Attica

26th November 2011

Having booked to go to this restaurant a few months ago with Em and Lyd, the date finally arrived when it got to finish off all of the three hat restaurants on my list. Compared to the other 3 hat restaurants this was more hip, experimental and new restaurant with a darker edgier feel.

Having previously heard service was once patchy and not up to the standard of the food or other high class restaurants, we were pleasantly surprised with the easy charm and quality of the service, even being offered for us to use the existing napkins to dry ourselves (after coming in on a pouring and dismal Melbourne Saturday night) and provided with fresh ones. They were involved and clearly cared about the restaurant, vision of the chef and the dining experience. (although some of the descriptions of various parts of the dining experience were overly elaborate).

We settled into our dark and moody dining room with dark walls and modern art and photos adorning the walls. A bar in the middle and a separate dining area just separated by glass windows and doors were the only features in a dining room that would be described a minimalist. The tables were close together but not cramped as i had heard from some people. The room and table setting were not the same quality as the other 3 hat restaurants but were a significant upgrade from reports from previous years.

We ordered a bottle of wine to share which was reasonably priced although slightly on the expensive side from the extensive but not encyclopedic wine list and moved straight onto the food. Not that you had much to choose from with an eight course tasting menu the only option on a Saturday night. Me and Lyd decided to have a look at the menu but Em decided to leave every dish a surprise until it was presented by the wait staff.

This was a menu that aspired to delight and push boundaries whereas Vue Du Monde and Jacques Reymond were relatively restrained and old school in terms of food. The menu provided little indication of the elaborate sophisticated and involved nature of every detail of the dish. Presented beautifully and with a specific purpose often the theatre and presentation of the dish was more a part of the dish than the taste and flavours.

We were offered some warm bread with an olive oil emulsion and house made rich creamy french butter. Very good quality.

Before the first of the 8 courses were presented, we were offered an appetiser. Crystal bay prawns with thin slices of radish with mustard seeds and an Jerusalem artichoke reduction. Fresh, light and amazing flavour it was a great way to start the meal and provide an insight into the culinary aspiration in store.

The first course was a long term signature of Attica, the snow crab. A dish of crab, salmon roe, puffed rice, barberry, verjuice and freeze dried coconut all covered in a horseradish snow that melted in the mouth (like a spoon full of icing sugar). Amazing presentation and a work of art and for the most part great flavours but at times the horseradish snow was a bit too much and threatened to overpower the other flavours.

Onto the second course we went and a dish of marron, leek and native pepper. Tiny circles of leek covered in a mustard oil and beautifully cooked tiny portions of marron tail (one of my and top restaurants favourite ingredients). Combined with a mussel and prosciutto stock poured at the table, he rich fat marron tail was perfectly cooked and the other flavours complemented it well.

The next dish was also one of the most well known and involves the transformation of the simple potato into a elegant dish. The 'simple potato cooked in the earth it was grown' has an elaborate name and equally elaborate cooking process (5+ hours) to make it deliciously creamy and soft. Combined with a bed of goat's cheese that had been sprinkled with a series of soils and ashs, it was an amazing complex dish that showed the masterful technique and willingness to experiment. However the flavours for us were a little bland and despite it being a well cooked and brought together dish, the dish was still just a potato.

The next dish however was a great triumph. Meat from the pearl oyster was a great dish. Exquisitely cooked meat that was neither too spongy or crunchy and had great flavour. Combined with a slab of dense rich and fatty pork with shaved radish, it was great combo of flavours and textures.

The next dish however was one of my favourites. A perfectly cooked vibrant egg yolk that was gooey and runny combined with almond and garlic burnt brown butter chips, baked celeriac, a cream of Pyengana cheese and globe artichokes. It was a bit of a mess at the end but the flavours were great and the chips were my favourite part (although not to Lyd's liking).

The final savoury dish was a beef tongue that looked more like rib eye covered in a mix of herbs and combined with a parsnip puree, parsnips and onions and flattened crunchy wagyu beef. The quality of the beef was amazing as well as the cooking and the combination with the vegetables were great.

The first desert was a dish called The Franz Josef named after the glacier in New Zealand and designed to look like it as well. A dish of coconut ash, caramelised mango, kiwi fruit ice, avocado and mint puree and eggless coconut meringue. Amazing quality of dish and the presentation and thought gone into it was outstanding and the taste of the dish was outrageously good. A dish that exemplifies everything that this restaurant is about.

The final dish was called the 'Native Fruits of Australia' a combination of a variety different berries and fruits with various flavour, tastes and textures combined with a sheep's milk yogurt, macadamia crumble and currant granita. The berries offered a wide variety and some were great and some were not to my taste and one had a very leathery texture but the yogurt and the granita were exemplary.

Lyd and Em decided to go for coffees to finish and whilst these were being prepared we were presented with a nest of edible Pukeko eggs. Wonderfully presented but the white chocolate eggs (painted to look like real birds eggs) and filled with salted caramel made us completely forget about any of the history and beautiful presentation and focus on the amazing flavours.

A meal that pushes the boundaries and senses whilst reaching amazing heights and quality with some dishes but falling short of the immense expectations both created by its reputation and the presentation of the meal. This was a dinner that delighted and strived for greatness whilst leaving some of the risk free perfection of Vue Du Monde and Jacques Reymond by the wayside. The service was first class and the quality of the evening was great. Definitely a top 5 restaurant, however with some further polish this place could reach the heights of number 1.