Pioneering Chef Matt Stone To Open a Tapas-Style Restaurant in Bangalow, in Byron’s Hinterland
For a chef like Matt Stone, who enjoys employing clean, nearby components, doing the job in the Byron Bay hinterland is a dream. Together with hordes of other Aussies escaping the city in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Stone created the move to northern NSW past calendar year. It was a gig at acclaimed farm-to-desk restaurant Harvest at Newrybar that brought him to the area.
But when his great mate Nick Stanton (of Melbourne’s Leonardo’s Pizza Palace, Leonard’s House of Adore and the now-closed Ramblr) provided him the chance to just take his spot at atmospheric eatery Ciao, Mate!, in the nearby town of Bangalow a number of months afterwards, he jumped on board. Now he’s about to embark on his most up-to-date enterprise: a tapas-fashion cafe and bar in a key corner placement just a number of doors down.
“We phone it the jewel of Bangalow,” Stone tells Broadsheet. “We can envisage it being fantastically lit, with lots of atmosphere. We did a pop-up occasion right before we started out the renovations. It was a fantastic vibe it really worked.”
The “we” he is referring to incorporates his new-ish organization companions, Matt Rabbidge and Luke Sullivan, who also very own the Eltham Resort at the outdated railway junction concerning Lismore, Ballina and Bangalow a bit further inland. The house that the new cafe, You Natural beauty, will occupy was earlier dwelling to The Italian Diner, which was owned by Significant Brother series one housemate Pete Timbs.
Locals are presently predicting You Attractiveness – which will element timber-clad interiors, some higher bar stools and a pair of tables outside – is possible to give the sleepy town of Bangalow an energetic culinary strike, just as Ciao, Mate! did.
Stone’s enthusiasm for sustainable cooking has advanced normally around the yrs. The 35-calendar year-previous grew up in Western Australia’s Margaret River area and started his job washing dishes at Leeuwin Estate in 2003. Right after finishing his apprenticeship, he labored at considerably-awarded Perth restaurant Star Anise for a few of several years just before becoming a member of eco-warrior Joost Bakker’s Greenhouse cafe as head chef.
He also labored with Bakker to set up Australia’s initial zero-waste cafe, Silo (which later grew to become a soup bar known as Brothl), in Melbourne in advance of using on the role of co-executive chef of Oakridge Wines in the Yarra Valley. While there, he and Jo Barrett (the other co-government chef and his then-husband or wife) shook up the regional eatery by turning into tremendous area and incredibly Do-it-yourself.
He returned to operating with Bakker’s groundbreaking Future Meals Method project in Melbourne in 2021 right before going north. With You Beauty now in movement (and an engagement to another nearby, Beach Byron Bay’s head chef, Alanna Sapwell), he’s most likely to stick around the spot for a whilst.
It is no shock that the revolutionary chef (who has authored a cookbook and produced a lot of visitor appearances on Masterchef) is excited to showcase at You Magnificence the generate and food items of community farmers and suppliers. He claims to be expecting a menu of about a dozen modest plates based on the seasons and a few of most important dishes, paired with a faucet beer and wine.
“My role as a chef is to serve tasty food stuff,” he states. “The less foods has travelled, the improved it is, and the improved it is for the atmosphere. It also implies considerably less packaging is needed.” He also ideas to spend a good cost for the deliver he sources. “Good meals ought to be costly.”
You Beauty is at 37–39 Byron Avenue, Bangalow and is slated to open late July for lunch and evening meal from Wednesday to Sunday.
