Welcome to the new season of reviews for 2014/15

Criteria for inclusion in the Wight Good Food Guide

TOP 5 -The top awards this year-for doing more than what they say they will

Highly Recommended (HR)- Very good food and succeeding at doing what they set out to do

Recommended (R)- Good food we encourage them to on better things

YOUR COMMENTS ARE ALSO WELCOME - SO PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL

angela.hewitt@btclick.com

All my reviews are my own personal choice. No one has asked me to review them and no one has paid me to review them. Reviewing an eating establishment is not easy. I might like two of the three dishes or they may have an off day - which is basically unacceptable, but it is not my intention the be harsh. I think I have the skill to judge potential even in the Summer when kitchens are stretched and they are pushing themselves past their limit.

I have been given some disastrous food cooked by Island Chefs, often inedible - an insult to my taste buds. I have wasted a lot of money because I rarely complain at the time - a bad chef/cook is not going to miraculously transform into a good one by the next dish. Besides, it would ruin my outing even more and I always ask the question is the complaint being passed on to the right person. I do however, write and tell the proprietor, particularly if I think the place has potential and is trying, I give them the benefit of the doubt. They are normally apologetic and sometimes offer me a free meal which I never accept. And, sometimes they complain about me even when I have given them a good review - there is just no pleasing some people.

The Wight Good Food Guide is completely independent and not sponsored in any way by the establishments reviewed

My passion for eating is as strong as my passion for the Isle of Wight, so it saddens me when so many restaurants, cafes and pubs get their catering so wrong, in some cases seriously wrong. It lets the Island down. The aim of my reviews is not to criticise the bad but to praise the good, in possibly, the vain hope that the others will aim higher. It is probably arrogant of me to think I can achieve this, but if I don't try through this the Wight Good Food Guide, I won't ever know.

I have lived on the Isle of Wight for 45 years and as a lover of eating out I have eaten in almost every establishment on the Island. I was chef proprietor of the original Lugley's _(TM) Restaurant 1980 - 1994. It won awards from Egon Ronay, The Good Food Guide, AA Good Food Guide, and Michelin. I closed the restaurant mainly due to sheer exhaustion. Over the subsequent years I wrote Isle of Wight Cookery published by Dovecote Press and What's Cooking on the Isle of Wight, published by Travelling Gourmet Publication. I also wrote, What's Cooking In Oxford, What's Cooking in the New Forest, What's Cooking in Brighton, What's Cooking in the Cotswolds, Cooking on the Move and Herb Growers Cookery. I have appeared on national TV promoting Island Food and written articles for the national Taste Magazine, Healthy Eating magazine, Taste of Britain magazine and Trailfinders.

This year I have eaten in far more places than normal. Eateries that I wouldn't normally consider and to be frank wish I hadn't considered.

It has left me feeling frustrated, annoyed, disappointed and sad for the Island's Dining out reputation

What is going on?

Menus are samey and boring. Slow cooked to death belly of pork with thin tasteless packet gravy mix, poorly executed confit of duck leg, Burgers in a dry bun with no traditional dressing, vegetables that look as if they came from the supermarket pre-cooked. Same with falafels, humus and beetroot burgers as everyone tries to cater for the micro audience of vegans. (Incidentally Waitrose humus with olive oil is the best one). Bland stockless soups. Oh and sauces. Why bother when there is barely a teaspoon full driddled around the edge of the plate. Then there is the humble sandwich. Very humble indeed when you get 2 chunks of bread with a blink of filling. (served in three so called renowned hotel eateries).

The biggest problem is the amount of diners that accept this travesty. Is the public to blame?! Is the public demanding not only the same menu wherever they go but they can't tell good from bad? Is it their fault? They want a change of venue but they want the same menu. They saw it on the telly, they see it in the supermarket and they want it when they eat out. Eateries are just catering for the public's demands rather than forging a unique identity for them selves. Offering eating experiences that are their own and not poor copies of current trends. Are public demands curtailing creativity?

I have been served burnt pies, dried up scraps, mashed rice claiming to be risotto, food on stone cold plates rendering the meal cold before I have started. Food cooked in old burnt oil. What sort of cook/chef has the gall to send out such rubbish. Quite a few I suggest.

It is about time chefs and cooks, owners and managers started eating the food they charge their customers to eat.

In the summer I was in one of my favourite eateries over Yarmouth way. It has a small  lunch menu and an evening menu that is almost the same with a couple of additions. Four people arrived who had come especially all the way from Seaview. They asked to chose from the evening menu and were told, quite rightly so, that it was only available in the evening but it was similar to the lunch menu. They wanted to eat outside, but got the hump when they were told that they would have to come inside to order and pay up front. The hump got bigger. I listened to them moaning and groaning. It was by now 2.30. They decided that as they couldn't have what they had demanded  - nothing to do with the food-  to leave and if they were quick enough they would be able to get some food in Seaview. So I agree and sympathise. It is not easy for eateries to tread their own path. But actually, those that do do well.

By the way I have tried all the vegan eateries and thus far cooking needs to be greatly improved. One place served me vish and chips. It was banana blossom in batter. The blossom was tasteless and basically I was served a lump of deep fried batter. I have been served a soay bolognaise which had less flavour than a ready meal. Inferior supermarket humus and falafels and it goes on. These sort of eateries have a limited market and if they want to survive that need to up their game, sort out their flavours and look to their carbon footprint.

Controversial

In the 60's there was a surge in vegetarian eating with the launch of Cranks in London. It was all about cruelty to animals and hence a boycott on eating animals. It had some success and forced restaurants to offer a vegetarian dish on their menu. Now it is goes without saying that vegetarians will be catered for but as yet nearly 55 years on there are very few dedicated vegetarian eateries. They also succeeded in ensuring animal well-fair was massively improved  with legislation. The RSPCA also took on a more significant role in the protection of animal well-fair. What confuses me is this, vegetarians are so because they object to cruelty/slaughter of animals for food to eat, but they patronise and financially support eateries that sell meat. I cannot think of one justifiable excuse as to why they are doing this. For instance in Newport there is a shop that just sells vegetables, so they could go there for their weekly shop.

