Jesse Mulligan Reviews Return, Matt Lambert’s New Ponsonby Restaurant
It’s been highly anticipated but does it live up to its promise?
I’ve never been asked so much about a new restaurant. Partly it’s the address – the old Ponsonby Road Bistro – and partly it’s the chef: “Michelin” Matt Lambert. He’s called it Return, a reference to the few years he spent as the toast of Manhattan before coming back to New Zealand. There was an in-between period where he launched a chain of restaurants attached to a moleskin-based menswear brand but this restaurant, where his brilliant wife Barbara runs front-of-house, really does feel like his first completely compromise-free endeavour.
Lambert would probably protest if I called this a fine dining restaurant, but it has a lot of the markers, including white tablecloths and exceptionally fancy presentation. Best of all, it has a dedicated sommelier – the one thing that turns a good restaurant into a great one. If you love wine, there is absolutely nothing better than having somebody come tableside and chat about what they have open this evening. On a couple of occasions, Return’s sommelier approached and poured a taste from a wine bottle hidden in a bag - “tell me what you think of this”, he said, then returned a few minutes later for the big reveal (I got close on one but the other, an exquisite Neudorf Amphora chardonnay, completely bamboozled me).
This sort of moment provides a strong answer to the question “why bother leaving the house?” Most of us can cook pretty well now; our homes are set up like palaces. Any chef asking people to spend money on his food must make an unimpeachable case, and that’s exactly what Lambert and his team are doing here.
Ideally, you’ll begin with “snacks”, a word that deliberately underplays the level of intense labour that goes into creating them. Deep-fried bone marrow doughnut with kina is unlike anything you’ve seen before, all that fat swamping the taste buds and making the strange flavour of the urchin slide down a little easier.
His mushroom and sourdough might be the most beautiful dish I’ve seen in a restaurant this year. Precisely geometric, the mushroom parfait arrives like a little slice of tiramisu on a crunchy cracker, its top surface coloured with a squiggle of darkly intense mushroom gel (long story). Finally, there are tiny orange and lilac flower petals and pickled enoki caps, each the size of a match head. Like I say, this might not officially be fine dining but there is no visual, technical or price difference between this and something they’d serve at The French Cafe.
Based on what I experienced, you could order anything from this menu and come away very happy. The duck entree reminded me of good brisket – none of the lean meat blues that can dog this protein, just a glistening, tender mouthful cut thin and expertly against the grain to remove all trace of muscle fibre resistance. It came with a very savoury cherry jus, one plump pickled blackberry and a pureed “bread sauce” that had the silky luxury of foie gras. I could write a whole page on the salmon, an Ora King study in three parts, including a “belly-and-trim sausage” that emphasises his nose-to-tail-fin approach.
My venison main was just a lovely piece of meat. It was a tough choice between that and the fish, but what a great chance to eat something that feels like an injection of iron straight into the bloodstream. The juicy medallions had a lovely coating of heady spices and botanicals, alongside a subtle green coriander puree and stock reduction, both of which I had difficulty finishing. By this stage of a French-bistro-style dinner, nobody is craving more sauce.
So much of Return’s magic is in the stuff that happens in between – a warm hand-towel after snacks to clean up and refresh, a surprise set of petit fours balanced on some of the most ornate hand-made ceramics I’ve come across (apparently bespoke from Mr Potter studio, whose other clients are Paris Butter and Blue Duck station).
They finished the meal by offering a sample of a sort of palate cleanser experiment: labneh cucumber sorbet with luscious caviar piled on top, finished with olive oil.
I should warn you that this sort of quality, combined with this sort of geography, is not cheap. Expect to spend at least $400 for two if you’re drinking (the tasting menus start at $165) – a tough proposition, though the almost full house suggested enough Aucklanders are feeling flush right now to make this work.
Hopefully, this continues through the honeymoon period and on into winter. Return is right up there with Ahi and Paris Butter; it’s the world-class restaurant Ponsonby Rd has been missing.
Return
Cuisine: Smart bistro
Address: 171 Ponsonby Rd, Ponsonby
Contact: 09 883 7165, return.nz, @return_restaurant
Drinks: Fully licensed
Reservations: Accepted
Hours: Tuesdays to Saturdays, 5-10pm
From the menu: marrow and kina doughnut $22, mushroom and sourdough $18, salmon $38, duck $40, venison $56
Rating: 19/20
Score: 0-7 Steer clear. 8-12 Disappointing, give it a miss. 13-15 Good, give it a go. 16-18 Great, plan a visit. 19-20 Outstanding, don’t delay.
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