Matteo Tine

Matteo Tine: Welcome to our restaurant.

Conversation with a chef: Beautiful.

It is coming along. It's been a long time in the making. I came on four months ago from Byron Bay. I opened Pixie Food and Wine and then my contract finished there, and it wasn't really going the direction I wanted to go, so I came back here and then I was just fluffing around. And then James Klapanis is good friends with Guy Grossi and suggested this. So I came on board. I'm here and I'm at Youngs as well. We have a lovely courtyard and downstairs will be the Cordial Club. You can get nibbles and cocktails down there. Joe Jones is doing the cocktail list. And we're going to do our own branded, seasonal cordial and try and wholesale it. Cordial has had a bit of a bad look to it with the sugar. But we're going to try and bring it back and show that it can be seasonal and fruity. It's very French.

I've kind of done the menus now. It was going to be Greek. And then when I came on board four months ago as executive chef of the group and as a creative director. I came into this space and I had my initial meeting with James here and James said, I want you to go down to Youngs and do Youngs and jazz it up. He knows the style of food I can do. I came into this space and said, if I'm going to do it, I want to take over this. James was at a bit of a crossroads. He didn't really want to do Greek food. I came at the perfect time and I said, don't do Greek food here, don't pigeonhole ourselves. Let's do like Mediterranean, but eclectic Mediterranean.

It was me being selfish. I just want to cook food that I like to eat. I like cooking. I lost a bit of love for cooking where I feel I was pigeonholed a lot in Italian, I felt like I couldn't move. I understand, carbonara has egg, pecorino, pepper, I know all the fundamentals. I'm Grossi trained. I understand how to push through barriers, you have to know the barriers so well that you can push through the barrier and know this is what this is. I'm in my 21st year of cooking I started when I was 16 and I was classically trained. I'm at a stage in my career where I'm really falling in love with food again and just doing food that I like to eat, and I like to cook. This is just a representation of food that I think that people love to eat. I'm finding new things. I've eaten Italian food so much, and it's home; Italian food's home. But sometimes it's nice to eat something that's not a typical taste that you always eat. So here I'm doing a char siew style chicken and I made a glaze that's based on the same glaze they use for char siew pork but Im putting of a Sicilian touch to it. So I'm putting a bit of crushed fennel seed in there, which gives a bit of a liquorice taste. It's got brown sugar in there. I'm going to air dry chicken, wrap it, glaze it, straight on the char grill with a smoky red gum and slice it. But then I'm going to do it with fermented pumpkin and my chili sauce I used to make at Mr Ottorino. It's nostalgic, but not nostalgic. But at the same time, it's new. I mean, we're in Collingwood, you can be grungy. You can be eclectic. You can be sophisticated at the same time. I think that's the beauty of the area. And I think this area's the only area you could really do that. I think if you did this style of food that I'm doing in this style of restaurant in the CBD, it wouldn't work. People would be confused. Here, you can really do it. I suppose, expecting the unexpected in Collingwood. Jeez, I should use that and put it in a promo. I could sell it to the council. But that's my philosophy. And then likewise, that was my brief for Carlo and Joe Jones. For food, I want it to be fun, the service to be fun. The food is really based on sharing. I don't really want people to eat their own meal. You can do what you want, you're paying for it. But I want it to be really based around sharing and fun and noisy and nice. But the same time, sophisticated. You're in a place that does good food. You know that you're going to get good wine. Carlo is going to curate a wine list that's going to be 120 wines. But I want every wine to be a banger. But not over-priced. I want people to come here three times a week. And every time you come here, it's a new experience. Everywhere you sit, there's a new experience. You sit here, it's a beautiful day, you sit there, you got your family, nice, sit over there on a bigger table. A bit of a party night outside. Upstairs, another experience altogether. I want people to come here and feel like they're getting a warm hug.

How could they not? You're so enthusiastic.

The last time we spoke, we had no notion of what was going to happen. And now we are in dark times for hospitality. But from talking to you, I wouldn't think that. How are you feeling about all that?

Hit me with the hard questions. I obviously went through a really bad time at the end of my restaurant, Mr Ottorino, I had been through a really, really dark time. And that was before this is happening now. I went through a dark time, so I completely get it.

When I spoke to you said you wanted to be around forever and have all these regulars. You just never know what is around the corner.

We did three years, which was great. I wouldn't be the chef I am today or the business minded person I am today without Mr Ottorino, which is just around the corner so it feels like I have come full circle. What I think right now about the industry is I think that there is a lot of, I feel sorry for a lot of people going through the hard times. I genuinely empathize with them because I understand it. But I think that you need to bend or your break. I'm not saying that people are not spending money like they should be. I get that. I understand that. But it's not the first time it's happened. It's really not. You can't expect a boom all the time. When I first started in hospitality in 2003, the government had this thing where you could claim lunches. I was at Florentino and every lunch, Monday to Saturday it was full. It was hectic. I thought it would never end then all of a sudden it stopped. If you feel sorry for yourself, then you never break through it. You have to continue evolving. You have to take the challenge, roll with the punches a little bit, I guess. It's a brave new world. Move with it.

I'm doing a $20 pasta at Young's. We're doing a $20 pasta for every lunch apart from Sunday. Tuesday to Saturday, $20 pastas. And I'm calling it spaghett about it. Just to get people out and eating. It's cheap. But I can't go and start charging $38 for a bowl of pasta for lunch and expect it to be busy.You have to adapt with the times. That's my philosophy. I think it's really important we keep produce local because we are worrying about restaurants, and we're not thinking about the domino effect that has on farms and farmers or even suppliers. They all sink. The more restaurants are shut down, the harder it is for them.

