Once in a while a new idea in eating turns up on the Island. Sometimes it's quite radical, such as the cook-your-own concept at 'On The Rocks' Yarmouth and the Volcanic Steakhouse, Newport. Sometimes it's a bit mysterious, like SWAD, in Sandown. Other times it's just a really good idea that makes you wonder why nobody else has done it. Such an idea is to be found at Phileas Foggs Restaurant, newly opened in a commanding location on Ventnor High Street.

Phileas Fogg, the main character in the 1873 Jules Verne novel Around the World in Eighty Days, bears a name often appropriated to indicate global travel and a cosmopolitan taste: convenient things to associate with a restaurant.

The clever concept behind Phileas Foggs, and the idea which explains the name, is that the menu has dishes from a range of different cuisines around the world. Rather than a Chinese restaurant, and Indian restaurant, or even a Tex-Mex, wouldn't it be fun to eat somewhere that is all these things and more? Certainly that would have a significant advantage if a group of diners wish to eat together, but have divergent tastes. And there's always that one reluctant one who won't eat 'spicy stuff', or 'anything green'. Yes, you know who it is, don't you? Well perhaps those days of bickering and sulking are over. Could Phileas Foggs mean that families and friends, for years divided by culinary fascism, can once more dine in harmonious unity? Matt and Cat invited two pals to join them one clement evening to find out.

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On entering, Matt and Cat realised this wasn't going to be an anonymous review - the proprietress, toiling away in the back of the restaurant was a friend and colleague of theirs from their day jobs, although she wasn't expecting M&C to walk through her door as the table was booked in the name of the others in the party (clever, huh?). The foursome were pleased they had the foresight to book a table, as all evening the patient staff turned away would-be diners who mounted the little staircase to the welcoming door.

Matt and Cat and friends settled at a sturdy table in the immaculate new restaurant and, taking the proferred menus, commenced their virtual tour of the world by studying the pages which were illustrated with a spattering of clip-art and waggish descriptions of the dishes on offer. And, if the list of international grub weren't enough, the menu invited punters to keep a look out for special dishes, although on the night that Matt and Cat visited there weren't any.

Matt didn't get beyond the first item in the menu and ordered "Nachos as big as your ass" for a starter. That was going to be some plateful. Where Matt went west, Cat went east, and chose Avocado Mumbai: "Succulent chicken breast and avocado bound together with a curry mayonnaise and served on a crisp salad garnish."

Things were hotting up as more and more punters streamed, or attempted to stream, in - Matt and Cat had a good view out into the High Street where they could see passers-by gazing up. This place had been under restoration for quite a while. The previous establishment, the traditional Country House Tea Room, was notable for its drought-intolerant floral display, and for being painted a rather abrupt pink. Both of these features of the High Street are now long gone, and so it's hardly surprising that the locals were taking an interest.

Inside similar changes had been wrought. The many small rooms of the tea room had been knocked together into one space - but of course, this being Ventnor, it was on several levels. One suspected that a great deal of engineering prowess had gone into making one room out of several, in an old building on such a slant. The result was pleasing, and had a light and airy feel.

Before very long the food rolled up. A very impressive lot of starters pleased all the party. Matt's nachos would certainly have been as big as his ass if he'd taken the trouble to obtain a circular donkey about the size of a dinner-plate. In the absence of such a beast he simply enjoyed a straightforward big plateful of hot nachos with undoubtedly freshly-made guacamole, soured cream and salsa. Cat was also very happy with the imaginatively-titled Avocado Mumbai, which featured half a fresh avocado, evenly sliced, and tender chicken served with a delicately flavoured curry mayonnaise.

Main courses, chosen from the four corners of the world, came next. Here was the test: would Phileas Foggs manage to do well at all these various cuisines, or was the quest for diversity going to trump that for quality? Cat's main was Barbara-Ann Lamb, described very enthusiastically as "Tenderised lamb steak marinated in garlic, mustard rosemary and olive oil served on char-grilled vegetables. This is a recipe from California, the Beach Boys loved it so much they wrote a song about it (Probably)." Well, it wasn't a stereotypical American meal, and Cat nonetheless was very pleased. She ate almost all the meat on the two thin and tasty steaks, and found the char-grilled veg a good accompaniment. The herbal juices were soaked up well by the chips, which were good, hot and fresh. Good vibrations!

Matt's main meal was Cantonese beef. This came with the slightly non-PC rubric: "Prime fillet steak marinated then stir fried with mushrooms, peppers, spring onions, ginger and bean sprouts in oyster sauce. Served with plain basmati rice, fried rice or noodles. Ah so! and that?s just the chef." Matt asked for fried rice. The dish came in two parts, a bowl of aromatic beef stir-fry accompanied by a smaller dish with the fried rice. The beef looked great, and proved to be tasty and succulent. The whole thing was a bit more watery than the searingly flash-fried stir-fries that M&C are used to at the Hong Kong Express, but it was good. The rice, by contrast, was a little disappointing. It looked ok, but didn't seem fried, and tasted pretty uninspiring. Where its appetising brown colour came from was unclear, but it wasn't from being scorched on the bottom of a wok. Still, the tangy beef more than made up for it. Matt ate it up with gusto.

Matt and Cat's friends reported that their pork Normandy and blackened 'dolphin' dishes were very good - both served on a bed of mash, a recurring ingredient of many of the dishes. Flipper fans note: it wasn't really dolphin, it was 'fish'. Both dishes were washed down with a very reasonably-priced half carafe of wine each.

At this point the proprietress came over, finally managing to squeeze in a bit of face-time with your reviewers. She was discreet enough not to ask if they were there in their 'professional' capacity although she must have noticed the camera flashing throughout the meal. Matt resisted the temptation to ask her why Phileas Foggs curiously eschews apostrophes which, on arrival, raised the vague suspicion that there might be dozens of Victorian travelling gentlemen sitting there in rows. Unaware of the suppressed pedantry, she was happy to tell Matt and Cat about how successful Phileas Foggs' first week had been and they discovered that twelve people had taken up employment at the restaurant. She was also there to tell them what was on the dessert menu. Alas it was not quite as globe-trotting as the other one, but did feature the transatlantic-sounding toffee crunch Dime Bar - which was obviously popular as it had run out. After some prevarication M&C elected to share chocolate fudge cake and cream and one of their friends, breaking her own self-imposed no-food-after-nine-pm rule, opted for treacle sponge and custard.

The puddings did not live up to the glorious starters. The sponge of Matt and Cat's warm fudge cake was pretty dry and did not have the home-made feel that the other dishes so clearly benefited from. They chomped it down, considering it a bit of a diminuendo after the rest of the impressive meal.

Phileas Foggs deserves to do well. Its ambitiously broad menu seems to be attracting the punters and, for fussy Cat, there was plenty to choose from. The service was measured but that was to be expected from a venue finding its feet. Plus (apart from the puddings?) all of the food was described as "individually cooked for you" so a wait was inevitable. Even after the summer season has ended it is likely that this restaurant will remain popular. It's all about location, location, location!