Not a food review! Matt and Cat comment on a new book
Many congratulations to the lady who describes herself as “gourmet and former award-winning Island chef” Angela Hewitt, on the publication of her new book, What’s Cooking on the Isle of Wight and Wight Good Food Guide
Matt and Cat have observed with interest and pleasure the development of her Wight Good Food Guide website, which over a few seasons has racked up 34 reviews of Island eateries – some agreeing with their own conclusions, some dissenting. Unlike M&C with their strictly amateur and subjective status, Angela is proud to parade her professional experience, saying
I have eaten in almost every establishment on the Island. I was chef proprietor of the original Lugley’s (TM) Restaurant 1980 – 1994. It won awards from Egon Ronay, The Good Food Guide, AA Good Food Guide, and Michelin.
Impressive! And it’s well worth visiting Angela’s website where more of her wisdom is dispensed in very readable form. It’s great to read a second opinion – Matt and Cat often visit her site and very much enjoy it. They will now be looking out for the new book – and will let you know what they think if they get hold of one. Let’s hope it’s as big a success as the Wight Good Food Guide website.
In fact, they could have got a book today by going along to the IW County Press shop, where apparently Mrs Hewitt was signing copies. Perhaps if they had, they could have remonstrated gently with her for badging her opus as “The only independent guide to eating out on the Isle of Wight”. Really, what is one to do? Perhaps over 160 illustrated reviews isn’t enough to qualify as a guide? Or maybe these amateur and non-award-winning ramblings simply don’t measure up? Matt and Cat were a bit downcast to read that strapline. They will just have to work harder at it – perhaps they might get a mention in the next edition.
FREE EXCLUSIVE SIGNED CARD
So, to show they’re not lagging too far behind the professionals, here’s a great free offer. Whenever Matt and Cat review an establishment they send a postcard to the proprietor to let them know the review is online. These postcards are cute little cards with the Matt and Cat logo on. Very exclusive! One of these can be yours: signed by Matt and Cat! Yes, your reviewers will send a unique signed postcard to the first three lucky readers who email their UK postal address to the link on the FAQ page (offer now expired, congrats to our three winners!).
Angela Hewitt’s Wight Good Food Guide
Shocking! I stumbled upon this book in Ventnor yesterday, and was so appalled I nearly cried. Well, I nearly thought about crying anyway. Actually I was just midly irritated really…. Anyway, how can she make such a claim? The Independent M&C guide is fab. What a faux pas.
Yours
Not impressed of Newport
I regularly visit your site, Matt and Cat. It’s always entertaining, your reviews are thorough and well-written, and it’s very user-friendly. It’s led me to try places I might not otherwise have noticed. I like your egalitarian approach, where you give equal weight to establishments, whether they serve simple fare or posh nosh. All my family and friends know about you, and from the frequency with which people add comments to your site, I think your readership is growing rapidly! Thanks for sharing so many of your meals with us!
I forgot to mention:
“The pork in my pork and mozzarella cheese stack was just about right but would have been better if it had come from a younger pig”
I do hope she employed a proof-reader for the book; surely such a qualified reviewer should be able to spell “dinning room” and “foi gras! And she may have spotted over the years that there is usually no apostrophe in “menu’s”.
I shall stick to the superior literary standards of your site in future.
Matt and Cat respond: you’re very kind 🙂 although we wouldn’t suggest that we are in any way superior… you’ll certainly find similar howlers on this site too if you look long enough… feel free to point them out if so!
having read the book and visited the site, can only say, why did she bother. This site is far more informative, better laid out and easier to read