Leonardo's Ristorante-Bar Italiano

By EWAN McDONALD for viva

"A large part of the pleasure of Italian dining is dining in Italy. We have all eaten in Italian restaurants elsewhere. The food can be superb, the ingredients authentic, the pottery and linens imported by hand. Yet who can conjure the blood-red ochre crumbling to gold on a Roman wall, the indigo and pastel hues of fishing boats rocking in a marina, the snow flurry of sugar papers on a cafe floor? These impart the essence that - as much as the basil on your bruschetta - flavours your Italian dining experience."

One paragraph, and American food writer Nancy Coons puts her finger on the feeling that so often follows a night at a traditional Italian restaurant outside Italy. And if that's how you feel like eating tonight, they don't look or feel much more authentic than Leonardo's at the Three Lamps end of Ponsonby.

Another marvellous American writer, Patricia Wells, describes the small, informal, family-run restaurant found all over Italy: "Many trattorias have been in the same family for generations. And though they may have originally served as makeshift gathering-places for card playing and an afternoon sip of wine, they're now fully fledged restaurants with a true family presence and a commitment to tradition.

"When it comes to design and decoration, there is a definite trattoria 'look'. In the city, in particular, you're almost certain to find glass-panelled doors covered with simple and elegant white linen curtains; the chairs are almost always bentwood, the china thick and white, the tableware of ordinary stainless steel ... Traditionally, the walls are decorated with paintings, drawings ... "

Well, that's saved me describing Leonardo's, because they've got that "definite trattoria look", as well as the greeting from Leonardo himself, Signor Sorrenti, and the operatic performance from the waiter who absolutely must sit beside a woman to read and explain the night's specials. You have to remind yourself that the business is only a couple of years old. As we noted not long after it opened, it feels part of the landscape, as if it has been there for a century.

So does the menu, rooted in the north, like the family, who are of Milanese heritage and have owned restaurants in Italy and Australia. Josef Puchnee, the chef, trained in the classic Italian style and cooked in hotels in South Tirol, on the Italy-Austria border, before coming to New Zealand and joining Leonardo's on opening day.

A recipe for mussels drops in from Apulia, the chicken liver dish is from Venice, and pasta sauces hail from Perugia, Livorno, Rome. Meats are also worked over: lamb rump escalopes are filled with pecorino and marinated figs, then oven-braised with onion, finished with a port sauce; chicken breast stuffed with spinach and brie, then oven-braised with pancetta and green peppercorns in a cognac and cream sauce.

It sounds rich, even heavy going, and it can be. We began with gnocchi in the famous four-cheeses sauce, then cursed ourselves for forgetting from previous visits that these are hefty portions, far bigger than anything you'd encounter on a plate in one of those trattoria that Mrs Wells goes to, and the gnocchi was stodgy.

The blackboard special was "coniglio", which translates as hare. Many of the specials are game. Never offered elsewhere in this country, I couldn't refuse the dish but it defeated me. It wasn't just that there was too much; it was dry. Rather more wisely, Ann had opted for fish, but found it was drowned under a too-heavy, too-rich tomato-based sauce. Desserts were offered but declined.

Leonardo's is always busy and you often have to book. I'm going to swim against the tide of popularity and say that, after several visits, though it has a great atmosphere and the meals are generous, the prices are on the high side and the food is good but not great. And despite what Ms Coons says, it's not a case of "When not in Rome ... "

Open: Dinner Tues-Sun, Lunch Fri-Sun, Closed Mon

Owners: Sorrenti family

Chef: Josef Puchnee


Food: Traditional Italian

On the menu:

Cozze alla Pugliese, live mussels steamed in their shells with white wine, garlic, tomato, chilli, basil, $14.50

Fettuccine Leonardo, fettuccine pasta tossed with chicken, red onion, sundried tomatoes, champignon mushrooms in a creamy chardonnay sauce, $21.50

Medaglioni di Manzo alla San Danielle, beef medallions cooked with roast artichoke, parmesan cheese and pink peppercorns in a cognac cream sauce, topped with raw parma ham, $28.50

Vegetarian: Pasta is best

Wine: Almost all Italian, from Sicily to Piedmont

Smoking: No

Noise: Opera. On Wednesdays, it's live

Bottom line: Leonardo's looks and feels like an authentic Italian family restaurant. Although it has a great atmosphere and the meals are generous, prices are on the high side and the food is good but not great.

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