“Memories Shared” Series: Matt Lambert

I was born in Waitakere hospital in Auckland and spent most of my childhood in Auckland apart from a few years in Wellington.  I set myself the goal of having my own restaurant by the time I was 21 and achieved that when I was 20 when I bought Sun Sierra restaurant.  That didn’t work out so well and I realised I needed to go away and learn a lot more about the industry – but I learnt a lot from that venture.

I knew I wanted to establish my own style and so I have taken inspiration from everything I have done in the past to create my own take on modern New Zealand cuisine.

I like to source fresh, quality ingredients from New Zealand for The Musket Room, and salmon and venison are my staples. Salmon is very popular on our menu and many diners say that Ōra King is the best salmon they have ever tasted.  Showcasing the motherland and using amazing Kiwi products has become my signature move.

Pictured below left: Ora King salmon, carrot, leeks and roe. Right: Cervena venison loin, date, wild garlic and apple.

 

My interest in food was inspired by my grandmother and mother – I remember baking with them as a kid, with my favourite being the good old gingerbread men!  They would always say to me “What do you want to do?” and I would want to bake, so I guess I thought that if that is what I like doing, then I should continue doing that.

  

I think three key memories that have stuck with me from my childhood and heritage are:

1. Preserving with my mother and grandmother when we lived in Te Atatu – we would go picking strawberries and then make jam, preserve some, and eat some fresh. At Henderson Creek we would go searching for blackberries, boysenberries, wild leeks, eels (and in fact I had a dish at The Musket Room with smoked eel, wild leeks (or ramps as they are referred to in America) and pickled berries – a nod to my childhood memory.
2. And I’ll always remember shelling peas while sitting on the back step of our house – freshly shelled peas, with half of them ending up in the pot, is part of many kiwi’s memories I reckon
3. Our next door neighbour had made a smoker out of an old refrigerator and every week he would give us a fish that he had caught and smoked, normally terakihi or kahawai. True kiwi ingenuity making a smoker from an old fridge!

I think my advice to young chefs of today would be that they need to be quiet, willing to sacrifice and learn, knuckle down and take their career seriously and be prepared to be in it for the long haul – it’s a very long build with very little reward at times.  You need to keep your mouth shut, work hard and have a good attitude if you want to survive.

 

I love my country and my journey, which is all by way of New Zealand.

Matt Lambert