Recently, my partner and I went for dinner at the Matterhorn restaurant in Wellington. As we are not located in Wellington, this was a special trip for us. The evening was enjoyable, despite several hiccups. The food was good, and its presentation excellent. The wines were very good. The accessibility was, sadly, far less than stellar.

The Matterhorn Restaurant
Located at 108 Cuba Street, the Matterhorn is wedged between two shops on a pedestrian mall. Don’t expect a wide facade, the restaurant itself is reached through a long (and dark) corridor. Had we not known for sure that it was open, it would have been easy to think it was closed! The Matterhorn’s website (in Flash, may not work for everyone, some browsers are having problems getting to it) offers the food menu and wine lists (downloadable as PDFs only). It also talks about the history of the place. The Matterhorn is a restaurant & tapas bar open seven days a week. It won the “2008 Supreme Winner” as well as “Best Casual Restaurant” titles in the Cuisine NZ Restaurant of the Year awards.

The Matterhorn Dining Experience
This did not begin particularly well… We arrived at approximately 8:45pm. The man at the reception informed us that we could not be seated, but that we could have tapas in the outside bar. It was very cold and windy, and we hadn’t travelled 3 hours to have tapas… We hadn’t made reservations, because two weeks earlier, in an email exchange with the Matterhorn, I was informed that they do not take reservations. I was further informed that the kitchen was open “until late”, so that it would not be a problem for us to come by. I had been assured that we’d have at most 30 or 45 minutes to wait.

We were obviously quite disappointed by having been told that we couldn’t be seated. We explained the situation to the man, and he finally agreed, quite ungraciously, to seat us. We were seated at the very first table on the left when you go into the restaurant. This seemed to us to be one of the worst tables in the place, right beside the utility bench for wait staff to collect menus and clean utensils. It is also on the path between the kitchen and the main dining area, and is right next to the corridor leading to the cash register and the outside door. My partner sat on the bench seat along the wall, I parked my wheelchair on the other side of the table. I was kicked in the wheels no less than ten times during the evening, four of them by staff, the rest by other patrons.

As we were seated, the guy who “welcomed” us informed us that he would have to inform the other people waiting for this table that they were going to miss out. This seemed like information we did not need to know about, and made us feel like we were not welcomed at all. My partner and I wondered why that might be and were concerned that our service and dining experience may be less than ideal. Of course, it could have been that they were genuinely unable to seat us – the place *was* quite busy. But considering that several people came in after us and were seated for dinner, it seems unlikely. My next thought was that we weren’t “the beautiful kind”, not the right kind of people for the restaurant. My partner thought otherwise. She suggested it was the wheelchair. She might well have been right considering the accessibility level of the place.

Click below to read more about The Matterhorn’s below-average accessibility…

We were glad that our waiter was quite pleasant. He was available without hovering. At one point about 2/3rd into our evening, the music was louder than it had been when we arrived, and it sounded like a stuck damaged CD, jumping back to the same spot over and over and over. After approximately 15 minutes of this, I flagged a staff and indicated there might be a problem with their CD. I was informed there was a live DJ! Well, if that’s the “in” thing with DJ’ing nowadays, I must be really getting old… This went on almost as is until we left.

The Matterhorn Accessibility
I must admit, met disapointment on that topic. I had specifically contacted the restaurant a few weeks before going and asked about accessibility. I was assured it would not be a problem. Well… I could not call the Matterhorn accessible, but I guess I could assign it the label “usable”.

It begins at the entrance. Long and dark corridor, approximately 10 meters long. Someone with a visual impairment would probably have trouble with such low-light levels. At the end of this corridor is a set of double swinging doors. Each panel is wide enough to let a wheelchair through, although only just. But as there are no stable handholds and the doors are quite heavy, it is not possible for a wheelchair user to manage these doors independently.

After the long dark corridor is a dark space with no obvious purpose, followed by another set of doors. Then, a long, narrow and dark, although gently sloped, ramp. Barely wide enough to have a wheelchair and someone walking being able to pass one another. The person standing has to flatten themselves against the wall and turn their feet so they are parallel to the wall. Not particularly useful. There is no handrail along the ramp – someone unsteady on their feet, using a cane or crutches, would likely have problems going up it.

