Attica summer camp set to launch before Christmas
The Yarra Valley is now home to a new casual outdoor venue, Attica Summer Camp by Ben Shewry.
The Attica chef will launch his new party-friendly covered space on the former site of Lilydale Estate winery, just before Christmas.
Shewry has been on the hunt for a regional venue for the past three months.
"I looked at around 10 different sites but this is the one with the most potential," he said.
"It's basically a blank canvas with a hexagonal shaped pavilion open on the sides."
Shewry is still waiting to be granted approval for a liquor license.
In the meantime, he has said that, "If Attica has come from years of consideration, research and refinement, then the Summer Camp is going to be the complete opposite."
Shewry will provide a place for communal eating and Attica-level cooking and hopes to capture a festival atmosphere.
Attica merchandise will be sold at a small attached retail store, where they will also have picnic hampers and takeaway drinks.
Meanwhile, the original three-hatted Attica in Ripponlea is set to open its doors this weekend for the first time since March. They will be hosting a series of private 10-person dinner parties at a price of $5000 plus drinks.
During lockdown Shewry kept busy by delivering lasagnes, selling elaborate cakes, making soup for unemployed overseas workers and hosting Instagram demonstrations.
The work kept staff employed and Shewry even put on 10 extra casual staff from other restaurants to cope with demand for Attica’s delivery service.
“I could not have imagined in my wildest dreams being able to give anyone a job at the start of this [pandemic],” he told Good Food.
Shewry has been delivering Attica meals six nights a week and established his own in-house online ordering system charging $15 per delivery within a 10-kilometre radius.
Each night an average of nine delivery cars were on the road, driven by Shewry and uniformed waiters using their own vehicles, making up to 100 deliveries per night.
“It’s not a profitable thing at all,” Shewry said. “We’ll try to survive on selling the food, and the delivery is a way to keep people busy and help pay their wages.”
With Attica now reopened and further innovations mooted, no doubt the restaurant will continue to lead the country’s food scene.
Irit Jackson, 17th November 2020