The same goes for Vegan's. I know a few vegans and they quite happily shop in supermarkets selling meat and eat out in eateries that sell meat. Cruelty to animals was the objection but it seems not anymore. Now it is better for the planet not to eat meat. It reduces the carbon footprint. Of course getting rid of all farm animals will mean that land will  have to be improved with artificial fertilizers. The green manure system can be used but that means putting half of the cropping field aside as part of the growing cycle.

Fortunately for vegans thousand of miles of hedges (the hedgehogs habitat) have already been removed to make space for more arable crops to be grown and with less farm animals more hedges can be removed to make way for even more crops. It doesn't matter about the millions of tiny animals, field mice, frogs, harvest mice, ground nesting birds, snakes, toads etc that are macerated every time a plough and combine harvester thrashes through a field to gather the vegan's food. Then of course we are all used to a varied diet of interesting food being imported from abroad. This will have to increase as will the carbon foot print. Almonds, soya milk produced in Brazil after the forests were destroyed. Then the is the serious vitamin B12 issues. A supplement that has to be manufactured and essential for anyone on a plant only diet. What a conundrum this all is.

In fact historically (going as far back as 400,000 years) cattle were and indeed still are an important part of this countries ecology. They graze meadows, improve the soil for invertebrates and for our food sheep serve the same purpose. Chicken manure is some of the best for growing vegetables. But no farmer is going to carry the enormous cost and burden of caring for livestock with no financial gain.

People jump on bandwagons without thinking it through to the end.

This website is about food so I won't go on about plastic shoes or even rubber ones - more imports. Oh and have we got to give up drinking imported wine.........

Why plant-based diets aren’t credible: Joanna Blythman at the Oxford Real Farming Conference

by Joanna Blythman on 31 January, 2020 in Food Systems

In this transcript of a talk from our session at the Oxford Real Farming Conference, Joanna Blythman talks about the nutritional and cultural value of meat. You can watch a film of the session here.

In my view, for any diet to be credible it has to fulfill 2 key requirements.

Firstly, it must be a diet that keeps people healthy. That should be obvious.

Secondly, unless our diet is to override planetary limits and therefore trash the environment, what we put on our plates must reflect the productive capacity of our land.

Now, I have interrogated the fashionable plant-based concept using these criteria, and concluded that I certainly won’t be adopting it, or recommending that anyone else does.

Here’s why.

The traditional omnivore diet that most people of my age were brought up on can definitely supply all the macro- and micronutrients our bodies need in a bioavailable form, by that I mean that we can easily absorb them.

Meat for instance, provides us with high quality protein- that is to say this protein has all the essential amino acids, and all the necessary vitamins, minerals, and fats, in an optimum ratio.

Now, compare that with a vegan diet. Unless you take a supplement, or eat an unwise amount of sugar and salt-laden vegan processed foods that have been fortified with synthetic vitamins, you won’t get enough vitamin B12. That’s a fact. This is because, and let me quote Harvard Medical School here: There are no known plant foods that are natural sources of B12.” And it continues: “Research shows that vegans who don’t take a B12 supplement often have inadequate B12 levels.”

This essential vitamin is of great importance to our health, and inadequate intake can potentially lead to anaemia, nerve damage, and other serious consequences.

For me, any diet that automatically leaves you deficient in essential micronutrients, a diet, which, by definition, isn’t nutritionally complete enough to sustain healthy human life, is a non-starter.

But what about a plant-based diet though? It doesn’t sound so extreme as a vegan diet.

Well, let’s look at the Eat Lancet plant-based diet that is currently being heavily promoted.  It drastically restricts animal foods.

It allows us only an egg and a half each week (not day), and not more than a daily mouthful of red meat.

Dr Zoe Harcombe has analysed the Eat Lancet diet using the US government reference values for micronutrients. She concludes that if we followed it, we would become deficient not only in B12, but also in D3, K2, potassium, sodium, calcium, heme iron, and essential fatty acids.

One of the big problems about trying to get all your nutritional requirements from plant foods is that unlike animal foods, the micronutrients they contain aren’t so bioavailable.

For example, calcium absorption from spinach is only 5% compared to 27% for milk.

Bear in mind that proponents of Eat-Lancet are pushing it as “a universal healthy reference diet” that is applicable to everyone everywhere. Yet vast swathes of the world’s population suffer from under-nutrition.

When I met women tea pickers in Darjeeling, they told me that they dreamed of being able to afford a house cow because its milk, and eventually its meat, would help them feed their kids a nutritious diet. Its manure would help fertilise their crops. Its hide could be sold for leather.

These women worried about their children going hungry.

When ideologues living in affluent countries, countries where obesity and Type 2 diabetes are rampant, and where neuroticism around food is rampant, pressurise poor countries to eschew animal foods and go plant-based, they are displaying crass insensitivity, and a colonial, White Saviour mindset.

It’s stark staring obvious to me that it is the ultra-processed food we’ve started eating in the last 60 years that is driving diet-related ill health and obesity, not traditional whole foods, like meat, in their natural forms.

Yet one of the ironies of adopting a plant-based diet is that most people will end up eating more of the former, and less of the latter.

The other day, for instance, I heard a plant-based cook saying that she now used ‘high quality sunflower spread’ instead of butter in a traditional cake recipe.

But such a spread is just trendily marketed margarine, one of the most heavily processed foods of all. Give me our native butter any day.

Obviously if you choose plant-based you consequently have to turn your back on most of the foods that the UK is best at producing, because they are animal foods: meat, dairy, eggs, and fish from our seas. The UK is not Sicily.

Our current ‘food security’, our self-sufficiency in food, is only 60% at present. Our livestock farmers are mightily downhearted because of all the attacks that are being made on them. A shift to plant based would make Britain’s food security plummet further. All it would take would be a stress to the global food system, such as war, for our shelves to empty within days.

To get a taste of how local resilient food cultures can be undermined by plant-based dogma, we can go to the Nunavik region in Alaska. There the local health authority has been recommending a plant-based diet in the form of an igloo-shaped pictogram. At its base, in place of the fish fat and flesh that were life-sustaining, locally available staples, the pictogram shows images of mangoes and pineapple. I’m told that these sugary fruits have to be flown up from Mexico. By the way, rates of obesity and T2 diabetes are soaring up there in Nunavik.                                           .

