Mat and Cat have often bemoaned the fact that their home town of Ryde has not a single delicatessen to its name.

Eating-out places jostle for attention, but if you want to buy artisan cheeses or gawp at the trotter of a Serrano ham you're out of luck.

Not so in Ventnor, where the little High Street boasts not one but two charmingly bourgeois delis. Having visited the Island Deli not that long ago, M&C thought it best to redress the balance, and made a foray southwards to see what Goodman's Deli had to offer.

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

It's been a tough week for Matt and Cat. Having enjoyed a wonderful Valentine's dinner at a distinctive Island B and B, they stuffed themselves with breakfast the next morning and legged it to the ferry. A mainland carvery completed the weekend's eating out but that wasn't the end of it: a trip to the Hong Kong Express, one lunch on the firm and three days of Boots meal deals plus a curry must surely make this one of the most indulgent weeks M and C have had for ages.

As part of this mammoth indulgence-fest, Matt and Cat decided to try out Shanklin's newest Indian restaurant. Despite the earliness of the season, Matt and Cat noted that the Purple Mango was moderately busy as they entered its warm interior. Like its parent restaurant in East Cowes, Shanklin's Purple Mango has been decked out in a contemporary style. Matthew was impressed by the oversized white banquette and Cat's twinkle antennae were drawn to the ceiling's glittering centrepiece, a recessed assembly of pulsing fairy-lights with the words Purple Mango written in a circle. The impressive waterfall, first seen in East Cowes, finished the signature house style. Having been pleased by their meal at Purple Mango East Cowes would M and C be equally delighted in Shanklin?

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Fish and chips, unlike revenge, is not a dish best served cold. In fact, cold chips, unlike cold pizza, is a meal fit only for seagulls. For this reason, Matt rarely gets to sample fish and chip takeaways unless they are quite close to his home town of Ryde, and he can take the food home to eat before it congeals.

So die-hard Matt and Cat aficionados will be interested to note that this time he's ventured beyond the Island's north-east quarter, as far as southerly Ventnor. And if you think that's surprising enough, you haven't heard the half of it. This time, his trusty fish-and-chip-eating companions Bill and Jack were not accompanying him, nor was he alone. Yes, friends, it's finally happened, Cat has been into a fish and chip shop.

M & C were staying in Ventnor and, in need of a quick meal, decided to make for the nearest takeaway. When this turned out to be the popular and highly-recommended Ocean View, perched high above the town on the edge of Lowtherville, Cat - normally reluctant to consider chip shops as a source of food - showed no sign of wavering in her determination to get a hot dinner, and so into the bright little shop the duo went.

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The famously mis-spelt Long John Eater has spawned a sidekick - and Ryde Esplanade has gained another fish and chip counter.

The Little John Eater is more than a counter opening onto the esplanade - but not a great deal more. For sit-down meals there's the Long John next door, but this new place is obviously intended to soak up some passing trade on that crucial junction at the bottom of Union Street. At such high-exposure locations the temptation must surely be to sell poor quality food in high volumes. Certainly other chip shops in comparable places seem to do this and little else. After all, if your visitors are all day-trippers who might not return for another year, if at all, is there any incentive to cook decent fare?

Because of this effect, Matt and Cat have a rule of thumb about fish and chip quality and proximity to the seaside. In their review of Alexander's (another Ryde chip shop) they posited: "it seems to be a general truism that to get the best chips, you must simply turn your back on the coast and head inland." So by that prediction, the Little John Eater should be pretty grim. But oddly enough, it isn't. In fact, it's not too bad at all. Matt took his fish-and-chip-reviewing buddies, Bill and Jack, down to the new place to try it out - and they were pleasantly surprised.

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Regular readers won't need reminding that Matt's got a bit of a weakness for fast food. By contrast, dainty Cat will often raise her pert nose and walk past even the most tempting of burger joints.

One day when The Cat was away, Matt recruited some expert assistance to try out Subway's franchise on Ryde's Union Street. Junior reviewers Bill and Jack - no strangers to the discipline of surreptitious photography - were joined by Subway aficionado and reviewing neophyte Toby, who promised faithfully not to blurt out the purpose of their visit.

So, on a rainy afternoon, Matt shepherded his little flock through the big green doors. The shop was clean and tidy, if a little worn around the edges. The ubiquitous group of students was in one corner, eking out some meagre provisions and whiling away an afternoon in the warm. Otherwise the place was pretty empty. Toby boldly led the way to the long counter behind which a Subway myrmidon stood inertly.

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