It’s safe to say that my summer has turned out a little different to planned thanks to Covid-19… like many others, this summer, I’ve had to kiss goodbye to Mediterranean beach holidays and exciting European city breaks in exchange fora summer of ‘staycations’… the first of which began with a trip to the Isle of Wight.

But first, it’s time for a confession… prior to my trip to the Isle of Wight, I admittedly had a perception of the island to be  a massive fairground, with few choices suitable for adults that want to enjoy a relaxing and enriched staycation… but boy was I wrong!  Yes, there are those parts to the island, but this certainly did not detract from the endless, breath-taking scenes of sand, sea, greenery and coast!

Likewise, the island is home to a spectacular selection of restaurants, bars and gastro-pubs. In fact, the choice was so extensive that it was actually hard to choose which venues to try during  our short, two-night stay.

Evening 1:

After unpacking, exploring our beautiful air bnb and relaxing in the hot tub, we later ventured into the picturesque town of Shanklin for drinks and a slap-up three course meal at ‘The Cottage’.

Having learnt that this restaurant had recently won the ‘Best in Business’ award, it’s safe to say our expectations were high upon arrival…high expectations which were satisfied course by course!  

For starter, I fancied something light (to save room for the next two dishes of course!) so opted for the ‘Tomato Terrine’. Accompanied by pickled shallots, avocado puree, and cows mozzarella, this tasty starter was fresh, full of flavour and boasted complementary textures. However, I must admit I had SERIOUS food envy when my partners’ scallop starter arrived!

For main, I decided to try the ‘Spatchcock Blacken Garlic Chicken’ which was beautifully tender and lavished in a rich chicken jus.

Now for the star of the show – my ultimate favourite dessert: Sticky Toffee Pudding. In fact, so eager was I to tuck into this dish that I didn’t get time to take a snap, so you are just going to have to take my word when I say it looked and tasted INCREDIBLE!

Day 2/Evening 2:

Having prepared breakfast baps from the comfort of our air bnb, we were fuelled for a busy day of exploring the island… until about 2.30pm when we decided a late lunch was next on the agenda.

On our drive back from ‘The Needles’ tourist attraction, we came across a beautiful café named ‘The Piano’. Tucked away a couple of miles down from Freshwater bay, this peaceful eatery turned out to be the perfect place to recuperate and enjoy some freshly made sandwiches and wraps before exploring Compton Bay and playing a spot of adventure golf.

A quick change and a 40 minute drive to other side of the island later, we arrived at ‘The Hut’ in Colwell – a stunning, sea-front restaurant that specialises in seafood.

With so many delicious seafood dishes on the menu,it was certainly hard to decide on just one, but eventually I finally settled on cod for main.

The cod fillet was fresh, tender and light,perfectly accompanying the salty and crunchy pea, pancetta and baby onion trimmings(oh, and side portion of skinny fries for good measure!)

For dessert, The Hut’s famous ‘Alaska Cone’ was calling my name! Scoops of vanilla ice cream placed in a waffle cone, lavished in Italian meringue and raspberry coulis, this dessert admittedly is a glorified ice cream cone, but hey, it was amazing!

Day 3:

Time to go home already... but not without enjoying a hearty brunch to set us up for the day!

For our final meal on the island, we once again ventured into Shanklin town, stumbling across a good old greasy spoon that served up the works! But that wasn’t the best part…This local-favourite were taking part in the #EatOutToHelpOut scheme, so our bill was heavily discounted too – a massive bonus to end a spectacular food-filled weekend away!