The same craziness is affecting us here. We’re encouraged to eat jackfruit and banana blossom, both unconvincing vegan substitutes for meat, either imported from Thailand in tins, or air-freighted here, fresh. 

We’ve lost the plot when arcane imports and genetically modified fake meat burgers dreamed up by venture capitalists in Silicon Valley, are portrayed as more acceptable than a lamb chop from a British hillside.

But as part of its “Great Food Transformation”, Eat-Lancet, and people like George Monbiot, actively want to stamp out the existing multiplicity of distinctive and diverse food cultures that are predicated on local history, seasons, traditions, cultivars, breeds, and artisan methods, and they want to replace them with a monocultural, globalised diet, one that’s centred on factory and laboratory food.

They would replace this culinary richness and natural biodiversity with a top-down, ‘we know what’s best for you’ universal diet.

For three decades I have campaigned against factory farmed foods and written books asking people to boycott them. My view has always been that they have no place in any aware, ethical diet. But now I’m running out of patience with plant-based proponents, who use the worst examples of factory farming as a broad-brush with which to smear all livestock farming. 

Okay, I expect this from extremist vegan organisations. They don’t seem to me to have any hands-on experience or in-depth knowledge of food production, be it animal or otherwise. These tunnel-visioned evangelists have swallowed hook, line, and sinker the generic, unqualified lies and distortions they’ve picked up online.

But from George, if I’m honest, I find such crude arguments intellectually dishonest. He should know better.

And then I hear him promoting as dietary saviours the most ultra processed, fake, food-emulating products conjured up out of thin air. He tells us that technology will solve everything, that the future is already decided.

Certainty about the future makes for more dramatic headlines than uncertainty and nuance.

But the truth behind this rhetoric of inevitability is that these technologies have huge problems.

This doctrine of hi-tech inevitability is propaganda. It demands not our participation, but our acquiescence.

We should see it for what it is:

Those who claim to know the future are trying to own it.

COMMENT  about 2018

This is my opportunity to complain without pointing the finger. But, if the cap fits......

SO, food is still being served on cold plates - I now send food back if half way through eating it it has gone cold. I never comment upon service but this year it has been so bad in some establishments it can't go ignored - as I have been ignored several times when waiting to be served by staff who  would rather finish their conversation with another colleague rather than jump to it and serve a waiting customer. Is that arrogance, ignorance or just plain rude. Then there is the grumpy welcome, the back chat - some customers may be rude or just plain fed up with the service but rise above it not join them - and an inability to clear a table. Having no idea what hospitality means - if you don't like serving don't do it.

Actually I don't agree with the premise that the customer is always right. But it is not your job to put them right. Be polite and assume they have made a mistake and entered that wrong eatery.

A note to customers.... You enter an eatery to eat the food they have to offer on their menu. Not all eateries can change dishes to suit your taste. Find an eatery that suits your taste and go there. Allergies are becoming a problem. Eateries cannot have an entirely separate kitchen to accommodate allergies. Eateries are not part of the NHS. They are a business, often run by people that have a passion and want to introduce the world to their own special repertoire. It is unfair to try and make them become something they are not.  Cooking quality dishes is stressful enough with out diners trying to mess them up. Plus there is the additional cost for the eatery to be prepared for the odd person who wants something that is not on the menu - but will you pay the extra? If you have eating issues check websites before booking to see if they can accommodate you.

The best eatries are those that specialise and do what they do really well. Then There are those that try to be all things for all people and quality inevitably gets watered down.

That said there are several eateries on the island that will bend over backwards to cater for those who want something else but not many ad that is how it should be

End of Note

The Isle of Wight is one of the countries major holiday destinations and these places are letting the Island down. When you employ a new member of staff you need to give them proper training. I was always proud that I kept my staff for many years. Basically because I paid them above the minimum wage. It also meant that I had staff who knew what they were doing and I did not have to waste time on constant training. I bought loyalty.

A minor negative- with a few exceptions menus have become boring. I am desperate for creative dishes, showcasing quality ingredients without silly gimmicks. Foams, spots and smears are some sort of pretentious micky-take. As much as I crave something interesting and creative it still has to be cooked well and taste flavourful and be consistent.

Some of you may be surprised by my choices. If you read my comments for 2017 that may give some explanation, particularly point 5.

Chefs - I want to see the love in your dishes - do you actually eat them yourself??!

COMMENT 2017

What makes the WGFG different from other food guides.

1) I have 45 years of hands on experience in cooking, eating and reviewing

2) I don't waste my time writing bad reviews. Have you heard the saying "All publicity is good publicity even bad publicity"?

3) I don't have to be anonymous because I am not being nasty about anyone's eatery

4) I understand (through experience) what it is like to be a chef and run a restaurant

5) Whether is it a cafe, a pub, a restaurant or a fine dinning restaurant I apply the same rules are they doing what they claim to do and are they doing it really well.

6) I recognise that we are easily beguiled by how a meal looks. We eat with our eyes. My job is to see through that and test for taste. This is why there are no pictures of food in this guide. A picture tells a story but not always a true one.

7) I respect that some people want to eat good cooking but are on a budget - they can't afford to waste hard earned money on poorly cooked food.

8) I understand that the public have varying standards over what is good food.  It worries me that restaurants are now serving burgers (Just how much better can one actually make a burger than a place that specialises in burgers? Actually it is marginal if at all). Is this an attempt to attract the not so discerning diner or is it because the discerning diner can't be seen in Macdonalds? Then there are pubs attempting fine dinning while lacking the skills and frankly most of it is a disaster.

9) I don't read other reviews therefore I am not influenced by other peoples opinions. My reviews are subjective in being to my taste but also objective regarding correct cooking procedures.

Come on Chefs - COLD PLATES!! What are you thinking of? I don't want excuses that the dish has to be served at an ambient temperature. Basically fess up. You forgot to put them in the warmer. A cold plate instantly destroys a dish. Cold congealed sauce in seconds. Half way through the meal the heat of the food has been transferred to the plate and your are eating cold food YUK! This is so basic even my Mum new she had to warm a plate. It is totally unacceptable.

