Attica closes for revamp
Melbourne foodies will have to sit tight for a month.
Ben Shewry, head chef and owner of Attica, is closing his famous restaurant down for February.
It’s being closed for a complete overhaul.
Attica will be shut from February 18. It will re-open on March 7.
Shewry, true to form, broke the news about Attica’s first redesign on Instagram.
“Friends, I’m, excited to share this news. In late February Attica will close briefly for the first ever redesign of pour dining room by if architecture. Can’t wait to share more details but I think it’s fair to say that it will look very different than its current incarnation.”
The outfit handling the redesign, as Shewry says, is If Architecture, a firm with runs on the board in the hospitality space. It’s the studio behind Andrew McConnell’s Wine Bar, Stillwater at Crittenden Estate on the Mornington Peninsula. It also did the redesign of St Kilda café Il Fornaio.
The plan for the revamp sounds simple enough: it will be a spare space with dark walls, white tablecloths, artwork scattered through the venue and a large central bar. The strategy behind the revamp is straightforward: it’s designed to encourage diners to focus on the food in front of them.
Why does Attica need a revamp? It was named 33rd best in the World’s Best 50 Restaurants awards last year. Shewry however is not one to take the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” attitude. He knows that places have to innovate to stay ahead.
It was something that Flinders Lane restaurant Chin Chin did last year. The five years old restaurant and the Go Go Bar were put through a total overhaul.
Not surprisingly, Chin Chin executive chef Benjamin Cooper offered his support and congratulations for Shewry with his comment on the Instagram announcement.
“It’s a cathartic and challenging experience,” Cooper said.
by Leon Gettler, January 17th 2017
