I say! You, yes you over there! Read this review, won't you? There's a good chap.

Cowes, in the run-up to Cowes Week, is just like that. Everything is vying for your attention. Nowhere else on the Island can one gain such a concentrated sample of the 'yachty set'. Shouts from the well-heeled ring across the bustling High Street; shops appear suddenly with names like KooBooToo and Yimsy, selling unidentifiable objects at unfathomable prices. Beggars and pedlars appear unaccountably on the streets. Every man is either attired in a football shirt, or deck-shoes and cargo shorts. Every woman has the leathery over-tanned complexion of 'Skullrika' Jonsson, and a massive pair of sunglasses. It's a delightful place to visit - for mainlanders, obviously, but also for Islanders. Matt and Cat love to go and bask in the Cowes summer atmosphere. It's like a little world of its own, even if the town falls over itself to reinforce its own stereotypes.

So, this week M & C were in Cowes on the way to an evening appointment and enjoying the Cowes Week ambience. With only a short time to eat, they reluctantly decided against old favourite the Red Duster - that needs time to fully appreciate. On the way up the hill they spotted Corries Cabin - the original fish and chip shop which spawned a namesake in Ryde that Matt is quite partial to. Usually it's the welcome job of Matt and his lads to sort out the chip shops - Cat is not too keen on them. But Corries Cabin in Cowes looked so tempting that before she knew it, the Cat had been shooed inside and shown into a chair by her eager consort.

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Visit the website: http://www.facebook.com/CorriesCowes

Summer's a busy time for food reviewers. New places open like flowers - and sometimes wither in a similar way.

Avid readers are keenly recommending new places for Matt and Cat to review, and as new eateries are popping up faster than the duo can visit them their list of potential reviews is longer than a very long thing.

This bodes well for the Isle of Wight's leisure economy and, with the promise of a heatwave this summer and the inevitable influx of day-trippers that always brings, it looks as though quite a few Island enterprises are already doing well.

Many of these 'new' venues are actually pretty old but, with a lick of paint and a new team behind the stove, they are reborn. One such place is the Waterside Café in Ryde. This seafront stalwart has a new tenant and is open again for business after a couple of year's languishing and even a threat of demolition. With so much competition along the Esplanade, will it be sink or swim for this municipal café?

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It's confusing enough that the Island has so many eating-places named The Boathouse.

Matt and Cat know of at least four. Of these, two clearly were once boathouses; one other, with some stretching of the imagination, could have once accommodated some modest vessels. But the fourth - the Boathouse at Puckpool - quite plainly has never entertained a boat in its life, unless it's a ship in a bottle on the mantelpiece: it's a solid Victorian pub.

It's also proven to be a fickle mistress for quite a few owners and managers, changing hands several times in the last few years, sometimes under less-than-favourable circumstances. Matt and Cat have had both good and bad meals there, and comments on previous incarnations suggested similarly mixed experiences. At its nadir, some years ago, the Boathouse was the place that people would just love to gossip about - regularly passing on to Matt and Cat stories of heinous crimes against food that cannot possibly all have been true. Once the reputation of a venue goes that far down, it's a very long way back. The Boathouse began its return journey to respectability last year with an infusion of sensible cooking and decent service from the Liberty's team. This year, yet another management team is at the helm and at last, the word on the street seemed to suggest that The Boathouse really had finally settled down. So Matt and Cat set out to see what was going on at Puckpool.

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Just when you thought that Dos Amigos had cornered the market in Ryde-based wild west-themed restaurants, the Alamo opened its saloon doors.

Although superficially similar, with their wood cladding, riding apparel and photos of long-dead cowboys, both restaurants have specialised in different aspects of this north American oeuvre. Dos Amigos has a distinctly Mexican feel while the Alamo is on the side of the cowboys. The food in each venue has a different emphasis too. Dos Amigos is a Tex Mex restaurant boasting Mexican, Texan and Cajun food whereas the Alamo is a steakhouse and grill. Matt and Cat saddled up and went pioneering.

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Known for many years as "Joe Daflo's", the Ryde branch of Joe's was for a long time one of Matt & Cat's all-time favourite eateries on the Island.

Joe's has been on Matt and Cat's list for so long, they've written two reviews about it - and one of them has been edited a few times. So below you'll find the original 2006 review, and a more recent 2008 assessment with updates.

Now, onto the food!

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