Wooden boards - a big gripe of mine. The idea of eating off a wooden board, possibly previously used by someone who has the flue or stomach problems, turns my stomach. I have also noticed that they are now so overused that they now have gouge marks where germs can reside. I don't believe that a busy restaurant has enough boards to scour, de-germify and dry in an oven before it is used again. If a commercial kitchen is banned from using wooden boards during preparation why are they dishing them up to the public?

FROM THE GOOD HOUSEKEEPING WEBSITE - THIS IS ADVICE FOR THE HOME USER - CAN WE GUARANTEE A BUSY COMMERCIAL KITCHEN DOES THIS?

This doesn't make easy reading, but the average kitchen chopping board has around 200% more bacteria on it than a loo seat, according to NHS Direct. The research, commissioned by the Global Hygiene Council, found 40% of food poisoning cases are caused by poor hygiene in the home. Almost half of all frequently touched items in the home, including chopping boards, are contaminated with harmful bacteria. 

Because bacteria is invisible, you may not necessarily be aware of the contamination taking place right before your eyes and so aren't taking the right precautions. Since more than 60% of raw chicken has been found to be contaminated with Campylobacter bacteria – the most common cause of food poisoning in Britain – your chopping board is at high risk of becoming contaminated.

Different coloured chopping boards for meat and veg are a sensible way of stopping contamination, but in reality that doesn't always happen in a busy home. Always use disinfectant on boards that have had raw meat on them.

Chopping board dos and donts
DO: Oil your wooden boards regularly with mineral oil, available from stockists such as Lakeland and Amazon. Follow label instructions.
DO: Remove food stains on plastic chopping boards by rubbing fresh or bottled lemon juice on to them and leaving overnight.
DO: To keep them stain-free and hygienic, always scrub them in hot running water or, better still, pour freshly boiled water over them to sterilise them. If they're dishwasher-safe, this is the easiest way to ensure they're safe to use, but make sure the cycle is at least 65°C. Alternatively, you can even use anti-bacterial surface wipes, such as Dettol, for removing 99.9% of bacteria.

DON’T: Place wooden boards in the dishwasher or soak them in hot water, or they’ll warp and crack. 
DON’T: Prepare raw meat/poultry on the same board as cooked meat/poultry or fruit/veg without washing them thoroughly in-between. Hygiene experts, in fact, advise you to use separate chopping boards for red meat, poultry, fish and vegetables.
DON’T: Dry your boards with tea towels. When it comes to cross-contamination, tea towels are guilty. Paper towels are preferable.

Comment 2016

Comment 2015

Comment 2014

Comments 2013

Best of the Best - you may be surprised at my choice of Best of the Best this year. A small trendy shack on a beach with seating inside for 6 possibly 8 and no loo. Let me explain. This young woman/cook performs magic in the most confined of spaces. She has more enthusiasm and passion about what she does than any chef I have come across on the Island and she is true to herself.  She says what she does and she does what she says. In other words she delivers You will have to wait until March to discover more.

Wooden Boards - are used for cutting bread on. A butchers block is also made of wood and is used for making cuts of raw meat. At the end of the day the block is scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed clean. Notice that no one is eating off these lumps of wood. Kitchens abandoned wooden chopping boards long ago and replaced them with colour coded plastic boards. It's all to do with hygiene and health and safety and contamination. As a former chef I am fully aware of all these issues so you can imagine how my skin crawls when an eatery serves my food on a wooden board that someone else has previously eaten off. Gouging their knife into the wood and embedding it with their own germs ready for consumption as the germs infuse into the food I am about to eat. I have a similar problem with shared dips. I was told by one eatery that their boards a thoroughly cleaned before re-use, but I wondered if that was the case during a busy service when they are rapidly running out of serving dishes, and beside these boards should be thoroughly dried in a oven before re-use. My fears were realised when I ate at a place just outside Ventnor. It was an open plan kitchen so I saw everything. I ordered the squash frittata with salad expecting it to come on a clean shiny plate. The chef took a board from the pile of dirty dishes. Rinsed it under the tap and wiped it with the tea-towel he had been using all service to wipe his hands on, wipe the counter down with and kept in place under his armpit when he was not using it. He then put the fritatta on a corner of this board. He carefully arranged olives and gherkins and sliced tomatoes on the damp board. He added a few spoonfuls of relish and then driddled balsamic dressing all over the board. Presumably I was meant to scrape this relish and dressing off the board along with the previous users germs and bits of loose damp wood. I was appalled but with company. So I ate most of the frittata leaving the bit that was close to the centre of the board and left everything else. I am sorry chefs but you should know better.

Soup Plates - are for soup or maybe for dishes that you can eat with just a fork or spoon such as pasta or a chopped salad. They are not for serving roast dinners in or food that needs cutting up. You have to hold you knife and fork at a very awkward angle to cut meat and then only with the tip of the blade as you cannot get the knife flat enough to properly carve. Then when you try to rest your knife and fork on the side of the soup bowl while chewing they slide off and onto the potentially unclean table. It makes the eating out experience an unhappy one. It's pretension gone mad.

Gluten/wheat Free - This rapidly growing market is starting to be well served on the Island. As it is becoming more and more obvious that our bodies get intolerant to what we eat as we get older (we age inside as well as out side) more and more people want wheat free or gluten free food. Some people have probably been intolerant for year and not realised it. We have a huge elderly population on the Island and wheat commonly affects their diet - quite a few young people are also affected. Most good eateries will make soups and sauces not using wheat. There is a stall at the Newport farmers market that makes some wonderful wheat free dishes. Some bodies are intolerant to wheat only and others to gluten which covers a wider range of ingredients. The Three Bishops at Brightstone are big on gluten free as is Mojacs in Cowes. Both chefs say it is easier to do everything gluten free  rather than cook something twice. The next issue is refined sugars. It has also been discovered that our bodies find it difficult to process these sugars. I for one use honey to sweeten desserts

COMMENTS 2012

Judging eateries on the Isle of Wight in 2012 has been something akin to doing an MOT.  They pass on the day of the test but then the Chefs leave and take the good cooking with them. This happens on a regular basis. Sadly, a seamless transition during a change of chef is rare. 

