Bembridge, Isle
of Wight
Best Bites no 24
Bembridge Harbour,
sunny, sandy bay looking out towards the forts protecting the Solent
from the East and offering sheltered gastronomic delights to visiting
yachtsmen.
This privately owned harbour is home to two sailing
clubs, an angling club, commercial fishermen and marine related businesses.
Visitors berths are found at the Duver
Marina on the northern (St Helens) side of
the channel – 01983 872828
For this trip to the Island we decided to leave the
boat behind, jump on the Red Funnel to East Cowes
and pick up one of Red Squirrel’s
e-bikes, in order to keep up with the mammals on their road bikes and actually
enjoy the scenery whilst gliding up those famous IofW hills. Aaron Orman from Visit Wight met me in the Waitrose car
park and I was off, whipping along to Wooton in no time at all, as first stop
is Briddlesford Farm. Breakfast
being a distant memory and I was keen to meet the team that own one of the few
A2 dairy herds in the country. A2 milk contains a different protein base, that Guernseys have in their DNA. French milk is totally A2,
but the rest of Europe transferred over to big
Friesian herds some years ago. A2 milk is easier to digest and makes better,
creamier cheeses and yoghurts, though contains no more fat – here endeth the
tale, if you’re interested please read more A2milk.co.uk
The farm shop and café are busy, with people enjoying
lunch and cream teas. I go for the latter and the mammal has the peppered steak
sandwich; the raspberry and loganberry jam is exceptionally good with the home
produced clotted cream. The steak sandwich is a meal in itself and should
sustain the guy doing the work until Bembridge.
Nothing is too far away on the Island,
which makes cycling a joy – even if you see the same cars passing you time and
again, going about their busy day. We drop down into Ryde before heading to
Bembridge, via Seaview and St Helens. The sea
breeze picks up and I’m glad of a power burst to get me to the pretty village green
at St Helens, where we rather like the look of
both Ganders, on the north side, and
Dan’s Kitchen on t’other side.
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| Red Squirrel's e-bikes flatten the hills and put a smile on your face |
A
quick brush up and we’re back for dinner. Dan’s Kitchen is now full to the
rafters with a convivial crowd enjoying the warm ambience. So we make for Ganders, where there’s a little more
room and are treated to some real quality cooking that is exceptional value for
money, 2 courses for £17.95.
This family business know what they’re doing, Dad (Ian
Cowcher) is the owner chef, Mum’s front of house and their younger son brings
the food and guidance. We share the Tandoori mackerel fillet skewers with a
mango mayo, subtle smokey flavours followed by whole Plaice with savoury butter
and their superb Steak & Ale Pie, made with Goddard’s ale, good mix of
crunchy vegetables, tasty, slow cooked beef and fresh, firm white flesh on the
Plaice, with a pleasantly charred, crisp skin.
I could have happily eaten everything on the pudding
menu (this isn’t always the case, honest) but had to plump for the plum &
amaretto Tarte Tatin, made with brioche rather than puff pastry; very good
flavours and the perfect finish to the meal, that was balanced, beautifully
cooked and presented.
After a decent sleep – did you know many of the boat
houses do B&B? - we were ready for breakfast. A bit of a map struggle here
as I really wanted to try out Cantina
over in Ventnor, but we were having
lunch at the Beach Hut in Bembridge, but as I said earlier, nothing is that far
away on the Island, just a bit of a steep hair
pin bend entry to Ventnor!
Cantina is worth the effort; my sort of place with
excellent coffee and bread. I had the porridge (as just back from Palma Boat
Show helping the intrepid Anna Wardley prepare for her Balearic Swim Challenge
– every day starts with porridge there) with butter roast apples and cinnamon
and Mike the full English and a couple of flat whites to wash it down.
Then back along the seafront at Shanklin we notice an
interesting glass building, perched atop what I assume was the old Bandstand, gaining great views out to
sea and back over the golf course. Good café stop, with the cool glazing opening
wide so we could see the racing from Bembridge ahead.
We find picture book English country village, with a
frisson of Saturday Spring time weddings in the air, we dodged the queues
outside the Farm Shop and Bembridge Bakery and wistfully read the
menu at Lockslane that we had hoped
to visit but will have to come back as they were closed for annual staff hols –
good reason also to return was the Shed, just along from the wonderful Farm Shop with baskets of keenly priced
local asparagus and glowing Isle of Wight tomatoes, next to local bakery meringues. Shed serves tapas, mezze etc and a
Tuesday night special of £10 for two courses – happy hour looked generous too,
running from 3-6pm every day.
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| Bembridge Farm Shop, full of quality, local produce |
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| Next time we'll try Lockslane |
We still had a bit of time before heading to the Beach
Hut so whizzed down the hill to the harbour to check that the ladies in the Tollgate were still serving up their
usual magic of quick, well priced café food and spotted a cycling team climbing
on board the Best Dressed Crab in Town,
where Graham Henley explains how this third generation family business has
grown and that in August they will sell up to a quarter tonne of crab a day.
The airy café sits on the pontoon and enjoys wonderful views over the harbour
and is a popular stop for crustacean lovers everywhere.
Time for lunch so we search out the Beach Hut, on Forelands Beach,
no need for signs as half the tables are full as we pull up at 12.30. We settle
in the sun, bare feet on the grass and notice we could have brought our own
drinks, and no corkage charge, very fair. I order the crab ramekin, a sort of
crab coquille St Jacques affair, only disappointment is the boring old roll,
whilst Mike has a very good BLT with fresh granary roll, tasty crisp bacon and
all as it should be. A bottle of Luscombe’s Damascene Rose Bubbly completes the
scene and we enjoy watching a team from Haslar Marina order the lobster platter
and pop their corks!
Replete and time to take the coastal path along the
front at Seaview to check out a few more wedding cars and floral frocks outside
the Seaview Hotel, passing the Boat House (which I’m told is good)
before heading back to East Cowes and the ferry home.
The hike:
Up from Bembridge, follow the coast path out to Forelands Beach, passing the
iconic RNLI station and the Coastguard before hitting the Beach Hut, return via
the pretty village, stocking up at the Farm Shop and enjoy happy hour at Shed
before home
.
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| The Isle of Wight is a top destination for cyclists with a great choice of well marked rides |
The bike:
many routes available. 62 mile Round the Island route, or dip into the Taste
Round the Island route, showcasing top producers on the way – maps available
from:
www.visitisleofwight.co.uk
www.visitisleofwight.co.uk
www.nutsnotto.co.uk
Red Squirrel E-Bikes
Events:
June 18 – 3 July - Festival of the Sea Best tweeters @MattandCat
July 2 – Round the Island
Race @TasteIW
July 16-23 Panerai British Classic Week – Cowes
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