After a winter spent (more or less) contained to a five-kilometre radius, Attica’s Ben Shewry has one very good reason for you to get out of town this summer.
While his Ripponlea fine diner kicks off an intimate new 10-person dining experience (with never-before-seen dishes), he’s also getting the ball rolling on Attica Summer Camp: an airy outdoor pop-up restaurant in the Yarra Valley, which will run for five months from December.
After scoping out a dozen sites, Shewry settled on a lush spot (once home to Lillydale Estate winery) just outside the small town of Seville. It was the sense of community he felt in the region that ultimately got him over the line. (Healesville winemaker and purveyor of fine pinot Mac Forbes was an “intrinsic” part of Shewry’s decision-making.)
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SIGN UP“I want to be clear, it’s not gonna be Attica in its traditional sense,” Shewry tells Broadsheet. Expect something a little less fancy, a little more fun – and with a “really uplifting, we’re-out-of-this-long-hard-winter kind of vibe”.
“Building a new restaurant in four to six weeks is crazy,” Shewry adds. But that’s exactly what he’s doing. It’ll stretch across two hexagonal pavilions – a smaller one indoors, and a “really big one” outdoors. “Think of the most awesome marquee you could have that’s not a marquee,” he says with a laugh.
There won’t be any quintessential Yarra Valley vineyard views here, though. Instead, the outlook will be gumtree-dense forest, farmland and a couple of horses. “At no point will you be looking at the vines, which … I really dig,” Shewry says.
As far as the menu goes, he remains tight-lipped. “We’re working on it,” he says, adding that the offering will be “very informal, excellent-value” and “really different to Attica”.
To liven things up there’ll be a set of turntables, so Shewry can “con friends that might be coming for lunch or dinner to spend some time on the turntable to earn their food”. And a shop will stock Attica condiments (“jams, chutneys, vinegars, misos”) and merch, as well as fresh produce and fancy picnic hampers.
Attica Summer Camp is slated to open at 45 Davross Court, Seville in December.