Love and marriage, they say, go together like a horse and carriage. Or maybe like Peters and Lee, the interchangeable Ant and Dec, Matt and Cat, and Indian tapas... Whoah there! Indian and tapas?

Both spicy, perhaps, but a good combination? The new owners of Sandown's latest restaurant, SWAD Indian Tapas, seem to think so. Matt and Cat, initially sceptical about this cross-cultural culinary collision, decided on reflection that actually, the idea of Indian tapas sounded pretty good. After all, who hasn't looked at some bizarre item on the bottom of the menu and wondered if they'd like it. With tapas one can speculate a modest amount of money on a small dish and try new food experiences. M and C skipped to the seaside town one evening to find out what SWAD was all about...

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Some of Matt and Cat's readers visit this eating out guide with flattering regularity, apparently trusting - as well as being entertained by - the amateur ramblings of the eponymous bloggers.

Just as one might demand the same hairstylist year after year - as they are truly the only scissor-jockey who can whip lank greasy hair into a towering spiky mullet - so Matt and Cat have confidence in the venues of certain restaurant proprietors.

So it was, when M and C learnt that the business acumen behind popular upmarket Ryde restaurant Liberty's was involved with the refurbishment of Bar 53, they were keen to check it out.

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The Isle of Wight is delightfully unsophisticated despite the regular and steady influx of DFLs (Down from London), downsizing to experience the mellowness that is Island living (see Guardian article 'Let's Move to Ventnor'). The Island's esplanades are empty of metrosexual man's preening narcissism, his skilfully dishevelled hair refusing to budge an inch in the blustery seaside conditions.

As well as the cosmopolitan man, other urban trends have also remained an abstract concept. Thankfully the Island's streets are not littered with the corpses of recently stabbed youths; celebrity tarts in pink velour tracksuits remain, like their personalities, satisfyingly two-dimensional on the pages of Heat magazine and property prices continue to rise, despite the rest of the world heading for a global economic downturn.

So, it was with some trepidation that Matt and Cat entered Ventnor's Met Bar, imagining it to be populated by zealously groomed young men with bodies hard from their gym workout or orange-hued women with nylon hair cascading down their tattooed backs. Thankfully, they discovered that The Met is a name derived from the eminently respectable Metropole Hotel! Phew!

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After a shopping trip to Ryde's French Market, from which they came away laden with cheese and sausages, Matt and Cat wandered down Union Street in search of somewhere new to eat. Yes, even after 120+ reviews there still are places in Union Street that have yet to enjoy Matt and Cat's scrutiny. Today it was the turn of Kasbah, the Moroccan Cafe-Bar.

The first time M & C essayed a review at Kasbah, it had just that moment experienced a flood from upstairs, and bowls and pans were set around the bar and floor to catch the onslaught. The doughty staff welcomed them in nonetheless, but your reviewers retreated elsewhere. This time there was no flood, just the gentle world music tinkling in the background, a welcoming table of Sunday papers, and a splendid view over the Solent out of the open front door.

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Visit the website: http://www.kas-bah.co.uk/

One of
Matt and Cat's
favourites

Matt and Cat welcome all suggestions for new venues so keep 'em coming! On this site's well-populated 'suggest a venue' page have been two requests for M and C to review El Toro Contento Tapas Bar, Ventnor. So, on a beautiful sunny Easter Sunday, they paid a visit.

Having built up an appetite photographing the famous Ventnor wall lizards and with their breakfast of Easter eggs wearing off, Matt and Cat squeezed into the small but welcoming tapas bar. The atmosphere seemed genuinely Spanish, as was the chef who briefly greeted Matt and Cat before retreating into the kitchen. The very friendly lady behind the bar explained how tapas works, and made some suggestions.

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Visit the website: http://ventnorblog.com/el-toro-contento-a-little-slice-of-spain-in-ventnor/