Go to Attica and you’ll be cosseted by devoted staff, dine deliciously well, and drink great wine in a handsome pair of rooms. But open your eyes, ears and mind, and you’ll be taken on a more interesting journey, one that satisfies all kinds of hunger, for Ben Shewry is one of the world’s most thoughtful chefs and it shows in every dish and detail. Favourite house-grown, wild and native ingredients become heroes of the eight-course menu: perfect summer tomatoes, sweet cucumber, pearly snow crab beneath sour leaves; buttery marron in luscious pork and onion sauce; ruby kangaroo; whiting encased in paperbark, flavoured with lemon myrtle and scattered with chopped pearl meat. Every course appeals to the senses, so stop to inhale the aromas and enjoy a visual feast, too. Juice matches are offered as an alternative to wine (think cucumber and sorrel, smoked granny smith) and a visit to the rear herb plot for an ice-cream cone and some chef chat precedes enchanting desserts, like ‘raw strawberry jam’ with a hint of meringue.

And … Tuesday is chef’s table night when diners sample dishes in development for $125.

http://www.attica.com.au