The World’s 21 Best Restaurant 2013
Melbourne 3 Hats Restaurant
世界排名第21的最佳餐館
美食餐廳：世界排名第21的最佳餐館就在墨爾本
Attica Restaurant
Address: 74 Glen Eira Rd,
Ripponlea, VIC, 3185 AustraliaPhone: (03) 9530 0111Web
Cuisine: Modern Australian
Food: Excellent
Service: Excellent
Atmosphere: Good
Value: $$$$
Recommend: Good
Rank The World’s 21 Best Restaurant in 2013
The Age Good Food Guide 2014: Three Hats Restaurant
如果說澳大利亞墨爾本的餐廳中讓我最驚豔的是Interlude, 最溫暖的是Jacques Reymond， 最長去的是Rockpool Bar & Grill, 那麼Attica 給我的感受不是他世界排名的美譽，而更多的是最簡單的食材，最原味的調料能夠烹飪出最美味的食物！
Attica
Menu 23 June 2013
8 course Tasting Menu $180.00 per person
with Matched Wines $295.00 per person
Crab, Lettuces from Land and Sea
Brundlmayer ‘Berg Vogelsang’ GrunerVeltliner2002 – Kamptal, Austria
Marron, Sorrel, Sauce of Onions and Pork Fat
Bass Phillip ‘Estate’ Chardonnay 2010 – Gippsland, Victoria
A simple dish of Potato cooked in the earth it was grown
Damijan Podversic ‘Kaplja’ 2006 – Friuli, Italy
Cucumbers， Holy Flax， Sauce of Burnet
Gaia Wild Ferment Assyrtiko 2012 – Santorini, Greece
King George Whiting in Paperbark
Chateau Simone Blanc 2010 – Palette， France
Flinders Island Wallaby, Scorched Macadamia， Ground Berry
Yarra Yarra Syrab/Viognier 2006 – Yarra Valley, Victoria
Fresh Curd Ice Cream and Preserved Blueberries
Dominique Portet Vendanges Tardives Sauvignon Blanc 2010 – Yarra Valley, Victoria
Plight of the Bees
Chateau de Passanvant ‘Les Greffiers’ 2010 – Coteaux de Layon, France
Attica 從世界排名53縱身一躍上升至21，美食家們又紛紛行動起來。沒吃過的想去品嚐其菜色，看看到底世界上最好吃的餐館會做出什麼樣的驚喜。吃過的再次要去回味，看看有沒有突破，是否更上一層樓。
週六晚對於餐館來說應該是最忙的時段，需要大約提前三個月訂位。如果你想嘗試fine dinning, 品味美味佳餚，在澳洲前10名的餐廳等待是很正常的。有的時候等待是必要的，也是值得的。期待的心情讓人非常的興奮。有一種要跟網戀已久的情人見面的激動。
一進門你會被友好的服務所打動。餐館分為幾部分，我們被安排在最裡面的一個大約有9張桌子的空間。我覺得自己很幸運，一來那里安靜，二來剛好能看見對面玻璃窗後廚師在做裝盤的過程。雖然不是清晰的具體畫面，但是能看著帥帥的年輕廚師忙碌和專注的模樣，已經很滿足了。這種視覺上的效果讓食客更貼近當晚的美食，有廚師的愛和無限的創意。Perfect！
菜單非常的簡單，Tasting！由主廚跟具季節和當時的豐收物決定每一季度的菜式搭配。這對我這種每種都想吃的貪心鬼來說實在是最好的選擇。不用動腦筋看菜單，不用選擇困難，反正上什麼菜我就吃什麼是最好的享受。
歷時三小時。每一道菜服務員都會細心的解說。從食材的產地到做法甚至適合的酒類搭搭配等鉅細靡遺。雖然聽起來花三個多小時吃一頓飯是很長的時間， 但是喝酒，品嚐，聊天的過程很讓人放鬆。在上了10道菜飽到喉嚨眼的我還是不捨得走。因為人總會好奇，到底主廚還有什麼驚喜能夠展示在他的菜品之中，還有那些是我連想都沒想過的意外之喜。
整個過程非常有趣。先從吃樹葉開始。我和隔壁桌的食客都抱著將信將疑的態度不知道該如何下手。是摘下樹葉點奶油將呢還是連莖帶也一塊吐下去？大家都跟我一樣一頭霧水。當晚最喜歡的菜色是最簡單的生菜蟹肉和馬鈴薯。令人有點失望的是油膩膩的黃瓜和過甜的巧克力蛋。總體來講雖然缺乏令人尖叫的驚喜，但是不失一次獨特的美食享受。讓我學會了很多，感悟了很多。做人做事都有用心去享受，去體會，去發揮！
Menu with ingredients ～
Mushroom leaves, grown in our garden, served with house-made crème fraiche, that has been seasoned with lemon myrtle and alpine pepper
A puree of biodynamic walnuts topped with shaved pine mushrooms
Jerusalem Artichokes, pickled in a mixture of apple cider vinegar, mustard seeds and honey
Blue Mussels from Port Phillip Bay, shucked whilst raw and dipped in rye. Flash fried and topped with sea succulent.
Snow Crab from Western Australia. Served with buckwheat, lettuce heart poached in ginger and white sesame, topped with sea lettuce and coconut vinegar.
Poached Marron tail atop a pile of marinated chicken, sorrel and tarragon. Over the top of this we pour a broth of roasted white onions and pork fat.
Virginia Rose potato, cooked in earth. Served atop smoked goats curd, sprinkled with coconut ash and finished with crisp saltbush
Cucumbers compressed in chardonnay vinegar and then char-grilled. Dressed with a sauce made from the skins of the cucumbers and flavoured with Pyengana. Served with snow peas, holy flax and Goulburn River Trout
King George Whiting topped with butter flavoured with pearl oyster meat. Drizzled with green tomato juice, then wrapped in paper bark and grilled over coals.
