Matteo's Restaurant

Recent reviews and Awards

Delicious Top 100 2016/17 Rating: 15th
FOR more than two decades Matteo’s has held court over the “quiet” end of Brunswick St; a study in draped elegance, old world charm and the fundamentals of hospitality chiselled from a time when restaurateurs ruled and customers came first. But that’s not to say Matteo’s is old. Quite the opposite. With a new chef at the helm — Buddha Lo — Matteo Pignatelli has given his eponymous restaurant life anew. The broad French-Japanese of years past has been replaced with a keener Asian focus, where such dishes as General Tso’s fried quail — a generous and cheeky take on san choy bao — and a brilliant prawn laksa ravioli are the opening acts for crisp-roasted duck served with duck neck sausage, say, or blushingly pink lamb teamed with miso-spiked eggplant. That dessert might feature corn flake ice cream shows the kitchen’s youthful humour; that the wine list is one of best — and best value — found in the state shows experience and smarts gleaned over the years. Matteo’s has long been the complete package; it now comes with even more delicious.

Age Good Food Guide 2017 Score: 16/20, Two Hats
The effortless elegance of special occasion dining . Matteo's is an old dog up to new tricks, as the venerable restaurant - dark leather, white tablecloths, velvet drapes - replaces long-time chef Brendan McQueen with his one-time understudy. Kah-wai (Buddha) Lo maintains Matteo's melding of European and Asian flavours, ramping up Mooloolaba spanner crab salad with avruga caviar, cooling its jets with a nuanced yuzu mayonnaise and dashi jelly, before adding a perfect Zen garden of microherbs. The Japanese seafood plate is a triple threat of Ora King salmon cured in kombu, tempura Balmain bug tail with Sichuan salt, and kingfish sashimi with bonito mayonnaise. Mains are unashamedly meaty, with a roasted Western Plains suckling pig saddle atop a subtly masterstock-poached pork leg with just-pickled onion and roasted cosberg as a foil, and a grilled scotch fillet with a rich tapenade. To finish, a playful 'Eureka nugget' - peanut butter parfait, salted caramel ice-cream, cherry and honeycomb - is pure gold.

Gourmet Traveller 2017 Australian Restaurant Guide
. . . . Entrees are impressive, inventive and generous, from Mooloolaba spanner crab with yuzu mayonnaise, pickled shallots dashi jelly and Avruga to a Japanese inspired seafood platter starring a Balmain bug tail enveloped in a fried nori brushed with five-spice Sichuan salt. Main courses can over-sprawl, but there is ambition and pleasure in Chinese-roasted dusk breast, presented with a disc of duck neck sausage and a kerchief of bresaola, and lent sweetness by corn in pureed, grilled and baby forms. The Eureka nugget, comprised of a peanut butter parfait, salted caramel ice-cream, chocolate brownie and honeycomb, layers richness on richness. A towering delight

BY: LARISSA DUBECKI - 2016
This is how it�s done� 22 years in the biz and Fitzroy�s glam fine diner is as smooth as ever in its new Asian-influenced incarnation. Maybe it�s the name. Matteo�s, named after owner and floor maestro Matteo Pignatelli, creates expectations of cinemascope Italian food . . . . The only cannelloni you're going to encounter here, though, is stuffed with a cloud-like seafood farce and arrives with a main of black cod (the rich, oily fish made famous by Nobu-san), which has been marinated in white miso for 72 hours. The fish is a stunner. The miso lends sweetness and depth, and it's well partnered with a bunch of Eurasian curveballs including a rich bisque and a thicket of prawn cracker noodles on top, like fried linguini. The head chef responsible for all this is Kah-wai 'Buddha' Lo, who did his apprenticeship here under long-term incumbent Brendan McQueen, went off to do the London Michelin thing, survived working under Gordon Ramsay, and has now returned as the still terribly young prodigal son (he's 25) to take over the reins. McQueen's elegant brand of (dare we say) fusion Japanese has been replaced by Lo's bolder take on Asian flavours and European technique - evidenced by his take on the perennially daggy American-Chinese favourite known as General Tso's chicken, here done with crisp-fried quail and little pouches of braised lettuce stuffed with jasmine rice, red capsicum, diced chicken and water chestnut, like a tribute version of san choy bau. The oyster sauce anchoring the whole thing is a thing of finger-licking beauty. Less overtly Chinese is rabbit loin wrapped in smoky bacon with carrot puree and pickled mustard seeds giving little bursts of acidic brightness. Another mash-up comes by virtue of the suckling pig - two perfect slices of crackle-hatted porky goodness with slippery ho fun noodle and a fine dice of prawn, water chestnut and garlic chives, like a Cantonese-accented surf-and-turf. . . . . . Here's to the next 22 years, Matteo.

