I’m on vacation at the moment, so my already infrequent posts will be even more infrequent! I have a few amazing meals during my trip in Hong Kong and Japan which I will definitely blog about. Stay tuned!
4th December was mum’s birthday, it was a “round” number last year and we went to Vue De Monde. As usual, being her picky self didn’t really enjoy the experience. So I thought of Attica, given such raving reviews it has received. I gave them a call a few months ago, knowing that you can only book 3 months in advanced. I don’t think it was quite 3 months maybe less and as expected was booked out. so I was placed on the waiting list probably expecting not to get a call from them. So I booked Kappo again with mum and went yesterday. Find out about my previous Kappo review here. So I had the dilemma, should we go to Kappo and NOT go to Attica? Or should we go to BOTH. It was a no brainer. What chances are there to get a table at attica?!
So I was not sure what to expect, and they didn’t even give me the chance to look forward to this dining experience. I mean you can start telling your friends & colleagues about it etc. But no, I only had a day ! So drove down to ripponlea, located very close to Quat Quatta where we once looked at wedding venues.
A nice modern but homely feel to this place.
We were greeted at the door, and were led to our table. One thing I liked about the tables was that they had these spot lights lighting our tables. Perfect for food bloggers like me! I mean its hard to get good lighting to take photos sometimes, most places are quite dark and unless you have a SLR, its impossible to take good photos. They had these decorations in a bowl. I can’t remember what they were but one thing I knew was that you can’t eat this!
Forgot what these were. The waitress told us you can’t eat them just when I was about to put it in my mouth. Couldn’t wait !
You don’t have to choose what to eat on the menu. They simply ask if you have any dietary requirements and off you go. So it’s an 8 course menu with the choice of either matched juices or matched wines. I had to work the next day and a trip coming up so I opted for the matched juices.
They brought out some fresh butter and some macadamia purée with saltbush to compliment it. Bread was rye and sourdough bread which was warm and crunchy. The purée did compliment well with the bread, mum didn’t say a word which usually means she approves of it.
We had a few little appetisers prior to the course. The first bringing out fresh yellow box honeycomb.
This was lathered onto some cows milk cheese with hazelnut oil.
Next up were some baby corn in their husks. Real cute!
The last part of our appetiser was some New Zealand flavoured wallaby Pickelets, we were given the recipe for it as well!
Finally, some summer flower gardens with steamed mussels in chicken broth, olive oil and fresh beans. Fresh indeed!
I chose the accompanying fruit juice with the degustation as I had to drive. Wasn’t a bad choice! First came some grapefruit juice.
First course was snow crab and sour leaves. So it was a sorrel leave with some crab meat from WA underneath with Australian pepper berry. Pretty much all their ingredients are sourced locally which is one great thing about eating in Australia.
Next juice – Tomato and verjuice. All the juices were quite “unique”. Its not just a simple tomato juice. It has to be some different depth of flavour to make it special.
Second dish of the day – Salted Kangaroo & Bunya Bunya. Bunya is a native nut plant of Queensland. This dish was served with purple carrots, currants, frozen puree and the bunya nut and a kangaroo which is diced up like in a carpaccio. One of my favourite dishes of the night.
JUICE up! Pumpkin and wattle seed juice. Hmmm You wonder if its a juice or a soup. Definitely interesting taste with the wattleseed in it.
Another one of my favourite dishes of the night. A potato! Yes, I didn’t know how tasty an ordinary staple was. This potato was JUST cooked through, so its almost like a little raw, but not quite. It has garlic infused cheddar cheese which was fermented for 18 months. Quite an amazing dish.
Beetroot and tamarind. I don’t mind beetroot, it’s meant to be good for your vessels.
Next up was something interesting. On the menu, it says 142 days of earth. I was trying to decipher what this meant. The waiter explained that it was 142 days for this red cabbage before it was harvested. Don’t know why 142 days and why not 141 days! Must be something special about that 142nd day. Anyway they used numerous parts of the cabbage for this dish. Part of it is the heart, the outer leaves and it was served in cabbage sauce and roasted emu fillet and rosella dark wattle seed. I loved the different textures the cabbage gives.
Smoked Apple Juice. Yes not just ordinary granny old smith juice – it has to be smoked. My word you can definitely taste the smokeyness of the juice. Loved it.
Oyster king george whiting for the next course. Served in real BARK. there was so much flavour in this fish – there was garlic, butter some herbs and a whole lot of other flavours which is strong and tasty. Can’t beat bush food!
This knife was taken out of it’s pouch from the waiter. Lots of nice little details in a fine dining restaurant.
Next was the pork loin. Mum didn’t really like this dish. Didn’t really explain why, she thought the meat was a bit ropey. I thought the meat was cooked perfectly through medium rare. But it did lack some flavour in it to make you want more and more.
After the mains, we were invited into the herb garden at the back which was great because I needed to walk around a bit to digest the food. There were a few chefs there who explained what was in the garden and we were to choose a bit of everything into a small bowl. Herbs included miniature strawberries, licorice, basil etc.
Funky mural on one side of the herb garden.
Once we chose our herbs, they scoop out a scoop of condense milk sorbet and add a bit of vinegar.
Bowls used for the ice-cream. yum!
There was another section on the way to the herb garden where the chefs make their desserts.
Showing some of their vermouth they’ll use for the following dessert.
Ready for dessert with this huge wooden spoon
Here it is! Pears and Maidenii. Very thoughtful how they found a pear shape wooden plate as well! Extremely tasty with flowers on top. Lovely finish to an amazing night.
Almost forgot there was more juice. Next up, slightly bitter orange juice. Very nice indeed.
Final dessert of the night. Industrious beet it was called. Sorry its been almost a month since i had it, i do remember it had lots of meringue, with sauce in which whole oranges was used. Lovely textures of the meringue and flavours of the oranges. So delicious.
Instead of the petit of fours, we get an egg. Yes, a Pukeko egg from NZ. It’s actually chocolate with caramel inside it.
Here it is, even had a nest for it!
That’s it folks! Amazing night, mum enjoyed it thoroughly and had one hell of a culinary experience. We were very lucky to get a table esp leading up to christmas. Sorry for the late post, I’ve got some interesting overseas review including some business class and first class reviews to Japan! Stay tuned!
Rating : 18/20
Would I go back : I really don’t need to answer this question
Dish of the day : I think the potato dish was something special.
Tips : don’t eat too much that day!
The Peckish Connoisseur 
Looks fantastic! Great shots!
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