Ale and Oyster, Ventnor
16th July 2008 25
Seeking, as ever, to encourage everyone to chip into the Island’s biggest and best collection of food reviews, Matt and Cat offer a ‘Suggest a venue‘ page where readers can attempt to guide them towards (or away from) one venue or another. It’s well-used and quite a long list.... Read more
This is an archive review. La Scala has now closed. Matt spent his formative years in Sandown, pottering on the beach, playing on the railway and trotting up and down the High Street. Much has changed in Sandown since those days… but much has not. Matt can’t quite remember... Read more
The Beach Hut Diner, Ventnor
29th June 2008 9
Everyone likes to be nosy. The fascination with our fellow humans occupies a lot of our time. You’ve only got to look through the TV listings to find programmes dedicated to satiating the needs of trunky-want-a-bun viewers. You can spend half an hour watching people struggle with their hysterical... Read more
The Hungry Caterpillar, Medina Garden Centre, Wootton
23rd June 2008 3
The Island’s landscape is often called ‘England in Miniature‘. Maybe it is. But if so, it’s a bit short on some things. Thank goodness, there are no nuclear power stations, no motorways, no slag-heaps and no international airports. And no pylons. Or are there? Here’s a game you can... Read more
Café Maya, Bembridge
15th June 2008 3
Years ago in St Thomas Square, Newport there was a great little Italian restaurant. It occupied the premises that had been vacated by the Niton Bakery (now a mobility shop). It was a super place for lunch; cheap pizzas and fresh tomato-based salads, pouring oil and steaming cups of... 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
Brothers Fish and Chips, Brading
9th June 2008 6
Brothers fish and chip shop, in Brading, is a novelty on the Island: a chip shop which is not on the beach – or even near it. Hence, like Brading itself, it has much of the charm of a quiet rural town, and is rarely overtaken by hordes of... Read more
Archive review: the Tollgate is now renamed and under new management Even when driving on the Island’s quiet rural roads, it is easy to be overwhelmed with highways signage and, in the towns this pervasive blight is so ubiquitous that the messages merge and homogenise, ceasing to be of... Read more
Caffè Isola, Newport
7th June 2008 1
It sometimes seems that the installation of the eating classes on pavements is the solution to all society’s ills. With tedious regularity politicians and commentators can be heard praising the ‘café culture’ of the continent – where young couples sit at tables scattered casually around the piazzas, generating economic... Read more
The Square, Newport
11th May 2008 1
What a continental sight; Newport’s St Thomas Square on a hot day. The farmer’s market was in full swing, lunchtime drinkers – and smokers – were crowding the tables outside the Wheatsheaf, and Matt and Cat had plonked themselves down at a jammy table outside a little pasty shop... Read more