So, whilst Isle of Wight Tourist Gurus contemplate how they are going to protect their empires, this year, I have been thinking about what the Island has to offer the Gourmet Tourist. 

It’s a tricky one. Choice is limited certainly not enough to put us on the gourmet map of GB. This in a small way has much to do with the lack of Island opportunities for top chefs. Seasons are short, wages are tight and good Chefs want regular work. So in my opinion it is all down to the individual chef-owned eateries.

When I had my own restaurant in the eighties there were three top restaurants on the island (those highly rated by Good food Guide, Egon Ronay and the AA). They were all run by women and these women were also the chefs. They were myself, Joan Wolfenden of the Peacock Vane, and Nicky Hayward of the Seaview Hotel. Apart from the fact we were all women the most important factor was we were chef/proprietors. It was all down to us. Our love of cooking was paramount but we also needed to earn a living. Our success as chefs was down to the added ingredients, pride, enthusiasm, customer service, dedication, an absolute love and joy and pleasure to be able to give the customer something good for their money.

What has been noticeable this year is that the chef/proprietor is making a come back , and it shows. They are consistent, caring and giving.

Also, a bit of good news for the tourist. This year I have compiled a seven day eating plan for the gourmet tourist who wants a week of foody indulgence. Check out the A  seven day eating holiday on the Isle of Wight

PS things that annoy me and my friends

 1) food served on cold plates

2) meals served in soup bowls making it difficult and wrist aching to hold knife and fork

3) food over-heated in the microwave to the point of scolding tongues - one day someone is going to be rushed into hospital with second/first degree burns

4) Lies, we do know what home-made means

5) pastry dishes heated in microwave resulting in soggy pastry

6) over cooked risotto, the dish should be slightly sloppy and the rice should be firmish.

7) Undercooked beans that squeak on our teeth etc. Aldenté does not mean crunchy

8) Corruption of a classic dish without telling me. For example, if I order pavlova I expect pavlova unless I am told it is a take on pavlova

COMMENTS 2011

Sadly little has changed since 2010 and I have to reiterate all that I said in 2010. Oddly enough cuisine has adopted the delicate-flavour-stakes as if strong flavours are to be feared. I want my taste buds to be excited by flavours not left searching for them. Menus have become pretty predictable and samey. Relatively speaking and compared with restaurants pub food tends to live up to expectations.

I strongly support the use of local produce and a reduction in air miles but it puts me in a quandary. I also want to support Fair trade projects. I am also concerned that by solely supporting local produce that may be a tendency for standards to drop due to lack of competition.

COMMENTS 2010

There is still only a relatively small number of eateries that I would recommend but my "consistency challenge" is not easy to achieve. One week I may visit an eatery and have a really nicely cooked meal four weeks later is can be a disappointing disaster even when I take "off-days" into account. I try very hard not to take service into account as it is the food I am judging, but sometimes service is so dreadful it spoils the meal anyway. I am sorry to see eateries providing some nice savoury dishes only to find all the puddings are the bought-in run of the mill stuff, all of which I am not remotely interested. Chefs and cooks and proprietors should be aware that home cooking also has to be good cooking. Some menus are so long that you just know it can't be all good. I think there are too many people cooking on the Island who do not understand the basics of preparing and presenting a nicely cooked dish.

Posthumous award - I had to do it. The short life of Goodman's leaves me very sad for the future of Island cooking. The proprietors were hugely enthusiastic, the food was fabulous. I dreamt about my next visit. The chef showed a magic that is rare. I wish them all lots of luck in the future. It is not only a sad loss for Ventnor it is a sad loss for the Island.

Credit Cards - again - Minimum spend! I just don't get it. I run a small art business and I have a credit card machine. Apart from American express whether I take £2.00 or £100, the commission is the same  1.5%. Debit cards charge a fixed fee of normally 45p. So that will come off a £2.00 pot of tea or in my case a greeting card. However, the profit margin on these small items are so high I think it is worth offering good customer service by accepting the card. I was told this year by a local business just outside Godshill that she would rather not have my business than take a card for a pot of chutney I had forgotten to buy. I had already spent £30.00 there. The result, she hasn't got my business. IT'S ALL ABOUT SERVICE AND IT IS OFTEN THE ONLY "EDGE A SMALL BUSINESSES HAS ON THE big boys.

Microwave ovens - They are constantly being used indiscriminately. Soups over heated so they burn your mouth, a horrible sensation that lasts all day-, and can be dangerous. Sponge puddings over heated to a cinder inside, jacket potatoes so overcooked  they go hard as you eat them. Pastry that is served up as a soggy mess. I am amazed that eateries think it is acceptable to serve such rubbish and charge for it.

I judge all - the cafes on the Island by my favourite cafe in GB. That is the Mountain Cafe at Aviemore. Run by an inspired New-Zealander. A girl who understands implicitly how to challenge, stretch and soothe the taste buds. On the Island there is nothing near it and there never as been. Anyone aspiring to run a fantastic cafe on the Island or indeed anywhere must take a trip to this eatery. In fact if your not obsessed with food and cooking you should not be in the business.

Home Cooking - Many places do make their own dishes and may be wondering why they are not on the pages of this review. The reason is because making a dish doesn't necessarily make it a good dish. I recently ordered Caramel rice pudding with compote of apples and apricots. Sounded good but the rice was a mushy, overcooked mess. They also gave me by mistake Pheasant with watery  pine nut and cabbage mash and a really salty bacon and packet sauce gravy. I had actually ordered pheasant with beetroot in damson wine or something like that but the blackboard had been written up wrongly. As I was eating I thought "Could I recommend this to a gourmet friend who trusts my judgement"? The answer was NO. To date no one has been able to make me a proper fruit crumble with real homemade custard or proper bread and butter pudding. Further more please do not serve me micro wave heated pies, I cannot bear soggy pastry. To date no one has been able to serve me a decent fish pie.

Catch 22

It is a sad fact that there are more people on the Island who want to eat out than there are good places to eat. My recommendation is complain more when served rubbishy, inedible food, but whatever you do DO NOT eat it.

