Chef

Simon Mathys

Chef-owner, Mastard

Discipline: Chef
Venue: Mastard · Restaurant

Portrait of Simon Mathys

i. Biography

Simon Mathys works from restraint and precision. At Mastard in Montréal, the food is built around local ingredients and a hyper-local focus, with the city and its immediate surroundings shaping the plate as much as technique does. His public language is plain—“We really try to stay true to what we do.”—and it matches the kitchen’s method: direct, disciplined, and unwilling to add more than the work requires.

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The Path

A Montréal floor plan runs through Simon Mathys’s career. At Micro Resto La Famille in Montréal, Quebec, Canada (2014), the role of chef placed him inside the city’s restaurant pace early on. At Manitoba in Montréal, Quebec, Canada (until 2020), he moved into the head chef position, a step that marked greater responsibility in the daily management of the kitchen. Since 2021, he has been chef-owner of Mastard, where authorship sits with the same grounded approach. Across each stage, the through-line is clear: local ingredients, Montréal, and a method that stays close to place.

The Work Today

At Mastard in Montréal, the work is centered on local ingredients and a hyper-local focus. That approach gives the cooking its shape: close sourcing, careful decisions, and a menu that draws its character from what is near at hand. The style reads as controlled rather than showy, with confidence coming from the ingredients and from the discipline to keep the frame tight. In that sense, Mathys’s kitchen favors clarity over embellishment, using proximity to the source as part of the final result.

Career - chef-owner — Mastard, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (2021–present) - chef — Micro Resto La Famille, Montréal, Quebec, Canada (2014) - head chef — Manitoba, Montréal, Quebec, Canada (until 2020)

Signature

Local ingredients are the constant in Simon Mathys’s work. They connect his time as chef at Micro Resto La Famille in Montréal, Quebec, Canada (2014), his tenure as head chef at Manitoba in Montréal, Quebec, Canada (until 2020), and his current role as chef-owner of Mastard (since 2021). The discipline here is in staying with a simple framework and making it hold, letting place set the terms rather than piling on noise.

Acclaim

The recognition around his work comes back to the same point: local ingredients and a hyper-local focus. That is what defines the cooking—staying true to what Mathys does, and to where he does it. In 2025, Mastard received a Michelin star, and Michelin describes Mathys as a humble and engaging chef-owner who previously worked in the kitchens of Laurie Raphaël in Quebec City and Le Manitoba in Montréal. In 2025.

FAQ Where did Simon Mathys work before? Simon Mathys's earlier career included Micro Resto La Famille and Manitoba. What is Simon Mathys known for? local ingredients.