The Carousel Cafe, Brading
5th August 2006 3
Slightly off the beaten track of Brading’s gift shops, wax museum, doll museum and tea shops is the Carousel Cafe. It is strikingly furnished with merry-go-round memorabilia – a welcome departure from the usual doilies and pastoral venacular. Cat and a friend ended up in the Carousel Cafe, not... Read more
The Happy Heifer, Ryde Esplanade
16th July 2006 1
At a convenient spot opposite the bustling beach at Ryde is a new and attractive tea shop entertainingly named the Happy Heifer. The cafe is nicely decorated with tongue-and-groove panelling and quarry-tiling on the floor. Although the interior is pretty small, Matt and Cat had no trouble finding a... Read more
Jireh Guest House & Tea Rooms, Yarmouth
11th July 2006 8
Jireh Guest House, Yarmouth On a sunny Sunday afternoon working up an appetite looking around the lovely town of Yarmouth, your reviewers stumbled across the Jireh Tea Rooms in The Square. The tea rooms exude history. The low-ceilinged building has a compact terrace at the front which is in... Read more
Thompsons Plant and Garden Centre, Newchurch
9th April 2006 0
A garden centre cafe may not be the first place you think of for a meal or just light refreshments, but your intrepid reviewers decided to stop in Thompson’s cafe for a fortifying meal before choosing plants to adorn Cat’s tiny balcony. The cafe is set in the middle... Read more
Fat Harry’s, Sandown High Street
6th February 2006 22
(see below for 2006 review) 2008 Review: dashing home after a football match, Matt and the lads were in Sandown with a mind to eat chips. Leaving Bill sitting in the car in his studs and mud-caked football kit, Jack and Matt nipped into Fat Harry’s to try the... Read more
The Dairyman’s Daughter, Arreton Barns
20th January 2006 34
One of Brading’s most famous residents was Little Jane, an eighteenth century villager who featured in the wildly successful religious pamphlet “Annals of the Poor”, by the then curate of Brading, the Rev. Legh Richmond. Rather in the manner of a catholic saints’ shrine, the site of Little Jane’s... Read more
Archive review: Liberty’s, Union Street, Ryde
Uncategorised 14th January 2006
NB: Liberty’s is now closed. Liberty’s Cafe Bar is a new feature of Union Street, a road undergoing a remarkable revival. With perhaps the greatest concentration of listed buildings on the Island, Union Street has intrigued visitors and locals alike with its mix of the mundane and the fanciful... Read more
Archive review: The Aviator, Sandown Airport
Uncategorised 25th December 2005
Archive review: the Aviator is now closed. The Aviator opened in summer 2005, publicised with a full page advert in the County Press. The ad showed a lovely clean restaurant with 1930’s style aero-related artefacts which caught the attention of Matt and Cat. The ad was accurate; there is... Read more
UPDATE: The Chicago Rock Cafe has closed its doors. The building is now home to the William Coppin. The review below is for archive purposes only. Well, another day, another food chain. Senses dulled by unsatisfactory experiences in many franchise eateries, Matt and Cat had low expectations when they... Read more
Ventnor Winter Gardens, Bell Bar Cafe
6th December 2005 6
Matt and Cat visited the Bell Bar in December 2005. A nice sunny Bank Holiday weekend in 2008 saw Cat revisit the place. Read the latest review below, followed by the 2005 review beyond that. May 2008 Review England in the summer time, eh? Whilst the rest of the... Read more