The Problem with Pubs

First of all it the puddings - hardly any pub makes their own. A few make some of their own, but most desserts are bought in. Pubs will use up their left over bread in a bread and butter pudding but, to date I have not found a pub that can make a decent version of this delicious baked custard pudding. And talking of custard no one can make that either. However, fruit crumble is the worst. This is the one pudding all pubs seem to make on the premises. If I were them I wouldn't bother. I have had soggy, gloopy topping, burnt topping, topping sprinkled straight out of the catering packet with no fat rubbed in. Badly flavoured crumble, tinned fruit crumble. Further, I am not keen on the crumble recently devised by famous chef Raymond Blanc either. That is not crumble that is stewed fruit with a crunchy topping. Clearly devised because he can't get the real thing right. I keep thinking I need to run a school on how to make simple, traditional desserts.

Pudding is not the end of the story. Please stop serving me meat pies that have been  reheated on the oven and rendered that pastry soggy. Either make a smaller pie or no pie at all. Then there is the vegetable soup. "What vegetables" I ask, "root vegetable". "Is it smooth or chunky"? I ask  "er both".  What they means but dare not  say is it is a puree of yesterday's leftovers. YUK.

I think we all accept that pubs have to provide the junk, (although not all do), but when they offer a special it has to be that, special. Not something left over from the day before they ant to get rid of.

Boring

We have had a spurt of new restaurants over the past few years and I am always eager to try a new eatery. I go praying that I am going to have a good time, willing them to be good at what they do. Probably because I so want the Island to be recognised, like the Lake District, as a place to come to for it's good cooking. My normal problem is that menus are so similar I find I am comparing slow cook belly of pork, goats cheese tart, soft herring roes, oh no not more soft herring roes!! Actually I love this dish and the best this year has been at the Red Lion in Freshwater, but I want something different and inspiring. I am still looking for the chef/ess who can actually produce a menu that is creative, well executed and different form the rest. Like an artist - someone with a style of their own.

Sock pulling time

The Isle of Wight caterers have really got to begin to pull their socks up. With a recession in the offing and the world competing for the tourists that can still afford to go on holiday the Island is going to find itself left behind if it doesn't improve it's catering standards. The public are now well travelled, they know what to expect and they expect a lot. Not just the quality of the cooking at some "so called" good eateries but the begrudging  service is really appalling. For instance I am getting very fed up with the credit card discrimination that is exercised against solo dinners. Numerous places, particularly pubs, will not accept cards for less than £10.00. That means I cannot have a simple sandwich. I rarely have cash on me as it is irritating to have to find a cash machine or waste my day going into a busy town to get money. I do not buy the argument of the supplier cost applied for having the machine. We are talking pennies. Either you are offering a full service or you are not. This short sighted attitude is typical of small minded, parochial businesses, and the Island is one of the worst culprits.

Credit Cards - ON GOING MOAN

As a frequent solo diner I often feel discriminated against by establishments who will not accept cards for less than £10.00. My bill is frequently below this amount. This means that unless I pay cash they do not want my custom. Or even worse, and this happened to me at a place in Niton, my bill came to £9.55 and I was told I had to pay a surcharge of 75p. which took it over £10.00. I hope you see the stupidity of this as much as I do?

This attitude is extremely short-sighted and terrible customer service. It is also selective customer service a form of discrimination - we will only accept your card if you spend enough money. One restaurant told me that customers were quite happy to go to the cash point after a meal and draw out money and that they had had no complaints - It told them that they had had a complaint - from me. A pub that worries about the loss of a few pence in card charges is losing a great deal more than a few pence. It is losing my future custom and that of any guests I may have with me.

The worst food I have been served 2008

Sticky toffee pudding that came minus the sticky toffee: Arreton Summer tomato pudding that came as two discs of slimy white bread - disgusting: mashed potato so salty it was inedible, apple and sultana crumble with a topping soggy and undercooked then smothered with cheap custard to disguise the error, hot food served on stone cold plates: Pavlova that came as a meringue roulade, I get really annoyed when dishes are not what they claim to be: crème brulee with under cooked bottom and, told it was meant to be like that - do not assume the customer is stupid. Pies that have been ruined in the microwave, i.e. soggy pastry and hard overcooked fillings: Burnt bacon - which they thought fit to serve!: An iced chocolate parfait that was so rock hard it was like eating a block of chocolate with a spoon.

Prices

Most of the recommended establishments cost more than your norm, some more than that, particularly the "Flavours by Design" establishments. Having been in the restaurant trade I think the reason for high prices is that less people want quality made food with fresh ingredients so turnover at such establishments is less and we pay more for that. However, I have been to a few pubs on the Island that churn out tons of badly cooked food for extortionate prices.

Does the Isle of Wight College create the best chefs?

I am also concerned at the turnover of chefs at various eateries on the Island. It suggests a lack of good chefs on the Island to ensure aspiring eateries can get good marks. Just look at the situations vacant in the County Press for experienced chefs, it goes on week after week. In my experience if you want to keep a good chef you have to offer good job prospects. Particularly on the Island where opportunities for good career moves are thin on the ground. Apart from a handful of good eateries on the Island I actually think cooking skills on the Island are as bad now as they were 20 years ago. I would like to see the Isle of Wight College step up its standards and become a premier training centre for Island Chefs. To do this they must introduce top chefs from the mainland to demonstrate their skills and they must teach potential chefs that good cooking comes from the heart and a desire to give something of themselves - good cooking is a craft, an art form. Teachers have to show this passion to their students.  -The Island supports a major catering Industry and deserves better. The college has got to step up to the plate.

Consumer Conundrum

Since the war British Governments have strived to encourage competition with the aim of keeping prices and inflation down. In fact our Government’s have opened international doors to provide us with variety and choice. They have allowed new markets for us to buy from and sell to. It is continuing to happen today - with the economic development of China. Soon we will be selling to them as well as buying from them. So how does this sit with Government policies that are designed to reduce global warming?

