We are often asked where the best place is to eat. That, of course, depends on the circumstances. You might not want to hold your toddler’s birthday party in a venue which is mostly populated by vertical drinkers yelling football-related expletives at Sky Sports on a muted telly. Similarly,... Read more
The attractions of East Cowes are well-known, but for us as food reviewers they have historically been relatively few. Not to say there haven’t been highlights. We’ve enjoyed the classy food at the Albert Cottage, the cheerful atmosphere at hipstery pizza joint Prego, and even nodded in approval at... Read more
Back in the day we were involved in a project to get young people, particularly boys, away from their computer screens and outside in the fresh air. There was a presumption that too much time spent alone in a stuffy bedroom manipulating his joystick would be detrimental to a... Read more
We’re often asked where is the best place to go for a specific type of meal; a roast dinner, say, or a cream tea. The other top request is breakfast. Cat’s – and the hipsters’ – particular favourite is smashed avocado and poached egg on toast, a surprisingly difficult... Read more
If you follow the main road from Newport towards Sandown, or perhaps more wisely the opposite way, you’ll see at Hale Common some alluring new signs proclaiming FARM SHOP. Accept this invitation and you’ll travel down a long driveway, through some industrial-looking quarry landscape until you arrive at what... Read more
It’s been a while. Let’s be honest and say that when we last visited Morrison’s cafe in Newport, our experience was memorable, and the subsequent review involved the words ‘horrible’, and ‘groll’. So it took fourteen years before we worked up the courage to try it again. Needing a... Read more
Cantina has, in the past, been one of our favourite venues ever. When it arrived in Ventnor, around the time Robert Thompson was winning the Isle of Wight’s only Michelin star of the millennium, it brought an unexpected taste of trendy London cafe life to the sleepy seaside town,... Read more
One thing the global pandemic has taught many of us is how to be flexible. Today the government announced the possibility of a ‘last resort’ lockdown to thwart a winter wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. For some, this might simply mean business as usual; laptop ensconced on the dining... Read more
Gorblimey! Now we know how Mary and Joseph felt a week or so before Christmas. (Christmas? Perhaps it was simply known as ‘Mas’ back then.) Trying to get dinner without a reservation at the height of the Island’s staycationing summer might be considered to be misfortune, to aspire to... Read more
One thing which the Isle of Wight does, and has always done well, is be an incubator for enterprise. Much has been said about the death and resurrection of the high street, but if you were hoping for a return to the butcher, baker and candlestick-maker, the old model... Read more