Flinder’s Island Wallaby sirloin on a macadamia nut puree with begonia leaves and upland cress. Topped with caramelised macadamias and wattleseed salt.
Fresh Curd Ice-cream with semi-dehydrated apple, chrysanthemum petals and liquorice leaf. Served alongside beurre bosc pear and blueberries, macerated in apple balsamic vinegar.
Plight of the Bees – Lemon Curd with Wild Thyme Honey, ice of lemon thyme and fennel, thyme meringue. Topped with pumpkin compressed in Honeydew Honey and topped with freeze-dried apple.
Pukeko Eggs – white chocolate eggs filled with salted caramel.
The Pukeko’s Egg
主廚Ben Shewry 的藝術家父親畫的紐西蘭特有的鳥Pukeko。歷史，文化和居住地都能成為創作新菜式的靈感。
“My father Bob best describes them as confident, inquisitive and vociferous.” ~ Ben Shewry
廚師如此用心， 把自己的故事分享給食客們，做為品味以外情感的延伸，這是最讓我感動的地方。
A little about the restaurant~
Head Chef Ben Shewry
Born and raised in rural North Taranaki on the rugged west coast of the North Island, New Zealand, Ben believes that food can have a deeper meaning than just another item to consume; it can be evocative, emotional and thought provoking, appealing to all of the senses. Of course the key to all this is that it tastes of the purity of its ingredients and is something delicious to eat.
For inspiration, he often draws from his childhood; from the volcano, rivers, ocean, and native bush that make up Taranaki. It is these memories, growing up in an area almost completely wild, that have shaped such dishes as Sea tastes (now Marron), Snow Crab, a simple dish of potato cooked in the earth it was grown and Terroir.
Ben currently lives on the Bellarine Peninsula in Victoria, close to the sea and an abundance of edible wild plants and vegetables, which he harvests by hand every day for the menu at Attica.
In January 2010 Ben Shewry became the first ever Victorian Chef to present his cuisine at Barcelona’s Madrid Fusion.
In August 2011 Ben also was the only Australian presenter at the inaugural MAD FoodCamp, hosted by Rene Redzepi of Noma in Copenhagen.
source from attica.com.au
Attica 的主廚Ben Shewry 出生在美麗的紐西蘭北島的一個農村。後來遷居到澳洲維多利亞省的一個海邊附近居住。他的父親是一名畫家，而他從小熱愛繪畫。也許正因為出生於藝術世家，藝術的熏陶對他的烹飪和裝盤擺設也有了很深遠的影響。是簡單的將食物放入容器中，而是需要無窮無盡的想像力。他注重食材，同時也小心融合了色彩的搭配。除了味覺的享受，在進食之前人們往往首先受到視覺的震撼，嗅覺的吸引。最後所有這些感官融合在一起，延伸出更多更美的想像力。盛裝在碟子上的藝術品用來形容他的創作再適合不過了。這也是對一個廚藝精湛的藝術家最好的讚美！
The Secret Garden
Attica 的秘密花園
當天晚上是一次奇妙的旅程。在等待甜點的過程中服務員走過來說有一個小小的驚喜。我的耳朵頓時豎了起來。驚喜？! 那會是什麼？他問我們願不願意去後花園參觀。難得有這樣的機會，我不斷點頭。 “願意！當然願意。” 我緊接著不及待地站起來，跟隨著服務員身後。很新奇，很興奮。
花園裡種滿了各種蔬菜，裡面還有一個很大的透明溫室，養殖了不同的香草。這些菜是附近的他們的更大的菜園移植過來的， 晚餐中我們吃的很多蔬菜都來自Attica自己種植的花園裡。其中包括了前菜中的Mushroom leaves和生菜蟹肉的生菜。原產地來自新幾內亞Mushroom leaves吃起來有蘑菇的味道，還有活血的功效。這是我第一次品嚐。
這是不是很有趣的經歷呢？誰能想到在就餐過程中西裝革履的服務員就如Alice夢遊wonderland裡的兔子先生般代領我們來到了美食世界。我就像那好奇的小女孩，什麼都恨不得看一看，摸一摸，聞一聞，咬一口嚐一嘗。
然後我們嚐到了當晚的第一道也是我最喜歡的甜品：棉花糖！輕輕，軟軟，滑溜溜，還帶有絲絲甜味。這估計是我吃過最最好吃的棉花糖了。
原本是停車的空位現在利用起來用來種菜，給我了很多的靈感和信心。我也希望把家里後花園限制的一片地放上木盒子，裡面種滿蔬菜。在豐收的季節收穫滿滿的愛與美味～
Useful Links:
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants
The Age Good Food Guide 2014: The Hats
The Attica Gardens at Riipponlea
“Being a thoughtful cook is about understanding a little of the history and culture of cuisine other than your own. Beacuase we live in a global age chefs borrow little snippets of information from different parts of the world- subconsciously or otherwise to build dishes, a ilttle like the way a bird builds its nest.” ~ Ben Shewry
對於愛美食的我來說品嚐是一種享受，已經超越僅僅為了果腹這麼簡單的原始因素。它也是一種生活體驗。同一碟菜，每個人吃可能會有不同的感受。朋友好奇為什 麼我這麼愛吃。Instagram, facebook上傳的全是跟吃有關的帖子。其實很簡單。因為吃能讓我快樂。這年頭，能讓自己快樂的事物是難能可貴的～
xoxo
Dollymic
饞貓懶廚
Dollymic 