 Consumers are now being encouraged to buy locally made goods and retailers are urged to stock local products. Our Government is financially supporting the setting up of farmers markets, organisations to promote locally made goods and the development of rural enterprises. (It is also funding small businesses to develop markets overseas.) Yet to revert to the past and the concept of buying local products will reduce competition and encourage protectionism. This will lead to a return to high prices, less choice. I cannot think of any reason why this would not happen. Worse than that a locally produced product does not always equate to quality made product. (A local consumer watchdog will be a must).

 Is it a consumer conundrum or typical Government (any government) double speak? Do we pay more for less choice to save the planet and make competition a dirty word or carry on as we are to the bitter end? The Government is telling us to do both so with such mixed messages I think the answer is carry on as normal. There is nothing that will stop progress and the growth and saturation of the global economy; but what then? Mars, the Universe, Outer Space?!!!

Not Good Enough - Cooking to awful for the Wight Good Food Guide - I am put off numerous establishments for numerous reasons, listed below are some of the things I find deplorable and have been fed and or suffered this year!

May 12th 07 - I have just experienced a disappointing eating out week. Even if one doesn't get finesses I do at least expect edible food - not so at a recent visit to a so called gastro pub. I took my eccentric mother for lunch. She, like me loves her food is a good cook and as we both come from working class backgrounds we know how to cook beautifully, cheap cuts of meat. Intrigued, I ordered beef and black-pudding pie with mash. It was nothing exceptional and the potato might have been a "Smash" hit but it wasn't a mash hit. Mum's belly of pork with apple and black pudding was terrible. The thin strips of pork had been cooked to death then reheated in the microwave so that it arrived on the plate as hard as bone- yes someone actually had the nerve to serve it and charge £10.00 for the disaster. Frankly I have eaten better roast belly pork from Morrison's hot meat counter. Further, the gravy was thick and salty and the same gravy was served on my pie. We told the disinterested waitress about the overcooked pork, but as I say she was disinterested.

April 07 - After being told by a pub outside Newport that the duck and orange pate was home-made I discovered that it was straight from the caterers pack. Please do not assume that the public are stupid.

February 07 - Passion fruit and mango posset. Well, it certainly wasn't posset. It was like eating spoonfuls of sickly sweet jam. Posset seems to be the new crème brulée - however,  this year I have eaten only one correct version, at the Terrace Restaurant, Osborne House. I asked the waitress how it  (the sickly sweet jam)- was cooked. The chef said masses of sugar and fruit and cream boiled together then put in the fridge to set. I wanted to ask if the Chef had eaten a full portion but couldn't be bothered, it was obvious that he hadn't.  Please chefs know what you are cooking. There are plenty of history discussions about posset  on the internet. It was originally a drink of boiled milk laced with wine or lemon juice. Later eggs were added but it was still a drink.  It has now been refined to a delicate set dessert of boiled double cream flavoured with citrus fruits and lightly sweetened. Timing is essential to obtain the right end-consistency. Left to go cold it will set naturally.

January 2007 - Hideous chorizo sausage risotto with mango sauce - rice overcooked to a dry mash. At the same place, thick, thick, heavy, heavy pancake with chocolate sauce and dried up mushroom and stilton bruleé. Rabbit and Bacon pie with horrible soggy pastry - answer, keep pies away from microwaves or don't offer pie when trade is quiet or offer a smaller menu.

December 2006 - The worst bread and butter pudding ever. An individual version turned out of a small pudding basin. The top/or bottom depending on which way you look at it, looked promising with a layer of baked egg custard, the centre was horrible dry slices of bread, no butter, no fruit no spice. Awful. My complaint was met with the comment "Ah Bless".

2006- Cappuccino that is not Cappuccino; (see Thorntons recommendation) Sesame Toasts from M&S as a starter; slow cooked pork belly that was reheated "school dinner" slices of meat; pasta heated  in a microwave oven for so long that it scaled my mouth; pork loin chop, overcooked and age-tough with undercooked leek and apples sauce.

Fish that was described as freshly grilled overcooked in the microwave so that the flesh exploded; bland mushrooms in a cream sauce; lobster and peach salad that was a complete failure as far as flavour combinations go; over cooked meat that has not been carved to order; packet soup, packet gravy, packet custard, packet anything; re-heated leftovers;  bought in scones claming to be homemade; frozen vegetables; tasteless, crispy Yorkshire puddings; overcooked veg; undercooked veg; old bread; mouldy bread; stale scones and cakes; aerosol cream; meat that has gone hard through too much micro-waving; coffee served with pudding; arrogant staff; miserable staff; surly service; unhelpful staff; lies; food that has gone off; general bad cooking; inconsistency; plates piled too high; lack of understanding of the dish; long menu's; roast potatoes that are in fact deep fried; so called top restaurants serving bought in chips with their bar snacks; undressed salad garnish; lasagne hot on the outside and frozen in the middle; crumble buried under custard; in fact anything buried under custard;  tepid soup; soup then micro-waved so that it scalds; burnt fish and chips; carrot cake with lumps of cooked carrot; badly made cakes;

Supermarket v Farm Shop v Farmers Market

If I was a marketing advisor for a Supermarket who said they needed to impress the public with their support for British produce not only would it be an easy task they wouldn’t have to stock much more British produce than they already do.

 The consumer is often criticised for shopping in supermarkets, yet if you look carefully there is plenty of British food on offer, biscuits, cheese, meat, fruit and vegetables in season (obviously an apple in August has to be imported), fish from around our shores, organic farmed salmon from Scotland. The message to the consumer is when you shop in a Supermarket check the labels to ensure Britishness.

 As their marketing advisor I would tell them to simply change their message. Firstly, select a handful of small producers and create a cosy pamphlet about them. However, we are not stupid, we know that there are not enough small farmers in Britain to supply every supermarket in the country, even on a local level. To succeed at this farmers must get bigger and possibly cheaper. I would also advise supermarkets to invite the farmers market to set up outside, it will not damage their turnover at all and would be great customer relations.