Herald Sun Review by Dan Stock 15.5/20 - April 2016
New chef Buddha Lo takes reins at Matteo's in North Fitzroy . . . For the past decade Brendan McLean was the man in charge of the kitchen, serving up a menu of broad French-Japanese influences to much acclaim. Buddha completed his apprenticeship under Brendan here before working under Raymond Capaldi at Hare & Grace. He broadened his horizons and experience in London working within the Gordon Ramsay empire and has now returned to take over the reins from Brendan, starting a new chapter in the storied restaurant's history. And if what we ate this night is any indication, it's a welcome return. My dinner date, always quick with a smile once the first glass of wine is poured, usually less fleet-footed with compliments once food is served, kept muttering genius, genius! into her prawn laksa ravioli, and I'm sure if James Reyne hadntt startled her out of her reverie she quite possibly would've licked the plate clean of the creamed corn in between still saying same with the duck. Restrained at every turn, dishes are constructed with a razor sharp, attuned palate adjusted to nuance. That the French-Japanese of his predecessor has been replaced by an Asian influence is clear in that butter doesn't do all the heavy lifting, neither does salt. Having said, the baby corn that rounds out a quartet of corn served with the duck creamed, charred, a crisp shard and bitter shoots - is poached in the good stuff and is completely swoon-worthy as a result. As is the crisp-roasted, tender pink breast meat that comes with a dense duck-neck meat sausage, with a sliver of ruby rich breasola adding a porky hit of salty depth. It�s excellent ($44). So, too, king dory, a plate pretty and dramatic. Under a twisted crown of crisp vermicelli seasoned with prawn, two fillets pan-tanned on a single side snuggle on a bed of diced mushroom and pork. A sticky-thick, midnight-black miso sauce completes a restrained yet totally satisfying take on fish and crisps ($43). That laksa, for instance, shows a deftness of touch; rich yet light, it didn�t overpower the delicate sweetness of the prawn that generously fills the pillows of ravioli. A crisp-fried soft shell crab adds � perhaps unnecessary � crunch but no faulting the generosity of the serve ($24). The wine list - a glorious doc reflecting a cellar built up over two decades but with great drinking sub $50 a bottle if you�re not in the mood for a three-figure Burgundy, with an equally precise by-the-glass offering - is almost reason to visit alone, as is the ginger-soy-garlic marinated, togarashi-seasoned quail to start that�s perfectly fried to a pink-inner�d crisp ($24). As handsome as a Fitzroyal dowager, the room still looks out onto the stretch of Brunswick St that hasn’t changed a great deal in the 20 decades the restaurant has been here. Its still removed from the bustle up and down the road; still a destination, now with even more hits than memories. And though I could take or leave service - while well-drilled erred to the brusquely formal and where some warmth would soften and loosen the experience - this was one of the most surprisingly excellent meals I’ve enjoyed for some time. Buddha’s return has made Matteos a must visit. Yet again. Perhaps just pack some earplugs, just in case Mariah and Cher are in the house, too. 15.5/20