Ben Shewry's Ripponlea restaurant Attica rocketed to No.21 on the San Pellegrino World's 50 Best Restaurant list last month, making it the top restaurant in Australasia.
The New Zealand born, Ocean Grove-based chef says in the two hours after the rankings were announced Attica's website received 20,000 hits but Shewry, 36, is determined to remain grounded, finding solace in surfing, music and love of family.
I've always been a little pessimistic so I thought we would be 50 or 49 (on this year's World's Best Restaurant list).
I went fully expecting that. Anything below that was kind of a bonus.
A friend of mine Magnus Nilsson who runs a fabulous restaurant in Sweden called Faviken was in a row in front of me and he turned around and looked at me.
Then at No. 29 he turned around and mouthed, "Holy f---".
When they said the best restaurant in Australasia, I knew that was us.
I don't mean that in an arrogant way. Quay (in Sydney) had already been read out.
It felt surreal.
The best moment of the whole night was when they announced it and we stood up and heard the roar from the crowd.
Some people, people who have no interest in blowing hot air up us, said that was the biggest roar of the whole night.
That was an amazing feeling.
All of the people there are my good friends and as we passed they were standing up out of their chairs, yelling at us, trying to grab us, genuinely absolutely rapt for us.
We went to the stage and got the award and everything else after that was crazy.
The acknowledgment from your peers - I'll never forget that moment.
Whether or not I get to evolve and leave our place in the world or not, that moment, being cheered on by the best chefs in the world, your friends, that's really something.
Being voted No.21 - you can't believe your own hype.
You've got to keep your feet grounded and you've got to take it with a grain of salt.
I appreciate it very much and it's great recognition for our hard work but there are a lot of great restaurants in the world.
From that moment I've felt harassed, to be honest.
People with things to sell. Somebody offered me a car to take away for the weekend. I'm sure that's a nice gesture, but it's kind of crazy too. I didn't respond. I have my own car already. I don't drive a fancy car. I'm not into that.
And offers to do stuff I don't want to do, be the face of somebody's product. It's not really my ambition in life. I'm sure there's a lot of money involved in that stuff, but money's not what makes me happy.
And my wife is probably at home hearing these words and saying, "You know we've got a mortgage, right? And school fees coming up". But there's some level of selling out about that and it doesn't sit well with me personally.
People have come from around the world to Attica for a long time but I guess there's going to be a lot more.
The problem is we're a small restaurant and there's a huge pressure on bookings. We have 50 seats but only five services, so we can serve about 275 people a week, and there's a lot of demand for those 275 seats.
I don't see myself as Australia's best chef.
There are too many other good guys out there, a whole heap of people who are amazing cooks.
If you believe you're the best chef, you're in some spot of bother as a person and as a professional.
It's going to settle down, I know, but right now the interest is intense.
One of my best friends and my mentor hadn't even congratulated me because he didn't want to be another person asking for something from me, which is kind of sad but I know he's doing it from a place of love.
He sent me a text on the night. He's super excited by it. He's my true mentor and an amazing guy.
I have an ambition to be in the kitchen more, in a different kitchen, our development kitchen.
The last few days have taken me out of the kitchen more than I'm comfortable with.
It's an absolute privilege to win the award and make no mistake, it's changed things here probably forever.
We've seen what being in the top 100 did for the restaurant.
Awards? You don't cook for them, you don't hope for them, you don't expect them, but there's no denying that when you receive an award it helps a lot.
We had a period of about four years of nearly being broke.
The biggest change in our business was when we made the list the first time.
We totally did not expect to be in the list. And I wondered what impact it would have, whether anyone would care here in Melbourne, or not.
And people cared, that's for sure. Man, they came in their droves and we couldn't cope.
The phone was broken down, the website crashed, all manner of problems the staff couldn't handle. We'd never experienced 10,000 people calling.
Surfing and skateboarding are things I've always done, off and on in my life.
Surfing is kind of like an escape. You need some if you're under pressure a lot of the time.
I don't feel pressure from external sources. I feel pressure from myself to always want to make things better.
To escape that kind of constant mindset I have surfing.
Once you have a board it doesn't cost you any money. From my house you can walk to the surf and ride a wave and it's a beautiful, simple interaction with nature. There's something about salt water, about how cleansing it is.
The community at Ocean Grove know me as Ben, a chef who surfs.
There's no celebrity going on and that's what I really like about it.
Music is a huge passion.
I've got a big CD collection, 1500 albums. Music is one of the most important things in my life.
I spend 3 1/2 hours a day commuting and music is the big escape.
I dream a lot through music. I'll listen to songs and conjure up images ... and imagine things.
I have plans to make a feature film about cooking.
It's a longer-term plan, I suppose. I'm working on a project with some friends. It will be unlike any other film you ever saw that a chef made.
The most important role is husband and father, before cooking.
Ruby is three, Ella is six and Kobe is eight.
Kobe had dinner in the restaurant recently. He came in with my parents, Kay and Rob, who were visiting from New Zealand.
Kobe ate about 12 courses, which is very impressive for a young lad. He ate everything - all manner of seafood and vegetables.
Afterwards he said: "That was great, Dad. Your restaurant is awesome, even though it doesn't have a hamburger on the menu."
After watching Kobe play basketball we go and get a traditional hamburger.
I'll have it with the lot, from a truckstop in Geelong. That's a nice thing we share. He knows a thing or two about hamburgers.
