The George, Newport
27th January 2009 14
Eeny meeny miny mo, to which venue will M and C go? Having visited nearly all of Newport’s eateries, Matt and Cat found themselves at the junction of South Street and St James Street where, side by side, were the two of the most prominent untried dining rooms of... 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
Chequers, Rookley
2nd September 2008 14
Being seaside dwellers, Matt and Cat tend to cling to the edges of the Island – except when heading to the megalopolis that is Newport for their day jobs. However, they can be drawn to Vectis’ rural innards when necessary. One such voyage of discovery lead them to Rookley’s... Read more
Crab and Lobster Tap, Ventnor
10th August 2008 10
NB: The Crab and Lobster has now been sold. This review refers to Summer 2008 but probably doesn’t apply now. The Isle of Wight is a great place to live. How people can say it’s boring is beyond the meagre wit of Matt and Cat as, apart from their... Read more
Archive review: The Countryman, Limerstone
Uncategorised 8th May 2008
This is an archive review. The Countryman is now closed. Matt and Cat’s home town of Ryde is positively bursting with places to eat and they’ve tried an awful lot of them. The advantage of such a densely resourced place is that if you don’t like the look of... Read more
Boathouse, Springvale
1st May 2008 34
This is an archive review of a previous incarnation of The Boathouse. For the current review go here. The Boathouse – and Matt and Cat’s previous remarks about it – has proven to be one of the talking points of this website. See the bottom of the page for... Read more
Sun Inn, Calbourne
29th January 2008 6
In the increasingly competitive pub and restaurant market, establishments often hang their Unique Selling Point on some small featurette, extrapolating it into an entire theme – see, for example, the Island’s only capital punishment theme pub – the Hare and Hounds; a venue which developed its identity from its... Read more
Archive review: Cask and Taverners, Godshill
Uncategorised 23rd November 2007
This review is of the former Cask & Taverners, which has now been reopened as The Taverners – and is quite different. See the more recent and up-to-date review here. It has been said that Matt and Cat shy away from the Isle of Wight’s more upmarket eateries; this... Read more
Castle Inn, Newport
8th November 2007 5
It all started with tomatoes, or the lack of. Cat’s tomatoes were in Matthew’s fridge for reasons too tedious to explain here. This meant that her planned packed lunch of torn mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and freshly ripped basil leaves from the plant on her kitchen window sill, all drizzled... 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
