Attica in Melbourne Named Restaurant on the Year at Good Food Guide Awards

Chef Ben Shewry’s Melbourne restaurant Attica has been named Australia’s best at the country’s first ever Good Food Guide Awards.

The restaurant, located in the suburb of Ripponlea, beat the likes of Brae and Quay to the top gong at a ceremony in Sydney on Monday night.

“Attica, by its very nature, challenges diners by offering dishes with a story and sense of place," said the Guide’s co-editor Myffy Rigby. "A recent refurb has pulled everything into sharp focus, like seeing through the reading glasses you never knew you needed until you tried them on."

Attica’s extended tasting menu is journey through indigenous Australian ingredients, such as emu, worrelsoy and desert lime, with one or two tongue in cheek references to popular food culture thrown in, including a vegemite pie and smashed avo on toast. It currently sits at number 32 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list.

Ben Shewry; Whipped Emu Egg with Quandong

The Good Food Guide features 267 restaurants in total, each awarded a one, two or three hats rating, similar to the stars in the Michelin Guide. Attica was one of only six restaurants to be awarded the top honour of three hats, alongside Brae, Minamishima, Quay, Sepia and Urbane.

Other winners on the night included Saint Peter, in Paddington, named Best New Restaurant, Daniel Puskas from Sixpenny restaurant in Stanmore, who took home Chef of the Year, Kylie Millar of Attica, who won Young Chef of the Year, and chef Jock Zonfrillo's Orana Foundation, which picked up the Food for Good Award. Late chef Jeremy Strode was awarded a postthumous Legend Award.

See the full list of awards here.

All images: Attica