Raised in the Italian city of Bologna, Matteo Zini knows good gelato. It took countless scoops of gelato, an economics degree, a certificate from Italy's and travel through Australia to open his first gelateria. With four successful Brisbane stores, Zini is now sharing his love for authentic Bolognese gelato with Sydney.
is a concept that's over 10 years in the making. When travelling around Australia in 2009, Zini couldn't find traditional gelaterias like the ones he knew in Bologna. He was looking for a reason to move abroad and bringing the heart of his city and its culinary tradition with him was it.
To prepare, Zini spent three years studying and working at renowned gelaterias in Bologna.
"My friend and I actually opened a gelato store in Bologna before making the big step of moving to Australia," Zini explains. "We subleased an existing store and rebranded under our name. We kept it for one spring-summer season, just making and testing our own recipes."
Zini and his business partner launched their first gelateria in Brisbane in 2014. While running the store, which has expanded to four locations, Zini also worked as a consultant in Southeast Asia for the Gelato University at which he had studied.
"I've been pretty much everywhere around the world, teaching and learning about new ingredients and new cultures and testing different flavours," he says. "After over seven years of consulting and teaching, it was time for a new challenge, and that was when the 'Zini Contemporary Gelateria' concept was born."
At , you won't find basic vanilla. Instead, you'll find a natural blue type made with an infusion of butterfly pea flowers. Meanwhile, its white-coffee gelato, which is infused with a house-made coffee blend, can be mistaken for vanilla.
"Coffee gelato is generally brown because it comes from brewed coffee," Zini explains. "Our coffee gelato is white because we sit the coffee beans overnight to extract the beans' original aroma into the gelato."
"My gelato is more balanced in terms of sweetness," he adds. "You can appreciate the actual flavour of the coffee because it's not overpowered by sweetness."
You can appreciate the actual flavour of the coffee because it's not overpowered by sweetness.
One of Zini's favourite gelato flavours is the Stracciatella, which he renamed Choc Chip 1927 as an ode to the first automatic gelato machine, invented in 1927.
"A real and true artisan gelato maker loves to work with this iconic Italian vertical Cattabriga machine, rather than a new, completely technological machine because they feel more involved in the entire process," Zini says.
"We always use the traditional machine for flavours with bits and pieces because you can mix it all inside the machine. For the Stracciatella, you put the chocolate inside the machine with the gelato and then the machine breaks it into choc chips… With modern machines, you must add the chocolate after extracting the gelato."
Experimenting with new flavours is Zini's favourite part of the job, and he releases specials for new seasons or celebrations as well as dedicated gelato degustation events. The gelateria's vegan raspberry and black pepper and dulce-de-leche crumble specials were so popular that they've been permanently added to the menu.
In 2022, Zini is excited to experiment with alcoholic gelatos, which he makes for other hospitality businesses. He's made a mezcal and pineapple sorbet for , a yuzu-shu sake sorbet for and a limoncello sorbet for .
Keep an eye out for Zini's hot cross bun and Colomba-inspired specials that he hopes to release in April.
Mon-Thur: 8am-10pm
Fri: 8am-11pm
Sat: 10am-11pm, Sun: 12pm-10pm
