Chef's PSA Podcast

Matt Lambert: The Church of Michelin, the Modern Tasting Menu, and What's Actually Worth It Ep. 221

September 12, 2026·1h 6m
Episode Description from the Publisher

Matt Lambert earned a Michelin star at The Musket Room in New York in four months, a goal he'd given himself three years to hit. He describes what followed as treating the star like a religion, the Church of Michelin, and says he's never felt that emotional high again, chasing it in different forms for years after.Why he thinks the tasting menu has lost the plot.The moment he realized every chef on Instagram was making the same tart with a different color, and what he did about itWhy moving back to New Zealand after New York hit him harder than the original move to America ever didAndré Natera and Matt Lambert cover 75 Hard and the 30 kilos he lost once he finally started taking care of himself, winning a major international chef award a week after his brother's funeral and feeling nothing standing on that stage, the moment his own chef de cuisine's face told him he didn't want to be the best anymore, why hospitality matters more than the food itself, and building Return in Auckland as his own answer to what The Musket Room used to be.Guest@chefmattlambert@return_restaurantLinksLead Like a Chef App → https://studio.com/apps/andre/leadlikeachefGet the Books → https://chefspsa.com/booksShop Chef's PSA Merch → https://shop.chefspsa.com/Get Episodes Early on Substack → https://chefspsa.substack.com/Follow Chef's PSA on Instagram → https://www.instagram.com/chefspsa/

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