Then, there is the dining room. The tables are mostly along the walls with benches on one side and chairs on the other. It is also very dark in the dining room. Each table is illuminated by a wee lone oil lamp. This gives very little light, and it is flickering. The lamp must remain in the centre of the table if everyone at the table hopes to be able to see what’s on their plate. A little more light would have been appropriate and helpful.

There is a cocktail bar, where I was told in an email we would be welcome to await a table. Except that this bar is long and narrow. The bar itself is too high, someone in a wheelchair would be well below the bar and unable to reach the top. Someone walking has the benefit of sitting on high stools. But there is not enough space between the wall and the stools when people are sitting on them for a wheelchair user to move around.

There also is a tapas bar, which is an outside area, which doubles as a smoking area for patrons who are so inclined. The door to the tapas outdoor bar area is too narrow to let a wheelchair through. It looked like it might be a double paned door and if both panes were opened, then a wheelchair could go through, but it was unclear if this is indeed the case. There is a sharp change in level of approximately 10cm between the internal floor level and the level of the tapas bar area, which is not ramped. The entrance is right beside the bar itself with little room for manoeuvering. In any case, there are so many tables in that area that it would be very difficult for anyone in a wheelchair to navigate that space.

Finally, the toilets… I asked where the toilets were. The staff pointed me down the ramp and to the left. So I went down the ramp and looked to the left. The only door was the women’s toilets. I went back up the ramp and asked for confirmation that the only accessible toilet is in the women’s toilets. This was confirmed. I went back down the ramp again, and went in the women’s loo as a woman was coming out, telling me “wrong one matey”. I quickly explained I had no choice as this is the only accessible toilet. She did not appear best pleased. I was not impressed. The doors make it very hard to get in by yourself. The main door to the toilet area opens inside, and the door to the accessible stall opens outside. Both doors are so close to one another that it is not possible to get in and hold both doors open by yourself, and there is not enough space between the doors for a wheelchair to be located in that space when trying to open one door after another. However, once inside the accessible stall, things are much better.

Plenty of floor space to turn around. Handrails that are the right shape, height and location. Proper hand basin. Of course, there is the ubiquituous and expected toilet paper dispenser nested in the inside of the handrails… When I pointed out to our waiter after my “adventure” that it wasn’t really appropriate to have the only accessible toilet in the women’s toilet, he asked “why, did you get scared?”, in a tone that felt somewhat patronising. No, I was not scared, but it was embarassing, and I suspect that women wishing to use the toilet at the same time I was in there would have thought it embarassing as well. At the very least, they should put the ISA on the door to indicate this is where the accessible toilet is.

In conclusion
Despite all the hiccups, we had quite an enjoyable evening. The food was good, the presentation excellent. We would probably go back to the Matterhorn, but certainly not on a Saturday evening.

The Lowdown

• Good to very good food. Some dishes overly complex in their flavour and texture mix.
• Extensive wine lists with selections from all over the world, both by the glass or the bottle.
• Not particularly accessible, although usable.
• Some staff gave us “attitude”, we suspect because of the wheelchair, but nothing specific nor tangible led to that belief.
• Crowded, dark and noisy.
• Bit on the pricey side.
• Overall Accessibility Rating: 2/5

The Matterhorn Food & Wines
The menu is quite interesting and offers a wide selection of trendy dishes. Our waiter told us about the freshness of all ingredients, which is reassuring, but should go without saying in a restaurant of that caliber!
Just after we received the menus, we were given one slice of sourdough bread each, with a small container of butter. The bread was very good – I could have eaten more than one slice though!

My partner selected a half dozen oysters on the half shell to start. I picked a terrine of wild rabbit to accompany her. We both selected the same main dish: Venison. Neither of us ordered desert, opting instead for a glass of Porto.

The wine list is long and impressive. It offers variety with wines from most major wine producing areas of the world. Many choices offered by the glass. This great selection is both an advantage and a disadvantage – it is excellent to have such choice, yet unless you are an expert on all the world’s wine, selecting the right wine to go with your meal could prove to be quite a challenge!

