It’s been exactly a year since we were urged to Stay at Home, Protect the NHS and Save Lives. A year of restaurants doing the are-we-open-no-we’re-closed-again hokey cokey (Hovid-Covid?) A year of intermittently eating out, but mostly relying on our latent cooking skills, with variable results – hello seafood... Read more
Dumpling Dumpling is one of those food wagons that we always make for. Over the last few years we’ve been running into them at various Island events, and even on the mainland. Every time, there’s no arguing with the delicious dumpling morsels. This really is cute, tasty and justly... Read more
Confession time: Cat has never cooked a roast dinner. Nigh-on twenty years as a vegetarian – followed by an astonishing volte-face in 2003 leading her to eat (things with) faces – plus many years as a food critic experiencing other peoples’ cooking, means that she’s never bothered to learn... Read more
Have you noticed how every Indian takeaway menu in Britain is almost always the same as every other Indian takeaway menu? And probably not even Indian. For reasons too culturally nuanced for us to bother exploring, even Indian restaurant menu writers usually include an unornamented section called something like... Read more
Lordy! The landscape of the takeaway has changed enormously since the arrival of COVID-19. We were quite happy with our intermittent curry, the occasional Friday fish and chips and perhaps a cheeky chain burger. But, as the virus rumbles interminably on, so do our stomachs – for something more... Read more
Our bold mission to chart the Isle of Wight’s eating out offerings had something of a setback when eating out became illegal. Undeterred, we have returned to working our way through the Island’s takeaway and delivery options. This week we found an offbeat variation on the theme that we... Read more
Back in the day, BC – Before COVID – Wootton Leisure Strip at Christmas was a sight to behold. Alongside the twinkling twin takeaways of Miga and Balti King, Terry’s fish and chip shop had a refulgent festive lighting display that warmed even the coldest of heart-cockles. As we... Read more
We love Ryde’s No 64. Of course, we’re all about the nammet so, with their Asian-inspired dishes and hearty stews along with traditional favourites, we’re always spoilt for choice. But what sets No 64 apart is the incredible customer service. Often that choice we want to make is made... Read more
We’d been recommended a curry house in Shanklin as worth a try, so for our next round of COVID-19-safe meals, we wondered if Cinnamon would be willing to deliver all the way to Ryde. It turned out that they would. A polite chap arrived at our door and passed... Read more
Anyone at all who has been in a café or restaurant in the last couple of years will know that the trend has been for venues to eschew traditional soft furnishings such as carpets and curtains, instead streamlining interiors with hard surfaces and firm seating. The upshot of this... Read more
