Matteo’s (Melbourne)

North Fitzroy

Retro-review from February 2010 by St 

Situated in North Fitzroy, Matteo’s looks inconspicuous alone on Brunswick St. Having taken the bus to get here and walking pass residential houses, I expected to see a string of restaurants but it was just a quiet restaurant and a fish and chips shop across the road. I thought to myself, could Timmy have chosen to celebrate an anniversary with fish and chips? If so, damn we are overdressed!

Being a Monday night, there was only a table of three dining. What caught my attention were the voluminous teal drapes, decorative wallpaper and large lights casting a warm glow to the spacious room. This transformed the restaurant from unassuming to elegance and tres romantic.

Matteo’s started off with an European menu but has definitely evolved with strong Asian fusion, in particularly Japanese.

We started off with the seafood plate consisting of : Hiramasa kingfish, prawn remoulade,  ‘shiso’ Japanese basil sauce; Petuna ocean trout tataki, yuzu miso sauce, Yarra Valley salmon roe; Teriyaki glazed smoked eel on rice crusted tofu, pickled plum and bonito mayonnaise. Everything was fresh with the sauces complimenting each fish perfectly.

Japanese seafood trio of kingfish, ocean trout and smoked eel $24

Being who we are, we had to try the baked Asian pie. Consisting of minced chicken, pork belly, shiitake & eggplant and crushed wasabi peas It was tasty (yummy pork belly) and had a distinct Asian flavor to it, similar to those char siu pork pies you would find in an Asian bakery. Having said that, I would give this a miss next time and go to Harry’s for pies- there’s probably more appealing starters than this on the menu.
 

Baked Asian pie $22

Listed as a side, the tatsoi salad was freaking out-of-this-world! This to me was the stand-out of the night. I might not remember the other dishes well but the flavours in this dish were powerful. The freshness of the nashi pear combined with the hot hot hot wasabi mayonnaise was addictive. I can usually take chilli but I had to take the wasabi mayonnaise in small doses. I should have stopped and spared my nose and throat but it was too good.

Tatsoi salad $8

For the mains I had the suckling pig with green bean salad with peanut satay and tonkatsu bbq sauce. Timmy had the seared wagyu beef, asparagus glazed with oyster sauce, potato mash with caramelized onion and black bean sauce. Great job as you would expect from a restaurant of Matteo’s calibre. My favs here were the accompanied sides of potato mash and caramelized onion and peanut satay beans. 

Chinese style Western Plains suckling pig $42

Seared wagyu beef sirloin $44

Other notable mains we would have loved to have tried if only we had more stomachs were: the five spices roast duck breast and the Balmain bug tails with king prawns and sea scallops shredded in Asian coleslaw.

All night the waiter was top class and very professional. A special thanks goes to the man himself, Matteo Pignatelli, who responded within hours on a Friday night when I emailed for the summer menu as I had forgotten the descriptions to give his dishes justice. You won’t be finding the Matteo’s menu online as it changes with each season.

I didn’t know it when I was dining there, but I am no way surprised that Matteo’s is a 2-hat restaurant. I always have trouble recalling the restaurant’s name but here’s some advice- think of Parra eels player Feleti Mateo. (However this advice might make you unattainably crave for the tatsoi salad when you’re stuck in Sydney watching Friday night footy.)

Classy place to dine out or take your fussy friend who only eats salad cos the Tatsoi salad is breath-taking. Wokking rating/5:      

Matteo’s restaurant
533 Brunswick St 
North Fitzroy
03 9481 1177