You know those winter Sundays, the ones where, after months of hiding coyly behind grey clouds, the sun decides to play peek-a-boo?

In that brief moment everyone who has spent the last few months watching old war films and clearing out their cupboards throws on their warmest anorak and runs outside, face turned skywards. On the first sunny Sunday of 2012, the sky was blue and the first flush of daffodils was emerging from the municipal verges. Matt and Cat poked their noses out of their burrow and joined the throngs of promenaders taking the air.

It hardly needs mentioning that Matt and Cat had lunch in mind, and thus their winter walk was a brisk but short one - straight to the door of the Watersedge Café, Gurnard. This seaside perennial stays open throughout the seasons, and has grown up over the years from a glorified ice-cream kiosk to what is now a smart eaterie with more than a hint of the cosmopolitan stripped-pine and pastel shades that characterise lunchtime venues throughout nearby Cowes. If a few jaunty images of boats and seagulls in oversized frames are all that's needed to complete the formula, Watersedge rises to the occasion there as well.

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It comes to something when the first frost of the winter is in the second week of the new year.

But it was on a cold January morning that Matt and Cat first had to scrape the ice off the car before setting off to work. Still, a year ago they were digging the same car out of the snow with a shovel, so in some ways things have changed. But these days of cold seemed almost welcome after so much unseasonably mild, damp weather in midwinter. Wandering the streets of Cowes, which looked unexpectedly empty even for January, those hardy souls who had braved the chill wind were well wrapped up. There was even one boat crew passing by, dressed impressively in full foul-weather gear and looking suitably grizzled.

On the hunt for a warming lunch, Matt and Cat spotted the bright little frontage of Sails Café, and, perhaps more pertinently, the promise of home-made beef stew and dumplings on the specials board outside. It provoked a minor outburst from Matt, bemoaning the decline of the traditional suet dumpling. A forkful of stolid, hearty dumpling is to his vicarage-raised palette the acme of accompaniments to a winter stew. A crusty baguette, a floury bap or even a toasted brioche can only ever be a disappointing also-ran in any comparison. Sadly, such substitutions are common. Rarely does a stew with dumplings get top billing - if stewed beef is to be served with anything, it is perhaps most commonly served in a pie, and even then the accompaniment is sometimes just a flimsy hat of puff-pastry. Sails Café, by contrast, was keeping the dumpling faith. Such stoicism earned it Matt and Cat’s lunchtime custom.

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Matt and Cat were flattered to be invited to try the Oyster Grill and Bar, a pop-up restaurant at Cowes Yacht Haven for Cowes Week 2011.

At the same time last year they had a delightful experience at Robert Thompson’s pop-up at Northwood House - would this year’s temporary culinary installation pass muster?

Passing up the OGB’s courteous invitation to a preview, M and C just rolled up unannounced - a habit of theirs which, even after all these years, it seems that people don’t expect. There’s a reason why they do this, you see. Even though it might be true that they’d get the best service and food if they went by appointment, they don’t. They walk in, or (if they are organised enough) book a table under someone else’s name, or as a part of a party. This modest subterfuge is intended to make sure that M&C don’t get too big-headed about any of this stuff. But more importantly, to ensure that the experience they write about is comparable to that of a regular diner off the street.

Oyster Grill and Bar is a substantial set-up in the side of the main hall at Cowes Yacht Haven. It has a good few tables and a bar out on the decking, and some inside. When M&C arrived, it was still early and the place was deserted other than a few staff behind the bar. A young chap popped out and, after his guests had considered the bracing wind, showed them to an indoor table with a nice view over the nearby Mahiki Bar.

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Visit the website: http://www.theoystergrillandbar.co.uk/

Oh, it had to happen. Just when Matt and Cat thought they had redeemed themselves in the eyes of the Cowes cognoscenti with their favourable Mojac's review, they've gone and eaten in the town again - and they're going to have to be brutally frank. But before any more money is spent on private investigators and solicitors' threatening letters, first a pre-emptive strike.

See, kind folk of Cowes: one of M&C's favourite places ever to eat is in your town, the exquisite Red Duster. And only a few weeks ago, they were raving about the great food at Mojac's, before that the comfortable New Holmwood Hotel; and, oh, the list goes on. Matt and Cat really like most places they eat at Cowes, but not without question, and they'll still keep on telling you when they don't.

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There's definitely some kind of social pecking order out in Cowes, but being from Ryde, Matt and Cat really don't get it.

Take Gurnard, for example. Is it a wannabe suburb of the cosmopolitan hub that is Cowes; or is it actually the exclusive enclave that everyone in Cowes wants to escape to? So hard to say, or indeed to care. It's probably both, depending on whether you're talking to someone from Cowes or Gurnard. But one thing M&C can say with certainty concerns eateries in Gurnard. They don't have many, but they're very keen on the ones they do have.

So when last year a new restaurant opened in the former Outlook Bar, down at Gurnard Marsh, there was a fair buzz. The Little Gloster had some good coverage and got some favourable comments on this site - "You must, Must, MUST visit the Little Gloster on Gurnard Marsh", enthused Mr Happy; "Delectable from start to finish!", gushed Wendy V, and many more in the same vein. M&C did actually make a couple of attempts to visit, but got muddled with opening times over the winter, deciding eventually to come for a lunchtime session to be sure of getting it right. That undertaking finally came to fruition when your reviewers, with a couple of friends, made a foray to Gurnard one Sunday lunchtime and put the Little Gloster to the test.

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Visit the website: http://www.thelittlegloster.com/