After months of lockdown, punctuated with the compassion behind #ClapForCarers and diligent social distancing, girls – and boys – just wanna have fun. And while for some people that might mean the pub, for us it is a cafe. So, on the first day bars and restaurants reopened their... Read more
Our last pre-lockdown meal in a restaurant was an impromptu dinner at Call It What You Want, in Cowes, way back in March. A quick lunchtime drink at Comicoffee, Newport the next day, and after that, it’s been home dining all the way. We have enjoyed some great takeaways... Read more
There used to be a saying that you could fit the world’s population onto the Isle of Wight. That was true once, but it isn’t any more. It’s academic anyway as no-one ain’t going nowhere, least of all the Island. COVID-19 has curtailed movement of most people, for the... Read more
We’re going to start this review with an apology. No, not for choosing a national company over a local one. Nor for both of us having meaty options. No, we’re apologising for once again reviewing a Ryde-based eatery. Forgive us – it’s the lockdown, see. If we could go... Read more
Ever been to a restaurant with a seemingly inexhaustible menu? We certainly have. There was one place on the Island which had a twelve page bill of fare crammed with all sorts of dishes from lobster thermidor to fillet steak, with various world food delicacies shoehorned into the pages... Read more
As we took our seats at the sunny dining table, we remarked on what a beautiful evening it was. The sun was making its slow descent to herald the end of another glorious spring day and we were still feeling the warmth of its sinking rays. Our dinner was... Read more
Oh dear. It feels like the end of days, doesn’t it? The Isle of Wight, nay the world, is pretty much closed for business and we are all being asked to hunker down, stay at home and try and ride out the COVID-19 virus as best we can. Inevitably... Read more
One of the reasons we started Matt and Cat’s Isle of Wight Eating Out Guide was to give ourselves an incentive to dine away from our own particular beaten track. You probably have your own special favourite eateries too. That Indian takeaway where they know your order off pat.... Read more
As Red Funnel‘s bulldozer of progress finally subsumed its neighbour the White Hart pub, Chinese takeaway Jade Garden stood its ground. The venue’s little beacon of light shines smack bang in East Cowes’ regeneration quarter. The modern Waitrose, a block of over-fifty-fives’ housing, and, of course, that smooth new... Read more
Burger King has opened on the Isle of Wight. A corner of that monstrous leisure shed that used to house Staples has been walled off into another of those bizarrely-misshapen spaces that characterise big box retail these days, and in it has appeared the Island’s first ever branch of... Read more
