Being seaside dwellers, Matt and Cat tend to cling to the edges of the Island - except when heading to the megalopolis that is Newport for their day jobs. However, they can be drawn to Vectis' rural innards when necessary. One such voyage of discovery lead them to Rookley's uber-pub, The Chequers.

On its way to the table...

This is not the first visit to this sprawling roadside inn for the dynamic duo. Many years ago, along with their fellow desk jockeys, they celebrated Christmas in true office worker style in the pub's accommodating (and brand new at the time) conservatory. The Chequers coped admirably with the challenge of feeding a horde of office-workers on pleasure bent. Memories are a little hazy, but Matt and Cat can just recall how their colleagues prepared for the event: having started the 'lubrication' process with tins of lager at their workstations, ties were cast asunder and collars were daringly opened by the time they arrived en masse at The Chequers. The lunch descended into the sort of chaos that only cube rats can cause, culminating in a tired and emotional senior planning officer tumbling down the kiddies slide with his shirt off and nipples like chapel coatpegs in December's chill wind. Would Matt and Cat's latest visit also result in nudie-planners and discreet inter-staff fumblings?

Review continues:

The sign over the door as you enter the pub from the rear instructs those patrons with children to make their way to the family rooms, leaving the bar areas for grown-ups. As The Chequers is a popular venue for families, with its aforementioned childrens' play area and mini-menu, it is nice that those without children also get a space to themselves away from the hub-bub of yelling, temper tantrums and general whining (and that's just the parents!). M and C sat down in the peaceful bar area and studied the menu.

Like a lot of savvy venues, The Chequers has joined the local food revolution, offering Godshill lamb and their own Angus beef - the herd can be seen grazing unawares in the fields across the road from the pub. Worryingly, when Matt and Cat did a bit of research for the review, the pub's own website boasts "Food severed from 12 noon". Was it 'high noon' every day for these fine bovines? Matt, delighted at the proximity of the herd, chose a meat-abundant mixed grill. Cat selected chicken curry, having extremely fond memories of an excellent chicken khorma at The Lifeboat Inn. At the point of ordering, Matt was informed that there would be a 45-minute wait for the food. As it was early in the day and the pub was hardly full, this wasn't particularly impressive. It's never good to have to wait that long, but without a doubt it's very much better to be warned before you hand over your money. So a bonus point to The Chequers for actually being up-front about the likely delay - and another one because, after exactly 45 minutes, the food did indeed arrive. That kind of courtesy goes a long way towards making up for the wait.

So when the meals landed on the table, they were warmly welcomed by the dining duo. Matt liked his mixed grill. Piping hot beef steak, lamb, chicken, gammon, an egg, mushrooms and tomatoes, all were present and correct. The jumbo sausage was perhaps more of a chip-shop variety, tasting a bit bland: but it was big alright.

Cat's chicken korma was the epitome of that unmistakable genre, the pub curry. Plenty of meat, cooked independently of any flavourings, popped at the last moment into the appropriate sauce. Fluffy basmati rice, some impressively mangoey mango chutney, and an unpleasantly greasy poppudum completed the picture. Actually pretty good overall, and certainly a generous portion. M & C ate with relish, being pretty peckish.

So The Chequers was quite different from the riotous party venue that Matt and Cat vaguely remembered from the distant past. The vast, family pub is a distinct market niche on the Island, and one which The Chequers seems to fare pretty well. With a very substantial outside play area and almost infinite room to sit down, families can be well-accommodated. But at the same time, and unusually, The Chequers remains a pub, with a characterful bar and a big adults-only eating area. The menu was not bad, and to actually see the grazing Aberdeen Angus out of the window was an impressive bit of local sourcing. When it arrived, Matt and Cat enjoyed their food, and are happy to recommend The Chequers.

Visit the website: http://www.chequersinn-iow.co.uk/