Matt and Cat\'s Isle of Wight Eating Out Guide
Plant-based Dining at Ventnor Botanic Garden
Veganism is the new black. Or something. Certainly there has been an upswell of interest in cutting meat out of one’s diet – but dairy too? Is that a step too far? Although fish is usually on the menu at the Edulis restaurant in VBG, Chef Brad Roe used... Read more
Farmers Market, Ryde
We’re a couple of idlers. While you are taking your children to swimming lessons and tending to your horses on a Saturday morning, we’re nearly always lazing about. However, due to a quirk of fate, we were up early today and you know what that means – a visit... Read more
Sushi Supper at Cantina, Ventnor
One of our favourite restaurants Cantina is known for its Eurocentric cuisine so we were intrigued and delighted when proprietor Klaus proposed a sushi supper. We love this meticulous Japanese cuisine and so do plenty of others – our first dining event of the year was a sell out!... Read more
Can we do it? Yes, vegan!
The last time Cat lost this much weight in a week she was suffering from a particularly nasty bout of food poisoning. Take it from us, an attack of campylobacter can seriously deplete the body’s reserves and cause discomfort for days. However, this week Cat shed four pounds not... Read more
Gurt Cook Off 2017
For those of you who think Isle of Wight Day is just about bunting, think again. This celebration of all things Island was conceived by Robin Courage during his tenure as High Sheriff in 2016 and was such a success last year that it is now an annual date... Read more
Deep Blue, Southsea
Southsea’s South Parade Pier, magnificently wrecked by fire during the filming of Tommy, was a regular haunt of Cat’s. Every Monday night in the mid-1980s, the Battle of the Bands would take place; Cat had many friends who performed on the stage at the pier’s Gaiety Show Bar. She... Read more
I Love Wight Food Market
We’ve enjoyed food markets in London, Brighton and – closer to home – Southsea. Today we went to the first I Love Wight Food Market at Brading. Some of our old favourites were there and it was also the first outing for some fledgling local businesses. Read more
Review of the Year 2016
After a year of extensive ‘research’ we noticed a trend for locally-focussed and chef-led dining that got some real traction in 2016. Read more
Briddlesford Farm Dairy
Our friends at Wootton’s Briddlesford Farm kindly invited us to the launch of their new dairy brand. You have probably tried the creamy milk products produced by the farm using milk from its award-winning Guernsey herd. Milk was sold under the Buttercup name, now it’s all available under the... Read more
Wine Tasting Dinner at Seaview Hotel
We were invited to the Seaview Hotel for dinner this week. The dishes were accompanied by Spanish wines, each described by Carlos from Cvne winery. The hotel’s chef and the team from Eurovines had worked together to match the various Riojas with the dishes on the four-course menu. The... Read more