Alternatively, shop in a Farmer’s Market? Here you are buying direct from the farmer, which ensures, in our case, local to the Island. It doesn’t necessarily mean cheaper because the aim of Farmers Markets is a) to cut out the middleman (the Supermarket) and give greater profits to the farmer who at the conception of Farmer’s Markets were being price squeezed by the Supermarkets and b) it allowed the small producer to survive without having to go big. The down side of Farmer’s Markets is lack of choice. They will never be fierce competition to the Supermarket – largely due to supply and demand. It is therefore OK to support Supermarkets but encourage them to stock more British food from small producers by buying those products.

 Buying locally is also, now, about reducing food miles. As a result Farm Shops are popping up all over the place. They are a great tourist attraction and ensure a nice outing in the car – get it? Farm Shops should be in town and village centres and accessible to everyone not just a select few. They should offer great choice. Most people visiting a Farm Shop walk out with a handful of goodies and then go to the Supermarket for their proper shopping. There is something not quite right here. Farmers should be asking not “what can the consumer do for me” but “what can I do for the consumer”.

Tip to Restaurants Serving Sunday Lunch

In the home Sunday lunch is served to perfection at the same time to everyone. If you have customers turning up at different times the only way to serve a perfect Sunday lunch is to stager the cooking to fit in with the arrival of each individual booking -cooking some 10 to 15 individual roast - this would be impossible. The Sunday Carvery was a good try but it meant soggy vegetables, crispy Yorkshires and eventually dry meat. Therefore, you must have a roast lunch served at a set time - say 1pm. If the customer refuses to accept this then all I can say is the customer is not interested in good food.

PUB SPECIALS BOARD

Pub grub is so predictably the same (although I have to say restaurant food is getting samey too - goats cheese tart with onion relish, slow cooked belly of pork, seafood brulèe, smoked haddock with cheese sauce, posh burgers and chunky chips - where's the originality!!?), bought in frozen food, ready made dishes, jackets, baguettes, burgers, wings, haunch of this, shoulder of that. Menu's so long you know it can't all be fresh. Then you get the pub that extends the dinning room but not the kitchen and the number of staff. This means that on busy days food delivery is starvingly slow. However, some pubs do have a specials board. There was a time when the specials board was a way of getting rid of the previous days left-overs- it still is in some places.

CHIPS - What happened to them?!

All of a sudden we are being given fat "chips", chunky  "chips", extra big "chips", in fact chips that are not chips. As far as chips go fat chips just do not work - a chip has an optimum size - for a reason. It has to be deep fried in hot fat so that it is soft and fluffy on the inside and not burnt on the outside. Still on chips, if a high achieving restaurant serving bought in chips, uses the excuse of "too busy to make them" during lunch time trade then they shouldn't be on the menu.

I am currently doing the best hand-cut chip on the I of W search - watch this space. So far the chips at Jireh House, Yarmouth, are top of the bill

 However, the best chips I have had this year are at Rick Stein's Fish and Chip shop in Padstow.

The Lost Sunday Lunch

In the good old days male members of the family would go down to the local pub for a Sunday lunch time drink while her indoors slaved over a stove producing fabulous traditional roast dinners. Ribs of beef or a nice piece of topside would be lovingly cooked to a succulent, pink and juicy feast. While the meat was resting a giant Yorkshire pudding would be cooked in a roasting tin with the fat from the beef, rich roast gravy was made from the beef bones and the vegetable liquid all thickened with a sprinkling of fried flour and finished with a spot gravy colouring. Potatoes were roast to a golden crisp in more beef fat ensuring that the subtle flavours of beef ran through the whole meal.

 Pork, was cooked for longer with the fat from the pork rind dripping through the meat ensuring a strong traditional pork flavour. The sage and onion stuffing was enhanced with onions softened in pork fat, the crackling was finished off at the end of the meal when the oven was raised to its highest temperature so that it cooked to a crisp while still attached to the pork joint. The roast potatoes would be cooked with the meat and crisped up at the end with the crackling. Apples sauce was made from a fresh puree of Bramley apples, slightly sharp and acidic and the gravy made with the juices of the pork roast, pork stock and again the liquid from the vegetables. Roast Lamb had similar special treatment. Everything was cooked so that the flavour of the lamb was carried through the gravy the vegetables and the onion sauce. Our only error according to the French is that we over cooked our vegetables. Now we don’t always cook them long enough.  

Pubs started to get in on the act and produced similar good fare so that mum didn’t have to slave over the stove. So far so good. Then something went terribly wrong. Children were no longer forced to learn cooking at school. Both parents went out to work, supermarkets began offering ready cooked Yorkshires, roast potatoes, ready cooked beef meals, puddings and even the gravy granules. Pubs took on too much and ended up using the microwave oven as a substitute for proper cooking instead of as an aid to cooking. Poor old chefs were put under pressure to churn out a wide range of dishes that cannot possibly be well cooked. These days we seem to be paying for a large choice badly cooked rather than a small choice well cooked.

 This is why I never go out for Sunday Lunch. Pubs are full, tables are all booked up and the kitchen is under pressure, it has become a cattle market.

 However, over the past month, I decided to give it another go. It was certainly an experience not to be forgotten for some time to come.  I have been served soggy roast potatoes that have been re-heated in a microwave oven to such unbearable temperature that I could not eat them until after I had eaten everything else. I have been served deep fried “roast potatoes” that give a whole new meaning to the chunky chip. I have been faced with plates piled so high and swimming in flavourless gravy that I was frightened to touch it for fear it would fall all over the table, beef so grey and overcooked it could have been mashed with a fork, soup that the chef had the nerve to tell me it was home made when clearly it was from a packet, Gammon that had been kept warm for so long it was crispy around the edges and stuck to the plate, pheasant, already a dry meat and must not be cooked for very long, not only dry but hard around the edges after the good old microwave re-heat treatment. I have yet to find someone who can make rhubarb and apple crumble. I have been served a crumble so soggy it looked like flour and water goo, crumble so dry it was surely commercial mix sprinkled straight from the packet over bland tinned apples and then smothered in undercooked Birds custard. Yuk. This must be a new trend as I have had the same rhubarb and apple in two separate pubs.

 Nevertheless, I still have faith; there must be some where on our lovely Isle of Wight that is cooking good traditional Sunday roasts with quality trimmings.

 In the meantime my advice to people going out to Sunday lunch is avoid the roast and go for the pub specials.

Back to top