ABOUT
Matteo

Matteo Zamboni - Italian chef in Sydney. Founder of Civico 47.​

​

Matteo Zamboni is an Italian chef in Sydney. He is the founder Executive Chef of Civico 47 in Paddington, hatted in the Good Food Guide since it opened in 2022. His cooking is modern Italian: flavour-led, produce-driven, fine dining yet approachable. The guide describes it as “a study in what’s possible when aspiration meets execution.”

He was born in Serle, near Brescia, and started in hospitality at thirteen. He trained at the three-Michelin-starred La Pergola in Rome and at Cracco in Milan, and in 2009 worked at RyuGin in Tokyo under Seiji Yamamoto. He has also cooked for the Royal Family of Qatar on several occasions.

He moved to Sydney at the end of 2009 and worked through some of the country's best hatted kitchens — sous chef at Ormeggio at the Spit, head chef at Pilu at Freshwater, executive chef at Jonah's at Whale Beach — before opening Civico 47. Two dishes have become his signatures: the duck with witlof and mandarin, and the handmade mafalde with prawns, tomato and bokchoy.

In Matteo's cooking, flavour comes first, then technique, then presentation. The Michelin and Tokyo training taught him precision and respect for product. He uses both to make food people want to eat twice — often with a small surprise in the taste.

Alongside the restaurant, Matteo works with brands across food and adjacent categories — campaigns, recipe development, ambassadorships, content and events. He picks projects carefully, brings the same standard to brand work as to the kitchen, and lets the food do the storytelling. Matteo is also an ambassador for Parmigiano Reggiano in Australia and for the Miracle Babies Foundation. His work has been featured in many publications including, Gourmet Traveller, Good Food, Broadsheet, Delicious, Qantas Travel Insider, and on SBS.