WITH ORIGINAL PHIL'S gone, new owners have brought an old name back to Newport High Street on the Isle of Wight.

During the day, Top of The Town is a conventional cafe, and on a Friday and Saturday night it serves authentic Thai cuisine.

A modest range of standard Thai dishes was on offer, including massaman, red and green curry, hot and sour soup; and Thai papaya salad for the more adventurous.

We had a selection of starters including Thai fish cakes, prawn spring rolls and chicken satay.

Isle of Wight County Press: The starters at Top of The Town, Newport, looked good.The starters at Top of The Town, Newport, looked good.

These were all served searingly hot from the fryer, with a smattering of chopped cabbage and tomato as an accompaniment.

We agreed the curiously omelette-like fishcakes were the best.

Each dish came with a different sauce, and we were so mystified by the light, sticky sauce served with the prawn spring rolls that in the end we had to ask what it was. Sweet plum sauce was the answer.

Classic pad Thai noodles with pork was a reasonable example of the genre, with plenty of meat but only a smattering of fresh veg or bean sprouts in it.

We'd expressed concern about the level of chilli spice in the dish, and our helpful hosts had taken the time to find out how we preferred to have our heat.

In the end they supplied a little pot with chilli flakes in it, which we could sprinkle on the meal as we wanted.

This actually worked better than you'd think and allowed everybody to have the level of spice they were comfortable with.

Isle of Wight County Press: A tasty dish at Top of The Town, Newport.A tasty dish at Top of The Town, Newport.

Stir-fried king prawns with black pepper and oyster sauce was a slightly more unusual dish, and a tasty treat.

With a generous freckling of fresh crushed peppercorns, the dish looked great and was full of big, perfectly soft prawns surrounded by chunks of pepper and bamboo shoots.

Top of the Town has much promise. It has great service, and reasonable prices. The venue could become a great evening restaurant, and a nice sit-down Thai experience might be popular.

It is early days for this new venture, and we will certainly want to try the daytime offering too.

Meanwhile, keep an eye on the place, and don't be fooled by the heritage name: the Top of the Town is a new and enjoyable place to dine.

MATT AND CAT'S BILL:

Thai fish cakes £5
Prawn spring rolls £5.50
Chicken satay £5
Pork pad thai £8.50
king prawns £12.50
Jasmine rice £3
Total: £39.50

RATING: Three stars - a decent place that we’d recommend.

CONTACT DETAILS:

Top of the Town, 81 High Street, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 1BG.

T: 01983 525242

W: topofthetowncafe.ueniweb.com

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