Freshly shucked oysters served natural with a white wine & shallot dressing ($20)
The oysters were from Coromandel, and served on the half-shell which was then arranged on a bed of coarse salt. Unfortunately, the oysters had not been detached from the shell and my partner had to work quite hard at separating the molluscs from their shell. At that price, I would have expected the kitchen to do that for the client, so we wouldn’t have to fight with our starters. At $3.33 per oyster my partner found it quite distressing to lose oysters to the salt bed!
The oysters themselves were quite tender. Coromandel oysters, unlike those from Bluff, tend to have a rather delicate flavour. The white wine & shallot dressing somewhat overwhelmed the flavour of the oysters.

Terrine of braised wild rabbit with a light carrot & cardamon custard & spanish sherry soused mushrooms ($17.50)
This dish was very nicely presented. The terrine was made of rabbit meat in a jelly. The jelly was of perfect consistency, which was a pleasant surprise as most jellies used in terrines are either too soft, or so hard that one might as well chew on rubber. This was just right, and the meat in the terrine was very tender. The terrine was excellent, with a subtle taste that I wasn’t able to identify, but which was quite pleasant. The carrot & cardamom custard was also quite good, and very light. I did not taste much cardamon in it, which is just as well, as I think the flavours would have competed too strongly with the terrine. The mushrooms were also quite nice, and offered a third texture. Unlike the terrine and the custard, the mushroom had a strong and bold flavour.

These three different flavours on the plate were not necessarily complementary. The mushrooms would have gone quite well with the terrine, but they overpowered it a little. Each element on the plate was quite good and despite the competition between each group of flavours, it was a dish I would gladly eat again.

Denver leg of South Island venison with red cabbage & juniper confit, parsnip purée & fondant potato ($32)
This dish was also very appealing to the eye. The portions were generous, yet there was not so much food on the plate that it turned your appetite off! The venison was cooked properly, just a tad on the rare side of medium-rare. The cabbage and juniper confit was tender, and supported the venison well, it was not overpowering. The parsnip was subtle, yet held the other flavours on its own. It was quite soft, however, almost the texture of soft baby food. I might have kept the purée a bit more rustic to go with the venison. The potato was small, although more wasn’t required. My potato was a bit on the dry side, but not enough to make a big difference. My venison was extremely tender, almost melting in my mouth. For some reason, my partner’s turned out to be a bit tough and very stringy.

Domaine Denis Bachelet Bourgogne 2005 (Gevrey & Brochon, Côte de Nuits) ($16.50/glass)
This French Burgundy was very nice. Woody, with complex tastes of spices and sweetness. It went with the venison very well.
It had been several years since I had enjoyed a French wine, having embraced Kiwi wines since my arrival here. Having this Bourgogne (Burgundy) brought the point home that New Zealand red wines have a character all of their own. Kiwi wines are very good, and very different from French wines. Perhaps I will return to French wines more often now, thanks to this Bourgogne.

Graham’s 20 Year Old Tawny Port (Douro, Portugal) ($20/glass)
Graham is a Port that can be counted on to deliver an enjoyable finish to any dinner. This 20 Year Old Tawny delivered, with hints of almonds, licorice, orange, and brown sugar. It was smooth on the tongue, with a long after taste. Definitely not something to gulp down! Ok, so $20/glass is a bit extravagant, but it was most definitely worth it.

Nic Steenhout is a qualified French chef who worked for nearly 15 years in Michelin starred restaurants, private clubs and 5 star resorts. After needing a wheelchair to get around, he focused his energies on accessibility issues and disability rights.

However, the pearls of wisdom she dropped which resonated most with me were her thoughts on wheelchair access at restaurants, and particularly her assertion that “If you need room for a wheelchair at the table … let staff know so they are in the loop”, and also that “Things such as wheelchair access … are best sorted when you book rather than turning up on the day and hoping for the best”.

Now, forgive my assumption here that Lesley is able-bodied, but when was the last time she called a restaurant to ‘warn’ them that she was on her way? Or even considered how that must be for someone in a wheelchair to feel like they are such an imposition that at least a few hours notice must be given of their impending arrival, in order to ease the burden they’re bound to cause upon the waiting staff?

Moreover, is Lesley’s insistence that wheelchair users warn restauranteurs of their arrival based on spatial arrangements? It is understandable that, perhaps, some restaurants’ tables are placed in close proximity to one another, however I’d wager that my wheelchair is no wider than the average morbidly obese person, and as such, should Lesley’s principle not apply here also? Would she expect fat people to ring and warn restaurant staff of potential spatial conflicts, too? And if that sounds preposterous, why is it so ‘expected’ that disabled people should endure such humiliation?

