“I think we’ve got the name, but we’re still keeping it under wraps for now,” says chef Matt Stone of his new Bangalow-based restaurant. While the chef is still most known for his time at Oakridge Wines in the Yarra Valley, and groundbreaking work at Greenhouse, Brothl and most recently the Future Food Systems incarnation of the Greenhouse concept in Melbourne’s Federation Square, he’s now very much enamoured with his new home in the Northern Rivers.

True to form it’s the produce that has formed much of Stone’s view on his new locale. “It’s blown my mind, there’s such an abundance and the climate lends itself to food production so well: it’s warm, there’s moisture, there’s little subregions within the region,” he says. “Twenty years of being a cook and travelling the world extensively and I’m in an area where I discover a new ingredient almost every week,” says Stone.  

“I love a sense of place,” he says of cooking in the regions. “In cities it can be hard to tell that story of a sense of place. You can truck food in, but for me, the closer you are to your food source, the easier my job is because it’s more delicious.” Cooking with tropical food and seafood is something he’s never really done, he says. ”So, it’s really nice to be able to get into that space and really embrace it.” 

Stone singles out growers like John Picone who grows upward of 200 varieties of fruit. “It’s really interesting because the seasons and windows on this stuff is really short,” he says. “So, you really have to cook at the moment, you can’t just be like, oh cool I like that I’ll put it on my next menu. You’ve got to get it on now because it’s only around for two weeks.” 

Stone’s new venture, with his partners behind Ciao, Mate! will be more akin to past gigs, he says; farming or working with growers to feed their need for produce. They’re eyeing a wine-bar-come-Euro-bistro focus. “Maybe a dozen small plates and a couple of bigger dishes of the day [on the menu] that could be just a main course for a local that comes in and wants a glass of wine,” says Stone. 

While he still won’t let the name slip, he’s clear that it will have a “hyper local focus on farm direct produce, and a big focus on vegetables.” As you’d expect from Stone it also leans on a plentiful larder of fermented, pickled, and preserved items. “It’ll be an ever-changing menu,” he says. “One week the salad might be bitter greens, radicchio, and citrus, because it’s winter, but then in the same week if we get a flush of sorrel that could be like a sour, fresh, zesty kind of summer salad… traditional seasons as I know them are out of the window up there, which is super exciting,” he says.

While construction was slowed by the recent floods, the focus turning to “flood recovery and then making sure everyone’s okay, safe and fed,” construction is now underway. “The bones are great, and it’s more superficial stuff,” says Stone. “All of the cogs are working at the moment, and we’re really pushing for six weeks [until opening].”

Related story: Ciao, Mate! Matt Stone leaves Harvest Newrybar to head up new Byron eatery