NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Lifestyle

Auckland restaurant review: Kim Knight eyes the menu at Ponsonby Road Bistro

Kim Knight
By Kim Knight
Senior journalist - Premium lifestyle·NZ Herald·
2 Jun, 2023 06:00 PM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Fireside comfort in the front section of Ponsonby Road Bistro, Auckland. Photo / Alex Burton

Fireside comfort in the front section of Ponsonby Road Bistro, Auckland. Photo / Alex Burton


In their own words: “Modern, global bistro fare in a stylish yet relaxed setting.”

First impressions: We had a seat by the fire, the lights were low and warm and the entire room glowed copper-caramel-butter-brown. I felt like I’d slipped into a high-quality creme brulee. Ponsonby Road Bistro was as casually elegant as its clientele (well-dressed but still up for steak, chips and a good time).

On the floor: When the waitperson came to clear the clam shells, he offered more bread to mop the broth. When we ordered steak, he bought a pot of Dijon mustard. We were not left wanting wine, water or - crucially - waitstaff. Our first course took a long time to arrive but the intervening service had been so impeccably personable I barely noticed.

The neighbourhood: Next to Lime Bar and opposite Duck Island Ice Cream. On a Saturday night that equated to multiple brides-to-be in various states of tinsel, but mostly the outside world became a sort of abstract concept. Ponsonby Road Bistro is the sort of place you really want to go back to quite soon.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The menu: In a world of shared plates and 90-minute table turnovers it was a simple luxury to consider an entree, a main and a fully resolved conversation between courses. (If snacks with drinks are more your thing, the menu offers these too - think breads with smoked fish dip, whipped ricotta or chicken liver paté; crispy calamari with nuoc cham and peanuts.

Best bite #1: Broccoli and farro meat(-free) balls? Who am I kidding. In a bistro, we steak. And at Ponsonby Road Bistro, the steak was perfect. Too often, “chargrilled” is a surface deep descriptor. Here, the chemistry really got in. Herb and garlic butter was loaded with the latter and, on the side, were the best chips I’ve eaten this year - super-crisp, super-fluffy.

Pork cotoletta, from the menu at Ponsonby Road Bistro. Photo / Alex Burton
Pork cotoletta, from the menu at Ponsonby Road Bistro. Photo / Alex Burton

Best bite #2: I googled “cotoletta” and it said “cutlet”. I ordered the cotoletta and was delivered a schnitzel. When I looked up “schnitzel” in an Italian dictionary it said “cotoletta”. Let me make this easier for you. My pork cotoletta was a flattened, breadcrumbed and fried piece of meat. It was crisp to the bite and juicy to the chew. It sat in a pool of adult butter - the stuff that has been heated until the milk solids caramelise and convince you that something this good will surely not require an antacid at 2am. There was a squeeze of lemon, a spruik of capers, a tangle of rocket. There was nowhere to hide and it was simply delicious (by any definition).

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The jury’s still out: The gnocchi was stunning. Whipped clouds, silky pillows, etc. I am guessing the kitchen was looking for a textural contrast but, in my opinion, the mushroom sauce was a distraction. The fungi had been finely minced. Make the mushrooms bigger or disappear them into a puree - let that fabulous gnocchi really take centre stage.

On the side: Our grandmothers boiled them. The raw food movement shredded them. More recently, restaurants have roasted those tiny brassica to within an inch of their bitter little lives. On a cold Saturday night, at a seat by the fire, I ordered brussels sprouts fondue. I urge you to do the same as soon as you possibly can.

Dessert: It had been a night of bistro basics done incredibly well and the creme brulee was absolutely no exception.

Perfect for: Restoring your faith in the restaurant experience.

How much: $235.50 (three courses and two drinks each) for two.

Address: 165 Ponsonby Rd, Ponsonby, Auckland, ph (09) 360 1611.


Sip the list

by Yvonne Lorkin

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

They take their Cognac, Armagnac, eau-de-vie, grappa and digestifs very seriously at PRB, so if you know your Calvados from your Silvio Carta Mirto you’ll be happy. If sherry’s your sauce, finish with a 75ml splash of Hidalgo Manzanilla from Jerez or exotically caramelised Alvear PX from Montilla-Morilles. Port fans can sip their way through a smorgasbord from Churchill’s from Portugal. Dessert wine fiends have more sticky semillon, muscat and malvasia trebbiano than they can swing a swizzle stick at - and the cocktail list? Steady yourself, it will require much discipline. I’ll oscillate between a Boozy Suzy (Grey Goose, Lillet Blanc, Gentian de Lure, ruby grapefruit, lime and egg white) and a Chargrilled Pineapple Caipirinha thanks. Even the virgin cocktails look ridiculously good. Japanese beer brands join the usual Kiwi crafties. With no fewer than 15 wines available by the glass for between $13.50 and $26 per glass, it’s easy to work your way through some rather snazzy gruner veltliner, Chablis, tempranillo and malbec. But the bottle list is by far PRB’s most beautiful thing. It’s a lengthy pleasure-trove of incredibly delicious wines forming an exotic mix of local, leftfield icons and rising stars from Greece, Italy, Spain, France, Australia, California and Austria - to name a few. Ponsonby Road Bistro, your selection is more than an adventure, it’s the Indiana Jones of drinks lists and I love it!


Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Lifestyle

Premium
Lifestyle

Advice: My partner will only sleep with me if I buy her gifts. Am I being used?

16 Jun 06:00 AM
Lifestyle

How many have you tried? Auckland's new Top 100 Iconic Eats named

16 Jun 04:30 AM
New Zealand

Why Matariki has become one of NZ's most meaningful public holidays

16 Jun 03:37 AM

It was just a stopover – 18 months later, they call it home

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Lifestyle

Premium
Advice: My partner will only sleep with me if I buy her gifts. Am I being used?

Advice: My partner will only sleep with me if I buy her gifts. Am I being used?

16 Jun 06:00 AM

Telegraph: Is a transactional relationship ever OK? It's complicated, says Rachel Johnson.

How many have you tried? Auckland's new Top 100 Iconic Eats named

How many have you tried? Auckland's new Top 100 Iconic Eats named

16 Jun 04:30 AM
Why Matariki has become one of NZ's most meaningful public holidays

Why Matariki has become one of NZ's most meaningful public holidays

16 Jun 03:37 AM
Prince Harry celebrated as 'the best' dad in Father's Day tribute

Prince Harry celebrated as 'the best' dad in Father's Day tribute

16 Jun 03:30 AM
Sponsored: Embrace the senses
sponsored

Sponsored: Embrace the senses

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP