Simon Evans was previously the chef / owners of Caveau restaurant in Wollongong, a stalward of the Wollongong dining scene since 2005, winning a chef hat in every year it was open. After working in the restaurant for several years, Simon bought the restaurant in 2017 and lead it to a more local and native ingredient focused menu, and relaxed service style, maintaining the coveted hat and increasing its score in the subsequent years. Strong relationships with the suppliers and growers and a passion and understanding of native ingredients allowed Simon to create modern dishes using ancient ingredients and techniques with ingredients such as magpies, goose, emu, crocodile and green ants appearing on his menus.

Simon and business partner Thomas Chiumento, currently own Night Parrot Bar & Kitchen in the heart of Wollongong, a relaxed wine focused bar serving Asian inspired cuisine.

The Bangalay menu Simon has written aims to highlight the amazing produce we have in the local area, complimented with wild foraged ingredients from the local beaches and a use of native ingredients that is not merely tokenistic, but used to accentuate the dishes.

Follow him on Instagram @simon_evans_bangalay.