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Gods Providence - Newport "Best Cafe" Award 2009 - Once again they do not disappoint. It's not fancy it's not trendy, but it is traditional fare for the comfort eater and it always has been for as long as I can remember 2008 - Life can be full of disappointments. For me it is going to a restaurant that I originally thought was good only to find on another visit, that the chef has changed along with the quality of the cooking – for the worst! This means that the one thing I'm always looking for is consistency. Whether the establishment is chef/proprietor- based or the chef is employed, the quality of the cooking is the responsibility of the owner not the chef. I have been eating in Gods Providence cafe come tearooms for over 25 years and they are serving the same food, same quality now as they did then. Things have subtly changed, for instance the coconut and chocolate slice has vanished and so has the upstairs salad bar. I am sad about this as I had many girly lunches up there. – always wholemeal pastry quiche with a selection of salads. I remember the grated carrot and coconut salad with great affection. Gods Providence House is now onto its fourth owner. The second one decorated the loos, the third one added curtains, the latest one colourful blackboards and painted walls. Gods Providence House is the nearest one can get to tinkling teacups and olde worlde charm, and old-fashioned pre-war food – comfort food. Steak pie and steak pudding, with a selection of well- cooked vegetables, poached egg on toast, omelettes, scones, egg mayonnaise sandwiches, fruit jelly and lemon meringue pie. Their concession to the modern world is cafetiere coffee selection, herbal teas and BLT; and now some delicious looking puddings. Waitresses in black and white uniforms are quick and friendly. What they create with the catering packs is worth tasting. Where is it? – St Thomas Square, Newport Quay Arts Café - Newport (R) 2009 - The Quay offers a range of vegetarian and interesting salad dishes for the healthy diet conscious. Very much the sort of food you would expect from an arts centre. I have had some really nice dishes here with the occasional - not their usual standard dish - depending on who is cooking that day. Meal sizes can also vary from dish to dish. i.e you might think you are getting a meal but it could turn out to be a snack. 2008 We are a world of stereotype eaters. If you are a truck driver you are meant to eat bacon sandwiches at a greasy spoon – a pop star, to eat nouvelle cuisine – a pensioner, to eat over-cooked roast dinners and toasted teacakes – a business executive, to eat fish – a farmer to eat meat at home – or an artist, to eat vegetarian whole-foods - or that is what every art centre in the country thinks. Whether you are a practising artist or a buyer of art, this is the menu to expect at such establishments. The Quay Arts centre is no exception. Most of the customers seem to be 40–50 year- old women on their own or with a girl friend, and the men are of the paisley sleeveless sweater types. This is not a criticism, merely an observation, besides, I pop in there all the time. I like to view the art then have a cup of tea and a piece of cake, or a bowl of soup. - a pleasant way to spend an hour. The food is healthy – salads come as a salad bar selection, the SOD (soup of day) is usually vegetable, quiche, vegetarian terrines, baguettes using wholemeal bread – an improvement on the white variety served everywhere else – jackets and homemade cakes including beetroot cake. The café is quite dark but the outside deck on the bank of the Medina river is a pleasant place to sit. It can get very busy during lunchtime so be prepared to queue. Where is it? Sea Street, which is at the bottom of Quay Street Beach Cafe - Steephill Cove (HR) Can there be anything more special than an Isle of Wight crab sandwich? Well yes. The Isle of Wight crab sandwiches that are served at the Steephill Cove Café –so fresh you can taste the sea, so richly packed with meat they are a meal. I probably go there more than anywhere else in the summer. I take all my friends as there is no better place to impress than with the joys of Island Life. The venue alone is fantastic and nostalgic, reminiscent of days gone by – despite the new sea wall. A fishing boat bobs in the tiny harbour and you just know this is the vehicle that delivers the crab. Last summer they were also serving huge fluffy-pink meringues filled with thick cream and garnished with Isle of Wight strawberries. Where is it? Proceeding by car from Ventnor, the lane leading to Steephill Cove is 50 yds short of the Ventnor Botanic Gardens. Cars cannot descend to the cove, but parking is available on the main road; or park at the top Ventnor esplanade car park and take the cliff walk. Approx 30 minutes. The Beach Shack formerly Devonia Kiosk - Sandown Amongst the usual beach kiosk stuff comes a sparkle of good food from a couple who want to offer more than just cheesy chips and burgers. They serve the best crab cake I have ever tasted - ever, anywhere in the whole wide world - this alone deserves an award! Also many wonderful home made soups; including rich mushroom, intense pumpkin with crispy bacon and mozzarella balls. Island chefs should do themselves a favour and pop along there on a sunny winters day for a warming special. Where is it? The first kiosk at the beginning of the walk along the revetment to Shanklin.
