Local produce | Matt and Cat's Isle of Wight Eating Out Guide

The Chequers, Rookley

Reviews 28th December 2018
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You know The Chequers, right? One of those big, rambling family road pubs that you took the kids and grandparents to. The kind of place where a large car park and play area are adequate compensation for the generic pub grub menu. If that’s still your idea of the... Read more

Devon Food Movement at Kynges Well, Brading

Articles 28th November 2018
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We’re used to our favourite bands going on tour, and comedians have been doing the circuit for years. But what about chefs? Chef/founder of the Devon Food Movement, Luke Fearon, doesn’t have his own kitchen. Instead, he make guest appearances at existing venues, and this week he brought his... Read more

Twelve Course Vegan Tasting Menu at Quay Arts

Articles 13th November 2018
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Cat’s a bit of a vegan-dabbler, although it will take a lot to turn Matt’s head away from sausages. Talking of which, we were delighted to have it further confirmed that vegan food needn’t be sawdusty fauxages. When in the supremely talented hands of Quay Arts chef Dave Holley,... Read more

The Cottage, Shanklin

Reviews 6th November 2018
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Dining out with us could be a bit of a chore for our friends. You’re invited out a for a fun night out, yet your dining companions are constantly fiddling with notebooks and hustling their camera phones up and down at every course. Luckily we have some very tolerant... Read more

Blue Crab, Yarmouth

Reviews 29th October 2018
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Imagine popping into your local village chippy only to find yourself bumping into a peer of the realm. That was our diverting experience when we were waiting for a table in Yarmouth’s Blue Crab. ‘Takeaway for Michael?’ was called out, and we passed local celebrity Lord Grade of Yarmouth... Read more

Stripped, Ventnor

Reviews 10th September 2018
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Have you ever worked for a big organisation? Not a rapidly-expanding kick-started hipster laser razor company, but one of those ancient creaky institutions, like the government or Royal Family. Where, over the decades, layers of policy, ceremony and administration have been added like skin round an onion, until nobody... Read more

Seapot, Ventnor

Reviews 14th August 2018
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At the outer edge of England lies the Isle of Wight; at the Island’s southerly perimeter is Ventnor – and clinging to its shoreline is Seapot. We approached the cafe from the Bonchurch end, pausing to read about how, when Victorian celebrity Tennyson popped into the village, local girls... Read more

Top five places for vegetarian and vegan dining on the Isle of Wight

Reviews 8th August 2018
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These days denying yourself is the new hedonism. Where we used to brag about how much our houses were worth and chunter on about our exotic foreign holidays, now it’s all about staycationing and the hair-shirtism of Dry January. Around the world people are woke to the nightmare of... Read more

Blacksmith’s, Carisbrooke

Reviews 10th July 2018
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Is pub grub an actual genre of food? It probably is. Leave aside the rather chummy and dated feel of the word ‘grub’, and the conveniently rhyming description gives a clear expectation to the prospective diner. Sizeable portions of hot food, usually a focus on meat and chips, and... Read more

Chessell Pottery Cafe, Shalcombe

Reviews 1st July 2018
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Now that David Bowie has shuffled off this mortal coil, the memory of him will surely eventually fade away. But for old codgers like us, there is no greater shorthand for reinvention than the conceiver of the Thin White Duke and Ziggy Stardust. And, just as the erstwhile David... Read more