Jesse Mulligan Reviews Yola At Ponsonby Central - Modern Lebanese Food With Family Roots

Jesse tries the new restaurant at Ponsonby Central from the team behind Lebanese Grocer. I have a question for you. How many times do you think that I, your beloved weekly restaurant reviewer, have eaten hummus in the past 25 years? If we make a conservative estimate of around once And yet, when I ripped off a piece of za’atar-speckled flatbread and swiped it through the hummus at Yola, Elie Assaf’s new restaurant in Ponsonby Central, my first bite took me straight back to a vegetarian kebab I bought from Wellington’s Phoenician Falafel in 2001. There’s a reason for this. Assaf uses his mum’s recipe, and his mum owned that kebab store. How a dip with barely four ingredients can taste distinctive enough that my taste buds remember it more than two decades later is beyond me, but it was a wonderful moment of nostalgia. Nostalgia runs right through this restaurant, from the photos on the wall, to the dishes Assaf grew up with, to the way his dad’s name pops up on the menu and the restaurant itself is named after his mother.“If you came to lunch at my mum’s place on a Sunday, this is the sort of food she’d serve you,” Asaaf told me. “It’s not fancy.” The tuna on the menu at Yola. Photo / Babiche MartensOh, but it is a little fancy. He grew up eating an iced raw lamb dish that he correctly judged might be too much for Ponsonby palates so he’s subbed in raw tuna, scented with cumin and mixed with bulgur wheat soaked in tomato water for body and flavour. “Grab a piece of cracker, then eat it with some tuna, a piece of pickled onion and a mint leaf,” he instructed, and gosh did it work.Assaf is gifted enough that his food built a following without any PR or social media posting. People flocked to his first gig at Williams Eatery, followed him to Milenta and regularly jump on the train from other parts of the city to come for lunch at Lebanese Grocer off K Rd. Great Levant-style food would have been enough, but he has a culinary imagination that always finds one more way to make a combination of ingredients sing. That fragrant fresh mint was a perfect example. The hummus on the menu at new restaurant Yola in Ponsonby Central. Photo / Babiche MartensTell me, how do you put scorch marks on hummus? He has worked out a way, apparently by heating a fork coated in olive oil and pressing lightly against the surface. Interestingly, this vegetarian standby is one of the meatiest dishes on the menu, topped as it is with a piece of oxtail. Beef is getting too expensive for most of us, but with one braised “knuckle” of the butcher’s cheapest cut, Assaf brings that meat’s best savoury, gelatinous qualities to the dish. Plenty of chefs have tried to brighten up stewed meat; Assaf may be the only one who uses pineapple juice. There is a lovely style to the whole restaurant: warm furnishings, friendly waiters, a killer menu (one thing they can’t fix is having to walk outside to find the toilet). Yola. Photo / Babiche MartensYou will feel like you’re missing out on something no matter what you order, but don’t miss out on the fried chicken, which may not feel like the most authentic item on the menu but you know that when a chef insists on offering something, it must be a dish he believes in. It was properly crunchy on the outside and tender within, as you’d expect, but the magic was in the dips: toum - a garlic emulsified with Lebanese olive oil Elie described as “vegan mayo”; spicy habanero mollified with vinegar; and a third one featuring Lebanese red pepper combined with caramel. It’s not a combination I’ve likely had before, but - nostalgia again - I kept thinking of those hotdogs on a stick you used to get at the rugby, dipped into a tub of special sweet ketchup then stuffed headfirst into a brown paper bag. You will drink very well here too. They lean towards natural, low-intervention wines - the younger generation having fallen for this genre in a big way, though I have to say the white (and near-white) wines really showed themselves off alongside this food. I couldn’t resist starting with the “tabouleh martini”, which uses tomato water and basil oil to take the edge off this cocktail classic and make it approachable, without sweetening it as some restaurants have resorted to doing. It’s the best martini I’ve tried since Candela’s pickle version (RIP Candela). Yola has recently opened in Ponsonby Central. Photo / Babiche MartensOne note from me - the noise level is exceptionally high when the restaurant is full (and it will be for at least a few weeks). The combination of bare surfaces and excited live group chats sometimes makes conversation difficult without shouting. You’ll probably find it part of the fun. Yola has a huge future ahead of it. If the site felt cursed until they showed up, now it feels like a new centre of gravity. Chef Elie is proud but cautious, apologising for a delay caused by staff shortages in the kitchen. It was barely noticeable as a customer but, as with his food, it’s clear he won’t rest until every ingredient in this restaurant is perfect. The chicken skewers on the menu at Yola. Photo / Babiche MartensCuisine: Modern LebaneseAddress: 4 Brown St, Ponsonby Central, AucklandHours: Tuesday to Sunday, noon–10pmDrinks: Fully licensedReservations: Bookings availableFrom the menu: Hummus with za’atar flatbread $26; tuna kibbeh nayeh $24; chicken tawook skewer $22; Tony’s Fried Chicken $22; “NotTabbouleh” $16.Rating: 18/20 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.More restaurant reviewsAccording to Dining Out editor Jesse Mulligan.