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Cup of Tea and a Piece of Cake Chessell Pottery Barn - Chessell "Best Cream Tea" award The pottery cafe has developed a nice simple menu of homemade scone and cakes, freshly made soups and simple but very nice ploughman's type snacks using Gallybagger cheese and local pickles. The BEST cream tea we have had this year. Cleary a great deal of attention and affection has gone into this dish. perfect scones, great clotted cream by Calbourne Classics, great fresh tasting locally made strawberry jam. Definitely a pot of tea and a piece of cake stop. Where is it? On the middle road to Freshwater just past Calbourne Old Smithy - Godshill This is serious catering for tourism. Plastic table and chairs, huge conservatory overlooking the coach car park. The place is so popular there is almost always a queue, but it is worth it for their huge naughty but nice cream cakes and my favourite, Bonoffi pie the best on the Isle of Wight. If you are local and want to avoid the crowds (not an easy task), go mid-week when the children are at school or when it is a sunny day so that you can sit outside. The service is efficient and pleasant. Amazing when they have to put up with hundreds of customers every day. Where is it? - You can't miss it. Turn off the main road in Godshill into the large car park on the right if coming from Shanklin. Lavender Farm - Wootton A must to try their unusual lavender cake, lavender shortbread and lavender ice-cream. Where is it? Newport side of Wootton along the Staplers road Warren Farm - Alum Bay A great cup of tea and piece of cake stop. Menu is really simple. Ham sandwiches, ham salad, cakes and cream teas in great farm land surroundings. Where is it? Turn left down a farm lane just before you get to Alum Bay End of the Line - Freshwater Another good place to stop for a cup of tea and a piece of cake - particularly the upside down sponge. Where is it? next to Honnor and Jeffrey garden centre Thorntons - Newport Cappuccino coffee is the one drink that I get really annoyed about. Most establishments think that as long as it has chocolate sprinkled on the top that is all it requires. Then there are those that think it has to have the froth piled on top like a snow-capped mountain. A real cappuccino is 1/3 coffee, 1/3 milk and 1/3 froth all below the rim of the cup. Milk to the rim is a Latte. A large cappuccino is never served in a mug, that is disgusting. The chocolate topping should be cocoa, not sprinkles and this is why I always ask for my cappuccino without the finish as no one ever seems to use cocoa anymore. Nevertheless, to date Thorntons in Newport is the closest anyone on the Island gets to a good cappuccino. You may well ask what am I doing at Thorntons? The one thing you can be certain about a chain of eating establishments is that they are always consistent. That is consistently bad and very occasionally consistently good. Thorntons is the latter. Throntons in Newport is my preference for service and atmosphere and their cakes are scrummy. My favourite is the Lemon Tart, lip- puckeringly tangy with a smooth finish a close runner-up is the Chocolate Alpini cake. Where is it? - Newport High street, just down form the Post Office. Osborne House Cafe - East Cowes A simple selection of sandwiches, cakes and soup of the day in smart cafe surroundings.
