The Retreat Location

Weather Forecast

Restaurant Reviews

Big Ernie's Diner, Southsea
The American diner is pure nostalgia, its revival due to Americans, mainly, looking back to the values of yesteryear in times of uncertainty.

Giraffe, Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth
Giraffe has just opened a new branch in Portsmouth - but why did owners of this 36-strong 'family-friendly' restaurant chain call it giraffe?

The Harrow Inn, Steep, near Petersfield
Britishness is alive and well and living in Steep. The Harrow Inn, one of Hampshire's mercifully time-has-been-forgotten pubs (it's been in the same family for ove

The Jerk Pan, Southsea
Fawcett Road has bags of character and is lined with small, family-run businesses veering from the quirky to the sublime. Ethnic food, bric-a-brac, clothing, secondhand books:

South Fork, Portsmouth
If your menu is mainly cow in many cuts, it's understandable to name your restaurant after a fictitious Texan ranch.

Brasserie@no.68, Fareham
Name changes and revamps can do wonders for a restaurant - if those changes have been thoroughly thought through.

Real Burger Kitchen, Chichester
The Absolutely Ridiculous Burger, the largest burger in the world, was created by a Michigan fast-food place in 2009 and tipped the scales at an astonishing 185lbs.

The Brasserie, Hayling
Langstone Hotel's restaurant has changed its name from Harbour Lights to The Brasserie and has an AA rosette for 'serving food prepared with care, understanding and sk

Restaurant 27, Southsea
Restaurant 27 chef-owner Kevin Bingham has worked at Michelin-starred restaurants and spent 10 years at Southsea's Montparnasse as head chef and co-owner before opening hi

The Bird in Hand, Lovedean
The Bird in Hand's name, derived from medieval falconry times when the bird in the hand (the falcon) was worth more than two in the bush (the prey), is not

The Brasserie @ 8 Kings Road, Southsea
Previous owners of 8 Kings Road in Southsea transformed this former bank into a restaurant of repute before realisation sank in about how hard it is to make money in this type

Sakura, Southsea
Sakura, Portsmouth's only Japanese restaurant, has hit the ground running.

Thai House, Chichester
Restaurant Alley, aka St Pancras in Chichester, is a strange, unpredictable beast.

The Barleycorn Pub, Nutbourne
If you can't cook or hire a good chef or two, opening a restaurant or pub and hoping to bluff your way into this business isn't a smart move.

Loch Fyne, Gunwharf Quays, Portsmouth
Far too many fish are on the endangered list after decades of over-fishing and deep-sea trawling that brings to the surface all manner of fish at various stages of development

Spice Island Inn, Old Portsmouth
Sir Walter Raleigh unloaded Britain's first potatoes and tobacco on Spice Island in the late 1500s.

La Piazzetta, Petersfield
Life on Mars, a cult series set in Britain's 1970s, passes mostly on the food with clothing, hair cuts, cars and street culture grabbing star turns.

The Wine Vaults, Southsea
Southsea's Wine Vaults is a much-loved institution, with a series of five casual bars sprawled throughout this colourful building opposite the Kings Theatre.

Italian Bar and Grill, Southsea
The restaurant business is a constantly evolving one, with recession-hit businesses shutting up shop or being transferred to new owners.

Millstream Hotel, Bosham
Quintessentially English hotels are usually overhyped or visions that are seen on film but seldom experienced in reality.

The Wyvern, Lee-on-the-Solent
Pub signs are quintessentially British and the one outside Lee-on-the-Solent's Wyvern features an aircraft. The pub is named after a single-seater strike aircraft used by

Pure Wine Bar & Bistro, Clanfield
My last two outings – Sea Level Restaurant at the Marriott Hotel, Portsmouth, and the new Inn on the Beach, Hayling Island – resulted in less than sparkling reviews. So what o

Inn on the Beach, Hayling
The Inn on the Beach is a former lifeboat station, which has recently re-opened after being bought by restaurateurs Carole Mackie and Ian Murray.

Sealevel Restaurant, at the Marriott Hotel, Portsmouth
Kirstie Allsop, she of Location, Location, Location, has changed. Once fresh-faced and loveable in her high heels and voluminous skirts, Kirstie in the new series has turned i

The Ship Inn, Langstone Harbour
The Ship Inn, right on Langstone Harbour by the bridge to Hayling Island, has one of those locations which most publicans and their bosses would die for.

Mela, Clanfield
There's a small, quiet community hard by the A3(M), a cluster of shops and restaurants forming a well-ordered circle.

The Compass Rose, Portsmouth
The chef at The Compass Rose must be a busy man, he and his staff handling well over 85 dishes not including specials.

The Lord Raglan, Emsworth
Lord Raglan was blamed for shortages of food, clothing and warmth during the bitter Crimean War, thereby creating suffering for the troops.

Hole in the Wall, Southsea
Rudyard Kipling paints a picture in his Smuggler's Song of gangs who hid illicit goods in holes in the walls. They were also used in debtors' prisons to pass essential

Bollywood, Southsea
Bollywood isn't quite as old as Hollywood, but Indian film-making did start as early as 1913, the era of the silent films.

Design By Plato IT