It may sound like I’m making a big deal about a situation which does not warrant it, but I really am sick and tired of feeling like I’m a huge imposition whenever I go out for dinner. To be honest, if the tables and chairs are packed so tightly together that a wheelchair is unable to fit in between, then goodness knows why any able-bodied individual would want to eat out at a place where the person at the table opposite is that close anyway! And on that note, I’m not a huge fan of claustrophobic eating environments anyway, so the simple fact is, that establishment will not be receiving my patronage.

However, the principle remains: restaurants should, in the first place, simply be set up in such a way that doesn’t require advance warning of a wheelchair user’s arrival. After all, you don’t see lifts being switched on only when a disabled person rings in advance, so the idea that disabled people should ring ahead and warn restaurants, as if we’re signalling an impending plague, is just a touch insulting.

Whew! Haha. Thoughts?

Firstly, Prego (224 Ponsonby Road) is a fairly swish place on Auckland’s affluent suburb of Ponsonby. The menu is available online here, but expect to pay between $23-35 for a main. That said, boy is it worth it. I had a fairly simple-sounding Fettucine Alfredo, and gosh it was delicious. The service is prompt, polite, and when they’re not spilling food all over you, fairly competent. The wine selection is impressive, and the desserts are all beautiful too.

How is it in terms of accessibility, I hear you ask? Well, firstly it’s probably worth mentioning I couldn’t fit through the single french door they had open, so they had to unlatch the next one along, which was done – to their credit – without fuss or hesitation. There was plenty of room inside, and while I probably wouldn’t call it ‘spacious’, it certainly was no Gina’s.

They do have an accessible toilet, and it is complete with a well-positioned handrail and accessible washbasin, however it comes with a few snags. Firstly, it’s not signposted, so I had to ask the maitre’d if they had one. Secondly, it involves a trip through the kitchen, and while that was interesting, I felt like by doing so I was going to contaminate something! Thirdly, it also doubles as a staff changing room, and while that’s fine in the name of practicality, it does mean you have to be a little careful when manoeuvring a wheelchair to make sure you don’t run over a staff member’s bag!

THE LOWDOWN:

• I’ll be straight up, clumsy waitress + burnt back + rice all over my wheelchair kinda killed it for me
• Fantastic (but on the expensive side) Italian food
• Nice atmosphere. Sophisticated, but not pretentious
• Good wheelchair-friendly bathroom, but you have to ask about it and be led through the kitchen
• As much as the rice incident put a dampener on things, and to the staff’s credit they cleaned up well and offered to pay for drycleaning, Prego is very wheelchair friendly and is definitely worth stopping in for dinner or lunch. Dress nice
• Overall accessibility rating: 4 / 5

We rang earlier in the day to book, and also let them know about my wheelchair, they reassured us that it’d be “no problem”. No problem except for the sizeable step up to the counter area, then another into the main dining room, that is. This might be fine for a manual chair user but for me, it made for one hell of an entrance. Luckily we’d advised them I was coming, as a table had been set aside with a little more room around it, most of the others were packed quite closely together, as is common with small boutique restaurants like this. Don’t even mention a toilet, even if there was one I doubt I’d be able to get anywhere near it without asking half of the people to move their tables to one side.

So while the entrance wasn’t ideal, and I was a little flustered once I finally got to our table, the staff were, to their credit, incredibly helpful and eager to please.. there’s something about a well-groomed man asking if I need assistance in a thick italian accent that appeals to my effeminate side..

Moving right along, the food was lovely and well-portioned, consisting of your usual italian pizza and pasta fare (full menu here), and the obligatory wine was even better. However it was the desserts that capped the night off, the traditional tiramisu being a favourite, while I shared some sort of profiterole thing; in any case, it was fantastic. Would I recommend it to another wheelchair user? Probably, but just so long as you have some sort of entourage and don’t drink too much. Definitely not first date material.

THE LOWDOWN:

• Beautiful italian food, good drink selection, amazing desserts!
• Reasonably priced (see menu)
• Quite crowded and noisy
• One step to get up off Symonds St, then another into the main dining area
• No accessible toilet. And if there was one, it wasn’t, well, accessible
• Overall accessibility rating: 1 / 5