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Goodman's - Ventnor (HR) New entry 2009 Second visit -We hope and pray they continue with their wonderful cuisine and, look after their chef who is one of the few that cooks from the heart. This is a gift that cannot be taught and that special something I am always looking for. I am beginning to think this eatery should be on the restaurant page or have a separate section for Cafe-bars. Ventnor is rapidly becoming the gourmet Mecca of the Isle of Wight and Goodman's is a great addition. Maddish mum and I enjoyed a light curried cauliflower soup with mango chutney and goats cheese tart made from buttery, crisp pastry. We then gorged on, and it must be said, spectacular roast goose that came as a plate of exciting textures and flavours and, beef Bourguignonne cooked until the meat was so soft it melted in the mouth. This is not strictly right and very much an African way of cooking meat. What made it good is that all the juices flavour that is lost when slow cooking meat was reduced to make an intensely rich sauce that was put back into the dish. he pudding were delicate and needed to be after such rich and bountiful starters and mains. Judging from his generous portions I get the feeling this chef likes to eat as well as to give. We will be back soon. Very, very soon. PS. My only suggestion is that Goose is best properly roasted like a joint to bring out the delicious flavours. Early 2009 Open just one month in the controversial shed on Ventnor sea front. I have to say it does have the serious potential to imitate Padstow - a place I love to visit (and sadly a place that has relatively more good food restaurant in one town than the entire Isle of Wight!). I popped in for an unplanned light lunch, having driven over to buy some crab meat from Blakes. I thought the place looked appealing. Staff were I have to say disorganised, I got the feeling they didn't know what was going on, but, very pleasant with grumpy old me - I put this, my grumpiness, down to the miserable weather. Now, I never ever order raw fish because I am always suspicious of its freshness - which is an absolute must. However, the sea was opposite me, so was the local fishery, you could get no fresher, and I was right. The one thing you need to know about super fresh raw fish is that you are eating texture and pure, perfect protein that will taste little more than fragrant water. This is how it should be - a true test of freshness. The flavour of the dish will come with the additions, in this case pink grapefruit and delicate herb salad. It was a delight. Pud' was roasted peaches with crumbled amoretti biscuits, rosemary scented sauce and good ice-cream. Oh! by the way their cappuccino was well made too. Let's hope they maintain that one. I am very fussy about my cappuccino. A further visit is required. Watch this space! Where is it? Ventnor seafront, under the Winter Gardens The Boat House - Steephill Cove (R) Imagine the tropics, imagine alfresco eating under the gentle shade of a palm-fringed veranda and you have The Boat House. What a joy, what bliss. What pleasure and how clever to think of planting a piece of the South Sea Islands on our own Wighty shores. Wooden slatted floors, canvas roof, directors' chairs, bits of old rope twisted around driftwood rails. Stones off the beach, trellis walls and trees growing through the floor contrast with damask napkins and large glass goblets for the delicious house wine. The menu is basically salad, salad and salad. I had the seafood platter with an almost perfectly cooked lobster. A crab shell-filled with hand-picked succulent brown and white crab meat and a dozen shell on prawns resting on a large bed of salad. The seafood was incredibly fresh. The only thing missing was a dollop of genuine homemade mayonnaise. Desserts are homemade. My raspberry brulee was completely wrong in terms of it being made to an accurate recipe, however it was divine in its own special way. Where is it? The Boat House is normally open every lunchtime so long as it isn’t blowing a ‘hooly’ outside and some evenings. Next year they plan to open lunchtimes only. Proceeding by car from Ventnor, the lane leading to Steephill Cove is 50yds short of the Ventnor Botanic Gardens. Cars cannot descend to the cove, but parking is available on the main road; or park at the top Ventnor esplanade car park and take the cliff walk. Approx 30 minutes. Crab Shack - Steephill Cove (HR) Suppliers of fresh crab, and lobster to take home they also serve perfectly formed simple light lunches. Crab pasties kept to perfect temperature and freshly grilled mackerel fillets with salad. In fact probably the best green salad on the Island as it is the only one I can really remember. The ingredients speak for themselves and the Wheelers let them shout from the hill tops. Steephill Cove in general There are now 4 eateries in Steephill Cove all of them offering tasty things to eat. If only all of the Island were like this!! Olivo - Newport A very busy bistro that offers quick lunch time service. Nice pasta dishes, soups, cibattas and desserts. Majority of dishes are homemade. They excel at soups. The French onion soup was more like tomato and onion soup but it was delicious. It can be a bit hit and miss and I was told the waffle dessert was homemade when clearly it was not but they are trying. Where is it ?- St Thomas Square
Chale Green Stores Cafe - Chale Green We like the rural surroundings and the parterre style garden seating area. Food is simple, and some of it ready made from the deli counter. My chilled gazpacho soup was excellent - not too much onion. A must after the Saturday shopping trip. Hot food is not available after 2.30 ish. Fish and Chips Junes Fish Bar - Shanklin (R) Corries Cabin - Cowes (R) Both of the above fish and chip shops serve really fresh tasting fish and chips cooked to a very high standard. |