Chutney Express, Ventnor
15th June 2009 17
Ah, Ventnor. Yes, the magical town where unicorns roam across the sparkling beach; and pixies giggle behind every corner. Or something. The Guardian pronounces “the place feels apart from the Isle of Wight, let alone the UK“. The Telegraph dashes up to claim “Ventnor has got its va-va-voom back“.... Read more
Love and marriage, they say, go together like a horse and carriage. Or maybe like Peters and Lee, the interchangeable Ant and Dec, Matt and Cat, and Indian tapas… Whoah there! Indian and tapas? Both spicy, perhaps, but a good combination? The new owners of Sandown’s latest restaurant, SWAD... Read more
Spice Express, Ryde
30th November 2008 12
Cat and Matt have been off the scene for a week or so; confined to barracks with, respectively, a cold and Man Flu. Without any sense of taste and likely to be felled by fits of coughing, M and C decided that they were not in any condition to... 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
Bengal Palace, Newport
5th August 2008 11
As regular readers of Matt and Cat’s Isle of Wight Eating Out Guide may have deduced, the eponymous writers live in Ryde and work in Newport. This geographical predictability means that the reviews on these pages have a tendency to cluster around these conurbations. And, dear reader, you can... 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
Archive review: Cinnamon, Ryde
Uncategorised 11th March 2008
This is an archive review. Cinnamon has now closed and has been replaced by Island Spice. Heston Blumenthal‘s laboratory kitchen, what’s that all about, eh? Who in their right mind really wants to pay ninety quid for a taste of snail porridge or egg and bacon flavour ice cream?... Read more
Jasmine Indian Cuisine, Shanklin
10th February 2008 16
There’s something reassuring about seeing restaurateurs consuming their own wares. Workers need to eat and, whilst many chow down in some back room, others fuel up more conspicuously. It’s not uncommon, for example, to see the friendly staff in the Hong Kong Express at Ryde sitting down to a... Read more
ARCHIVE POST: Monsoon is still trading (Jan 2020), but as a takeaway only. Ryde is a curious town in layout – a long, thin chain of shops, pubs and restaurants snakes its way uphill from the esplanade – where the visitor arrives fresh from the ferry – thence up... Read more
Taj Tandoori, Sandown
17th June 2007 6
The vast, metropolitan town that is Cowes boasts no less than three eat-in tandooris, the Island’s county town, Newport, has only two, and Ryde, Shanklin and Sandown have to make do with one each – oh, and one in Lake. It’s a mystery why, outside Cowes, such busy tourist... Read more
