Matthew was The Sydney Morning Herald restaurant critic and the 'Weekend Fare' columnist for Good Weekend magazine for a number of years.

He was a chef before turning to food writing, earning a Good Food Guide hat for his cooking at The Republic in Canberra. Mathew was a freelance restaurant critic for five years before joining the Herald, and has also been a cafe columnist in The Age and a regular contributor to Australian Gourmet Traveller and Vogue Entertaining & Travel.