The Pointer Inn
During visits over the last five years, I've been lucky to have made friends with the preeminent Isle of Wight restaurant review duo, Matt & Cat. M&C are the driving force behind the massively successful Isle of Wight Eating Out Guide. Their honest, independent and lively reviews serve as guidance to both locals and visitors alike. More than once on this trip I've heard Bob ask, "So, what do your friends think of "XYZ Pub….".
On Friday night, Matt & Cat graciously invited me to dinner. Which, of course, I jumped at. When we last ate together, they knocked it out of the park. Knowing my love for all things meat and beer, I again had complete faith for another stellar evening.
Our destination was The Pointer Inn in Newchurch. For over 600 years, a pub has occupied its space and just over 2 years ago took on new management. The Pointer Inn is a "tied house" meaning it represents a specific brewery. In this case, Fullers.
Cat mentioned she had booked the last 3 seats for the evening. When we walked in, I was glad she had. The place was packed. The Pointer Inn is a quintessential English pub: two relatively small dining rooms separated by a bar, low ceilings and a unmistakeable warm feeling of community. We made our way through the crowded bar of evening drinkers and checked in with the proprietor, Rachel. Rachel, and her husband Rob, not only run the Inn, they live there too. By all accounts it's their life.
As we grabbed our first pints, a HSB for me and a Summer Ale for Matt, I surveyed the room. There were faces of all ages enjoying dinner and a few tables partaking in birthday celebrations. There was certainly a vibe. About this time I was regretting the fact I brought along my camera bag. It's bad enough having a "different" accent, a credit card without a "chip" (almost no one in England "swipes" a credit card as we do in the States), but to be the only patron bringing luggage to dinner too? Hmm, perhaps a bit much.
We soon took our seats and then relatively quickly decided on our meals. No sooner had we had delved back into conversation to bring each other up to speed on our goings on over the last couple years, dinner arrived.
Matt ordered a pie:
Cat, the filet:
And I, the mix grill:
I tend to be a sucker for any dinner item with an egg on it. Then, figure the mix grill is made up of rump steak, lamb, gammon, chicken, sausage…and an egg. It was a pretty sure thing when I saw it on the menu.
It did not disappoint and better yet, I finished it. There is just something so wonderfully splendid about breaking the yoke of a fried egg and soaking it up with a piece of meat. Devine.
Several times through dinner, Matt mentioned dessert. Normally, I skip desserts and make up for it with beer. However, Matt seemed keen on the pavlova, so as the desert orders were given, I followed his lead.
When it arrived, just one sight of it elevated my blood sugar. It was huge. I later described it to Zoë by placing both of my fists together. It was also delicious and sadly, unlike the mix grill, I just couldn't finish it.
While Matt and I worked our way through ours, Cat had zero complaints on her brownie. It too looked incredible and one glance of the chocolate powder fork silhouette reinforced the notion pub grub is so much more than it ever was.
As dinner wound down, the pub slowly emptied. As it tends to happen with good friends over a great meal, time evaporates.
With most of the tables now empty, we talked to Rachel again. As I mentioned before, the pub is Rachel & Rob's life, but not in a way that "it's my life" is seen as a pejorative. On the contrary, the enthusiasm Rob obviously puts into the kitchen and the passion I observed Rachel work the front of the house shows the The Pointer Inn is successful because it's their life. The Pointer Inn, and I hope I'm not letting the cat out of the bag here, is a top 10 cellarmanship finalist of the 300 plus Fuller's pubs countrywide. No small feat, but after having an amazing dinner and a couple great beers at The Pointer, completely understood.
I cannot begin to thank Matt & Cat for another great evening on the island. Dinner, the locale and most importantly, the company, were all splendid. Cheers.
Newchurch, Isle of Wight
Tel: 01983 865202
