Essence, Ponsonby

By JOHN GARDNER for canvas

One of the advantages of going to a restaurant in a fairly large group is that you get a decent consensus. You can offset the bias of the person whose glimpse of a neighbour's offal dish prejudices their whole evening or the individual who takes an unreasonable aversion to the ginger-haired waiter with the goatee beard.

So the unanimous chorus of approval from five of us after the first courses at Essence boded well.

The seared king prawns with chilli, coriander and ginger sauce on a mung bean salad ($18.50) were bursting with flavour. My gumbo ($12.50) was a knock-out, spicy, hearty and with heaps of decent chunks of good fish, not the sad scraps you sometimes encounter. The baked scallops and shrimps in filo pastry with vermouth and mustard beurre blanc were greeted with enthusiasm.

Chef Michelle Johns has a distinctive style. While she rests on the bedrock of good New Zealand ingredients the keynotes are richer than in most contemporary restaurants. The king hit in this department was probably the eye fillet wrapped in an oxtail and herb farce on potato croute with a merlot reduction ($33). The gelatinous oxtail gave this a texture that our most carnivorous eater found intriguing, if verging on the heavy.

My slow-roasted duck breast and leg on baby onion confit with an orange game jus ($36) was similarly substantial but that was what I was expecting, and indeed, hoping for. Our ex-vegetarian was happy with her lamb rump ($29.50), encrusted with toasted cumin and spring onion with a little herb and garlic yorkshire pudding (a nod towards Britain in a menu heavily influenced by French values).

The grilled fish (blue cod) was prettily served with tomato, aubergine and olives and a scallop cream sauce ($28.50). A traditional meeting of apple and sage with the pork fillet and a cognac and wild mushroom ragout failed to inspire and marked the shift from unanimous approval to the odd reservation.

After this abundance of sweetness we were looking for a little more edge in the desserts (all $12.50) but the lemon syllabub torte with blueberry compote disappointed, although the chocolate nougatine box with passionfruit coulis was a spectacular success. This is more than could be said for the cheeseboard ($19).

The wine list is sound, if drifting towards the top end on prices.

The service was charming but short of totally professional. We sat around for rather too long before we saw the menus, which seemed a shame as the listings provide an entertaining dilemma of choice. A foreign-body problem with one dish met with a decidedly cavalier approach.

As we stood outside saying our farewells the verdict of the jury was that while we had had a pleasant evening Essence, as a package, did not quite climb to the standards to which it aspires.

Ambience: bourgeois comfort

Cost: $401 for five, three courses each and two bottles of wine.

* Read more about what's happening in the world of food, wine, party places and entertainment in canvas magazine, part of your Weekend Herald print edition.