Archive review: Manuel’s, Cowes
Uncategorised 14th July 2009
Archive review: Manuel’s is now closed. It’s coming up to high season on the Isle of Wight and its sailing capital in particular is due for an intense time as Cowes Week fever reaches its crescendo. This time of year all of the shops, bars and eateries are well-stocked... Read more
Red Funnel, Southampton-East Cowes
31st May 2009 20
There are a few things about living on the Isle of Wight so axiomatic that Island residents will be bemused to even hear them discussed. Taxis are one. You never, ever take a taxi on the Island unless someone else is paying. As everyone knows, they are fearfully expensive... Read more
Watch House Barn, Cowes
10th May 2009 8
Shops in Cowes – and indeed people – seem to be divided into two broad groupings. Either impossibly chic and inaccessible; or quaint to the point of impracticality. Both have their merits, but Matt and Cat undoubtedly tend to favour the fanciful when faced with the choice. So with... Read more
The Union, Cowes
25th January 2009 4
Matt and Cat flipped a coin one evening and, at the whim of our good Queen Elizabeth, aimed for Cowes for something to eat. Having heard talk that there was yet another Indian restaurant in the yachting Mecca, they set out to find it. On their way through the... Read more
Purple Mango, East Cowes
2nd November 2008 18
The lights are shining bright in East Cowes these days. Despite SEEDA‘s numinous arrival in the town – now revealed disappointingly as all light and no heat – the brave entrepreneurs behind Saffron in Cowes have thumbed their noses at the economic downturn and opened a stylish restaurant in... Read more
Number 3, Bath Road, Cowes (DB’s)
25th October 2008 7
Note: in July 2011 DB’s changed its name to Number 3. Matt and Cat took it into their heads to dine in Cowes. As it was getting late in the season it was pretty quiet, and they enjoyed a peaceful stroll along the parade, watching the Red Funnel ferry... Read more
Medina Indian Cuisine and Kebab Pizza, Cowes
13th June 2008 1
With a population of just under 20,000 (which more than doubles on Cowes firework night), Cowes is a pretty small town. Its heart is pretty compact, with quaint bow-fronted shops and chandleries, pressed into a small waterside High Street. Also squeezed into the town are four Indian restaurants; a... Read more
Baan Thai, Cowes
5th May 2008 7
There seems to be a formula to calculate the number of oriental restaurants in any given area – if you know the number of Indian restaurants, you can assume a similar number of Chinese ones, and, aggregating these two, once you reach a certain number, sure enough there will... Read more
Archive review: Octopus Garden Cafe, Cowes
Uncategorised 1st December 2007
This is an archive review. The Octopus Garden is now closed. John Lennon, as featured on the door of the Gents (with modesty spared by Matt and Cat), looking rather like the Island’s very own Jack Douglas? The Octopus Garden Cafe in Cowes started life as a museum of... Read more
The Woodvale, Gurnard
28th October 2007 8
With its sixty miles of beautiful coastline, it’s not hard to find a place to eat on the Isle of Wight that will offer panoramic views across the Solent, the English Channel, or of Dorset, Hampshire and West Sussex’s distant shores. (Not all at once, of course!). One such... Read more
