At the eastern end of Newport High Street are the vertical drinking establishments; bars that offer cheap booze and basic nosh, fortifying evening revellers as they stagger towards the bright lights of the William Coppin.

Joe’s was one such establishment which also managed to do well during the day, with its moderately sophisticated menu and extensive range of coffees for the lunchtime office crowd. However, when it briefly became the Mill Bay II, it lost some of its panache. In the blink of an eye, its doors were closed once more and the windows whitewashed.

So it was with interest that Matt and Cat watched another refurbishment of this market town behemoth. The innards of the old beast were gutted; the Mill Bay II’s shiny new carvery station was decommissioned and in its place vast dining booths and half a Volkswagen Beetle were installed. Newport has a new venue and its name is House of Legends.

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Visit the website: http://houseoflegends.co.uk

2010 saw a relaunch for one of Shanklin's most enduring eating-places: since 1983 known as the Maharaja, the latest name for this High Street stalwart is the Spice Lounge.

This place has for many years been a great favourite of Matt and Cat's. Back in the day, before the idea of this website occurred to them, they regularly enjoyed a night of good food and friendly service around the Maharaja's tables. It wasn't too long before M & C felt the need to see whether the Spice Lounge was as good as its respected progenitor, so they treated junior reviewers Bill and Jack to a curry feast in Shanklin.

The Isle of Wight is well provided with Indian food - pretty much anywhere on the Island you're not too far from a curry or the like, and even some pubs make laudable efforts. But the problem with this - if it can be called a problem - is distinguishing one from another. Similar menus, similar décor, similar service and even similar names can sometimes cause one Indian offering to seem all too much like the next. This is often unfair - Matt and Cat can attest that some curry houses on the Island are a lot better than others. It also militates in favour of the new: a freshly launched establishment can draw custom, at least in the short term, by novelty value alone. Older, more established venues, however good, might find themselves falling behind the race, and then maybe be tempted to reinvent themselves. Was this what happened here? Was this just a fresh coat of paint on the same old Maharaja, or was there something genuinely new going on?

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There may be some who wonder how a Matt and Cat review is conducted. Are you haunted by thoughts of an obese couple shuffling around the Island’s chip shops in stained velour tracksuits and Crocs for their ever-widening feet?

Or do you fantasise about a glamorous pair of urbane sophisticates, rolling up to a venue in a safari suit (Matt) and this season’s harem pants and a bolero jacket (Cat), tipping the Maitre d’ for the seat by the orchestra? Alas, those fantastic bubbles must be popped; the truth is often far more pedestrian. Mostly Matt and Cat conduct reviews in their overalls having come straight from the assembly line, hair uncombed since earlier that morning.

Other times, like their recent visit to the Seaview Hotel, they are in their civvies and accompanied. Anyone keeping an eye out for a brace of reviewers may not consider that they would be amongst the vast party that descended on that award-winning restaurant one summer’s lunchtime. Concealed among the gaggle, whose ages ranged from the under eights to the over eighties, Matt and Cat went about their business. How would the hotel cope with the stress test of such a big and diverse party at the height of the season?

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

When Matt and Cat visited the Michelin-starred Hambrough in Ventnor back in 2009, they were stunned by the superb food, describing it as "alchemical... outstanding and clever". The venue and service, though, they found "a bit soulless".

So your reviewers were excited this year when they read chef-patron Robert Thompson's unexpected words in Island Life magazine: "I can't stand 'fine dining'... Now it's all about enjoying your evening, relaxing, having a right good laugh." It sounded like a far cry from the austere, exquisite perfection of the Hambrough. Was Thompson about to open 'Honest Bob's Pie and Eel Stall'? Not quite: but as it turned out, he was as good as his word, and has dramatically produced another, very different dining tour de force this summer: a pop-up restaurant in the crumbling edifice of Northwood House, a stately home in the heart of Cowes.

The pop-up restaurant is the fashionable thing this year, daaahlings. So very of the moment - and Cowes Week 2010 features what must be one of the most impressive venues ever for such a Zeitgeisty way of eating. Thompson is putting his name forward again, quite literally, for a dining experience unique on the Island. His team will be providing diners with a full lunch and dinner menu, plus cocktail bar, in the decaying splendour of the grand house for just a few short weeks during July and August - before the whole lot becomes a fond memory, like a holiday romance. And it's not just for fun: some of the profits go towards the upkeep of the historic house and park.

After Matt and Cat had a discussion on Twitter, the proactive folk at this new venture followed it up, and by the magic of social media invited Matt and Cat to come along and try the restaurant for themselves. Flattered, although deprived of their normal incognito approach, your reviewers set off to see what Mr Thompson had to offer.

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

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