And there are more people trying to take that piece of the pie. It's a sad time. But I think that we'll get through it. I think that us opening at this time is actually a positive because it's sad times, but we want to make something happy and we want people to come in and be happy.

Well, I think only light can drive out darkness. More darkness doesn't create light, does it? So I think you're right. It's good for you to look forward and be uplifting. How often will you change the menu?

The menu will definitely be super seasonal. At the moment I'm doing a winter menu. It'll evolve. I'm not going to say change, I don't like to say the word change. It evolves. I think that you keep your signatures or things that are going really well and you'll evolve on the components and the kind of condiments that go with it. I will probably evolve the menu weekly depending on what I've got. We are going to print the menu in house, which is a smart thing. I'm using a local seafood supplier. He's going to call me every morning and tell me what's happening and if theres anything that's super on special or something that even if he gets something niche that comes in, if he gets killer sardines, just bring them to me, they're my sardines. No one gets them, put them on and then if Red Emperor is catching really well I'll change the menu to Red Emperor and put that on for that week and then it might change back to the previous fish. I don't know. But it's just going to evolve and adapt. We want to be really local. I want people to come in and not say oh, that again. I want them to say, oh, that's new. But at the same time I want them to say, oh, get that because that's still on the menu.

I'm not doing pasta. The only pasta I'm doing isconchiglioni,big shells filled with cacio e pepe sauce and it's baked in the Josper and that's a side dish. So, my mac and cheese style,as an accompaniment to the protein, rather than being the main part of the dish. Does that make sense?

So you're calling on any Mediterranean background as well as or your own.

My background is Sicilian, Roman. I've got Greek friends and Lebanese friends and Turkish friends and so I'm calling on all the things. I'm doing these Spanish style lamb ribs with a fermented honey toum, it doesn't make sense, but it makes sense when you eat it.

The reason why food in Italy and Europe is so good is because they cook what they've got that's around them and they just make that so good. In Spain, you wouldn't go and get burrata,they'd use queso because it's locally made, and it makes sense because of the terrain and the weather. I have the philosophy with food that it is seasonal, things that make sense for where we are. I'm not going to try and source things from too far away. Just keep it simple and not overly play with it. I want to do nice food from around us. Romarro Farm have got really beautiful radicchio at the moment, so that's probably going to feature. Speaking to your suppliers and farmers and seeing what they're growing, it dictates to you what your menu's going to be. Rather than racking your brain about what do I put on the menu.

Will you be on the pans?

I will probably be a bit everywhere. I'll probably be on the pass, not on the pans because we're not really using pans. But I'll probably be on the pass and just overseeing everything for the time being. But Im very hands on.

The Josper's a good oven. It's beautiful. But I'm really excited to use open fire pit. I'm just so excited for it. I want to hang things there and like let them smoke. I have some really cool ideas.

It's good to be excited about things again. Was it different cooking in Byron Bay?

Byron Bay was great, but it was challenging because you're dictated to what you put on the by what the tourists and regulars want. In Byron Bay you need to get a hundred per cent of people to like what you do. A hundred per cent. So you have to go safe. Where in Melbourne, I can get 80% of people to like it and I'll still be busy. Where in Byron Bay, there's no room for error because it's so seasonal and so transient that you just have to have winners.

It was different for me. I was in Melbourne one week, then over there and I personally loved my first menu and a lot of people loved it, but we had to move with the times. And people were expecting certain things. Then you buckle and you start doing things. And then I got to a stage where I was not loving. I'm an enthusiastic person and I started losing enthusiasm.

What made you go there?

A few reasons. I've always wanted to work abroad or interstate. Ironically the food that I'm doing here is very similar to the food I wanted to do there. But a lot of different owners, a lot of different opinions and your opinion gets faded out over so long, so then you just get lost. But here I've pretty much got full reign.

I know how to cook; I know what I'm doing. I know what people want. I'm business minded as well. I'm not going to do silly things. Obviously, food costs and all sorts of stuff comes into it. If we were in a big boom, I'd have foie gras and truffles everywhere and caviar, but I can't. So my menu's dictated to using secondary cuts and being sparing with things. Use caviar, but be sparing with it.

What does Orlo mean?

Orlo in Italian means the hem of a shirt but thats not what it means here. In Latin, it is a flat space between two buildings, a foundation. It's an old building and we are bringing it to life.And then the Cordial Club obviously because of the cordial. But our logo for the Cordial Club is an emu about to fly which comes from the original logo on the cordial bottles which has an emu on it. But ours has its wings spread so it looks like a phoenix as well, a phoenix rising from the ashes. And we're bringing the building back to life. It's like a little homage. Its a bit of history.

It's so nice to talk to you. I always like catching up with chefs who are doing well still and who still have ideas and are excited by possibilities.

After we spoke, obviously Mr Ottorino shut down, which was sad. I ended up going to Florentino's for a little bit, then Bar Carolina. I was at Bar Carolina for two and a half years as the executive chef there. And then Covid hit. went back to Grossi, and took me back and I just helped him with Grossi Casa. And then I went upstairs and ran upstairs as the head chef of upstairs for Florentino's. And then the opportunity came for Byron Bay. And we did that. And then two years later back in Melbourne. I thought I was going to stay there. I actually loved Byron Bay. Its a beautiful place. But I'm a city boy. I've got a lot of friends here. I'm happy I'm back and I'm smiling still.

Orlo, 44 Oxford Street, Collingwood