Matt and Cat have a good friend from the West Wight who's a bit of a bon viveur, and who enjoys exchanging notes with them on the latest Island eateries, preferably over a glass of some appropriate quaffage.

Over the years they've discovered a remarkable congruence; the more he denounces a place, the more M and C love it. It never fails. So when, during a recent encounter, the fine fellow hastened to pour the most extravagant scorn on Godshill's Loaves and Fishes restaurant Matt and Cat knew that they had to try it. Read on to see if the magic worked this time!

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There's a theory suggesting that if you sit and wait long enough, everything will come to you.

If this principle has much currency, there have probably been a few gurus on mountaintops waiting for a very long time for a nice fresh fish supper to come along. What they really ought to do is set up a seminary in Chale Green, Nettlestone, Godshill, Niton or St Helens. Then at least they could be sure of the Jolly Fryer mobile fish and chip wagon coming around every week.

Fish and chip aficionado Matt has observed the mobile chippy in various locations across the Island, but never quite managed to catch up with it - usually being near a more traditional, static establishment. But one Saturday evening he made the effort and took junior reviewers Bill and Jack and their pal Toby out to Nettlestone to give the Jolly Fryer a spin.

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What's the way to find good fish and chips on the Isle of Wight? It's simple - follow Matt and Cat's easy guide.

Are you right next to the sea? No good chips here - and no good prices either. Are you within sight of the sea? OK, maybe some edible chips, but keep a hold of your wallet. Within sound of the sea? You might just get something decent. No sign of the sea? Then you're probably on course for a really good fish supper. There are a few exceptions to buck the trend but it seems to be a general truism that to get the best chips, simply you must turn your back on the coast and head inland.

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Brothers fish and chip shop, in Brading, is a novelty on the Island: a chip shop which is not on the beach - or even near it.

Hence, like Brading itself, it has much of the charm of a quiet rural town, and is rarely overtaken by hordes of tourists. Set on the main road, the coaches grind past Brothers daily, but few take the time to stop and enjoy this unspoilt little town. Matt, too, passes through Brading regularly, and eventually decided he had driven past one time too many, and on the way home from a late assignment at work decided to stop at Brothers and collect a fish supper.

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(see below for 2006 review)

2008 Review: dashing home after a football match, Matt and the lads were in Sandown with a mind to eat chips.

Leaving Bill sitting in the car in his studs and mud-caked football kit, Jack and Matt nipped into Fat Harry's to try the takeaway. When Matt and his junior reviewers had first visited Fat Harry's, two years ago, it had been new and shiny (see review below). They'd eaten in, and found the food and service to be above average.

So how had Fat Harry's fared in the meantime?

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