Review: Prego on Ponsonby Road

Some restaurants come with a lot of baggage, and Prego is one of them. Famous for being famous, it's almost destined to be slagged off. Your first meal there is a bit like meeting a celebrity for the first time – every move they make is closely examined, every inch of their appearance scrutinised for its potential to provide comedy fodder for later. Best of all would be meeting an obnoxious celebrity for the first time during a bad meal at Prego – you'd be centre of attention at cocktail parties for years to come, telling your enthralled coterie all about the time Colin Mathura-Jeffree ate the rubbery calamari rings with his FINGERS.

New Neighbourino on Ponsonby Road

Quick bulletin: the north end of Ponsonby Road now has a viable lunch option beyond St Pierre's Sushi and the Hollywood Bakery. In the last month The Food Room has opened, starring a healthy range of delicious counter food, plus the same five star range of pies available at The Fridge in Kingsland. If you ever disquieted by buying your sushi from a Frenchman or your quiche from a family of Koreans, you'll be excellently pleased with this new arrival.

Where to go next date night

Sidart is a newish restaurant in Ponsonby which even a lot of foodies don't yet know about. After my first visit in November I described it in the New Zealand Herald as possibly the greatest meal I've ever eaten. Unaccountably, this plug failed to fill the restaurant's reservations book as I had anticipated so here I am again, having just eaten my second meal there, pleading you to please visit immediately.

At last, Salta! (not a particularly relevant title, but palindromes never are)

Salta in Three Lamps is the best cafe in Ponsonby. Well, certainly Ponsonby North, being the general area we're willing to walk to from work at number 239. If the name Salta doesn't ring a bell, maybe Atlas will – that was what it used to be called until, from what I can work out, there was some unpleasantness with the Atlas coffee people and the cafe was forced to anagrammatise.