, sundaes and knickerbocker glories. We’re not entirely sure we could reliably describe the difference between a sundae and a knickerbocker glory. We can say they look great but frankly, we’ve never had a chance to try these because the ice cream is just so compelling.

Crave is unreservedly recommended, we urge you to take that voyage to Ventnor and pick up the little plastic spoon – once you’ve sampled, we know you’ll buy.

Crave is an extraordinary little ice-cream shop, making their own ice-cream on site and offering a large and ever-changing range of exciting home-made flavours.
  • Wonderful home-made ice cream
  • Constantly changing menu
  • Outstandingly friendly service
  • Not the cheapest ice cream in Ventnor
  • Sometimes it's really difficult to choose which ice cream to have!

5 of 5

5 of 5

5 of 5

3 of 5

4 of 5

Save

  • patrick says:

    Still as epic as ever, but rather disappointed it now shuts as six, so unable to serve as a “dessert parlour” after having a meal in one of the local eateries. No doubt due to economic realities, but a shame nonetheless…

    • Adrian Flitcroft says:

      Actually, it’s the only way they can find the time to make enough ice-cream to keep up with demand: (It’s also why they are now shut on Tuesdays).

  • Paul Heathcote says:

    With the sad demise of Warren Farm we’d been looking for a new family holiday tradition, and now I think we’ve found it! A typical August day of gales and torrential rain saw us looking for something to get us out, so we took a drive to Ventnor solely because of Matt and Cat’s recommendation – what a find!

    Youngest daughter went for mint aero (chocolate and mint swirls), eldest daughter went for a scoop of toasted marshmallow and another of crunchie, whilst I went for two of my five a day with a scoop of juicy mango and another of passion fruit eton mess complete with mini meringues.

    Such friendly staff and the fact that they openly offer tastes of everything rather than having to awkwardly ask has given them new recruits to their army of supporters. Only regret is that we got so carried away tasting and choosing that we never noticed they did sundaes until we were halfway through – nothing beats a good banana split! Still, a good reason to go back tomorrow….!

  • patrick says:

    Wholeheatedly agree….. but wait a second, why such a low score for the venue? Surely the untouched perfect setting in a tiled Victorin shop is one of the chief glories of the place…?

    • Matt and Cat says:

      We lead a lonely fight against star inflation Patrick; for us, three stars means a good place, four is an exceptional place, and five is reserved for the very best.

      • patrick says:

        Star inflation…… I love it! Point taken, and there’s a lot to be said for your approach. Of course it’s subjective, but for myself the venue itself is as perfect as the product it serves and could not be improved…

Leave a Reply to Matt and Cat Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.