Pub reviews

Red Lion - Freshwater

"Best Pub" Award

My most recent visit with my maddish mother was June 09' The consistency of the cooking here is so welcoming. No wonder it is always so busy. Portions are generous. Some effort is made to make the vegetables more interesting - a talent that seems to have vanished at most places, not just on the Island either. The food here is really to restaurant standard. Carefully cooked calves liver. Pork cooked to tender perfection and well executed sauces.

2008-It was a warm winter’s day when I visited this old pub next to Freshwater church. Just arriving in the area makes you feel as if you have entered a world of traditional village life. If a coach and horses drove past you wouldn’t blink.

Wonderful country style dishes with various game and fresh fish suggestions. Having absorbed the specialties, we looked at the more traditional choices of cottage pie, lasagne and chips. There was something for every taste.

Having placed our order we settled down in a sunny window seat. The pub is broken up into little alcoves, giving a feeling of intimacy and privacy. Soft wooden floors, scrubbed tables and gentle lighting was a bit like cross- over dressing - an old fashioned farm house kitchen dressed up as a trendy country pub. Food portions were generous. My dish of venison, pickled walnut and ale pie was really a casserole with a separately cooked pastry crust. This is a great idea if you like your pastry light and crisp, but not if you like the flavour of the gravy to seep into the pastry while it is cooking. I like it both ways, but the pastry cooked separately is more practical for a pub with a good choice on the menu. The flavour was natural, not that artificial taste you get from packet mix gravy.

Pub Specials Board - Island round up.

I have virtually given up on the puddings at most pubs as they seem to have little time to prepare anything homemade let alone decent by the time they have churned out the nuggets, chips, jackets, and daily specials.

Crown - Shorwell - Nice savoury dishes

The Pier View - Cowes. They serve excellent home-made burgers with a nicely toasted bun. The chips are bought in and the salad garnish needs dressing. But I am dreaming of eating another burger there soon.

Seaview Hotel Pub -Seaview. Good menu mostly home-cooked but less salt please.

Lakeside Bar/Restaurant - Wootton

Although I don't actually think this dish works it is served at many eateries so I keep on ordering it wondering if I'll ever get it. The Lakeside version of Roast cod on a bed of chorizo, and dried, soaked beans with a tomato sauce was acceptable. The cod was perfectly cooked, moist and fresh, the beans were undercooked and the tomato sauce on the delicate side and I still don't understand why chorizo is married with cod - time for a divorce I think. The apple crumble with ice cream was very nice although not strictly speaking a traditional version of crumble. I like the venue, the staff are pleasant and the rest if the menu reads well so I will return soon.

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Bonchurch Inn - Bonchurch (HR)

This is not just a step back in time but a leap into another world. The small bar at Bonchurch Inn reeks of nostalgia. Pubs when pubs were real pubs - not family eateries. Old men sat around a crib table, ladies in felt hats with their glass of stout in an atmosphere that is dark, quite and restful. It's not really like that but you get my drift. The courtyard entrance tells a different tale of Provincial France, where an ancient stone walled alley leads to a hideaway known only to the locals.

The Inn is run by an Italian family steeped in tradition. A few basic dishes such as scampi and chips are available for those frightened of food. Then a typical Anglo/Italian menu with little embellishment, lists lasagne, spaghetti bolognaise, pasta carbonara, and pizza.

Actually, I don't like pizza (Posh something on toast) and I am not mad on pasta (just a bland floury vehicle for a sauce) But when I visit this often forgotten inn I love both.

The pizza at Bonchurch Inn is a must. The base is tender and freshly baked, not like the hard defrosted rubbish you get in most places and the tomato and cheese topping is intensely flavoured. Their pasta is light and deliciously prepared. They also serve and antipasti platter - great for sharing.

They also make the best Tiramisu on the island.

In the Winter cuddle up in the tiny bar and on a hot summers day chill out in the Courtyard. By the way beer comes from the barrel.

Where is it? - From Ventnor to Shanklin turn right towards Bonchurch pond. Drive slowly or you will miss it. it is on the right half way down the hill. If you get to the church you have gone to far.

Over heard in an Island Pub

"I'm sorry we haven't got Chardonnay, the nearest we have to that is a Chilean Sauvignon Blanc"!!!

Taverners - Godshill (HR)

2009 -The flaky pastry turns out to be baked suet crust which shows what a delicate hand the chef has with pastry. I have never had suet pastry as light and crisp as this. I pop in here quite often for homemade soup, and snacks. Most recently we, maddish mum and I, have enjoyed smoked haddock en cocote with Gallybagger cheese and delicious homemade chips, rich mushroom soup, pumpkin and apple soup, apple crumble with proper custard. Their Sunday roast is also good rustic fare.

2008-My second visit has come quite soon after my first which was with the Brawn just before Christmas. This time I went with my jeweller friend Nina Bulley who is fond of a nice bit of grub. The cavernous rear room was closed, presumably for refurbishment - and we were directed to the front entrance which took us into a cosy, rustic country kitchen style bar with roaring log fire. The menu read well and we both had difficulty choosing. Making up our mind then changing it, and then changing it again. I chose the venison and mushroom pie. Not only did it pass my pub-pie test with full marks (crispy, crunchy pastry not rendered soggy by a microwave), it was made with my all time favourite flaky pastry. A rarity these days, probably because you cannot but it ready made. It came with delicious buttery vegetables and a superb gravy.

Nina wanted something light so she went for the lamb burger (or rather meat loaf) enhanced with mint, garlic, crumbled feta and cooked pinkish. The two nibbles Nina allowed me were to-die-for. In fact I am not visiting another eatery until I have returned for a full ration.

Puddings are again all home made. Nina's Tiramisu must have been really good because she didn't offer me a single morsel. It looked rich, intense and heavy with expresso, probably the best on the Island. My nearly traditional lemon meringue pie was tangy with fresh lemon and the meringue topping, deep and almost poached. If I must nit-pick - and I will, as I feel this place is looking for perfection, the lemon part was too firm and the lemon zest not grated finely enough. Marguerite Patten has a fantastic lemon meringue pie recipe. Other pubs watch out, your serious competition has arrived.

Where is it? At the Newport side of Godshill Village