CHEF OF THE YEAR
Ben Shewry ATTICA, MELBOURNE
Laurels? They’re stacked up high at Attica, heaped almost to the ceiling of the little Ripponlea restaurant that could, but Ben Shewry won’t be lolling about on them any time soon. Eleven years after answering a newspaper ad for a head chef position the New Zealand expat finds himself at the top of the restaurant pile. He has a world-renowned restaurant and the international profile that goes with it, along with a bookings list that would be the envy of anyone in the game. The hoopla could all be one big distraction, but Shewry is in the singleminded business of making things better.
It speaks volumes that our peer-voted Chef of the Year award should go to Ben Shewry, and at this precise moment in time.
He’s renowned as the nice guy of Australian cooking, and an unofficial ambassador for treating staff well. Not many world-renowned chefs would know or care about the emotional state of the pot-washer, but Shewry is that guy. Connected. And taking over Attica as sole owner last year has increased his connection tenfold.
The move – a bold one, both mentally and financially for Shewry and his wife, Natalia – can be filed under one of the best things he’s done. He’ll admit it’s been a steep learning curve, but it has freed him to do things his way. “I’m trying to do everything with the best possible practice, in the most ethical way, such as paying suppliers when they deliver things to the kitchen. All my suppliers come before my need. It creates a huge amount of goodwill.”
Consciously or not, it’s also coincided with a new direction in his cooking towards a more distinctly Australian identity with a full battery of native ingredients and such culinary bons mots as saltbush lamb in Vegemite pastry.
“In the earlier days it was a mixture of European-Australian and Thai, then I started working on things that were memories of my childhood in New Zealand,” says Shewry. “But then five or so years ago, during the writing of my book, I felt all out of New Zealand stories, and I wanted to move on. I wanted to do a more Australian take on things, but didn’t feel comfortable with the culture. Then I had three kids here and this became home.”
Cooking remains an intellectual exercise for Shewry, a man constitutionally bound to look for the smooth in the rough. “I like the discarded things that people say are too strong, too bad, not high value, not interesting, too cultural-cringe.”
A pumpkin dish on the current menu says plenty about his raison d’être: “I struggle to get excited about pumpkin, and it requires a lot more work than lobster or lamb to make it interesting, but that’s why I like to go after these things.”
So where to from here? The fresh air of sole ownership has certainly put a new spring in the Shewry step. “Freedom is the biggest word. Also security. Now I can see where I’m going, what
I’m going to do, and how. I can see Attica for the next five,
10, 20 years, and it’s great.”