Matt Stone is one of Australia’s most dynamic chef’s.

Heralding from Margaret River in Western Australia. Matt has had extensive experience in notable venues across Australia, including Star Anise, Greenhouse by Joost, Silo, Brothl Stanley Street Merchants, Oakridge Restaurant & Futurefoodsystem.

Drawing inspiration from Australian native ingredients and the natural beauty that surrounds him, Matt strives to minimize waste and employ creative methods to get the most from every ingredient – a skill he honed during his time working with Joost Bakker (and Jo Barrett) on the acclaimed Futurefoodsystem project in Melbourne.

His subsequent culinary & ingredient knowledge has put him at the forefront of the Australian sustainable dining scene.

Home is now Bungalow in NSW, and it is here he has partnered with a formidable team to take up the position of Executive Chef at Ciao Mate! & newly opened You Beauty – a bar serving ever changing small plates, located directly beside Ciao Mate!

Scott spent much of his early career crisscrossing the globe, working across London, Japan, the Middle East, around Europe, the Caribbean and more.

In 2012 Scott became partners in an exciting new project with Eamon Sullivan and Bib and Tucker was born. Following the success of Bib & Tucker, they embarked on their next joint venture, May Street Larder, opening in early 2015 in East Fremantle and at Pogo in 2019.

Scott is also part owner and executive chef of underground Japanese whiskey bar, Goody Twos, located in Hibernian Place, which opened in October 2018.

Across all his venues Scott’s menus offer a consistent food philosophy – create fun and flavoursome food with no compromise on quality whilst utilising the best produce Western Australia has to offer.

The dishes at Bib and Tucker are deeply rooted with the elements of nature, The menu being cooked over fire with local woods and the amazing coastline of Western Australia is the inspiration of the menu.

Scott’s take on modern Australian cuisine is to utilise what’s in season at its full potential- utilising the abundance of fresh seafood and proteins that thrive in our clean waters and pastures.

Scott and his team work with native ingredients that are foraged and sourced locally and weave them into the dishes to make them approachable for diners to explore and experience the best West Australia has to offer.

The food produced by Young George executive chef and co-owner Melissa Palinkas has been lavished with praise by food reviewers who describe her food with words like ‘inventive, fun, smart, original and drop dead gorgeous’.

While she enjoys producing an innovative menu, Melissa runs a sustainable kitchen, making the best use of every part of vegetables and meats and minimising waste and plastic use.
Her ‘nose to tail’ or ‘root to shoot’ approach to cooking means that nothing is wasted. The trimmings of vegetables and meats are used in stock and leftover vegetables are fermented or used for preserves.

She tries to reduce the carbon footprint of the kitchen by reducing the use of disposable plastics in her restaurant. Sauces are stored in recycled glass jars and she sends the restaurant’s own crates to suppliers to be filled with produce.
Melissa’s first kitchen job was at the Brass Monkey, in Northbridge. She worked overseas in London and Dublin before taking the head chef at The Cabin in Mt Hawthorn for 4 years, before setting up Young George, which she describes as a neighbourhood bar with a serious focus on food.
Melissa was honoured to receive her first Hat at the 2020 Good Food Guide Awards and to be named Chef of the 2019 West Australian Good Food Guide Chef of the Year.

Syrian Nadeem Turkyah has been sharing middle eastern cuisine with Geraldton locals since 2022 at his restaurant Laian.