Melbourne’s King Pin

Taranaki-born Ben Shewry, 31, is executive chef at Melbourne restaurant Attica, where he was named Best New Talent at the 2007 Gourmet Traveller Awards, and where he earned this year’s Melbourne Age Good Food Guide Restaurant of the Year award and best dish. According to Gourmet Traveller Shewry has “come up with a modern style that has caught a lot of people happily off guard with its inventiveness.” “Peter Gordon [executive chef of London’s The 3  Providores] came in the other night and afterwards he told me it had been one of the best dining experiences of his life,” says Shewry. “It was one of the highlights of my career.” Peter Gilmore of Sydney’s Quay says Shewry is “the most exciting young chef in Melbourne, without a doubt.” The Australian reviewer Stephen Lunn writes that “an evening at Attica is no-brainer.” Shewry began his career at Government House in Wellington, and has worked under decorated Swiss-New Zealander Mark Limacher of the capital’s Roxburgh Bistro.