Attica - Ripponlea

Name: Attica

Address: 74 Glen Eira Rd
Ripponlea 3185 VIC
Phone: (03) 9530 0111

Food: ModOz,
Average price: Entree: $20-$30, Mains: $30-$45, Dessert: $18
Degustation menu: 6 courses, $75, 8 courses: $130, $215 matched beverage

Complimentary: Bread with eggplant, tomato relish, olives, almonds & butter


The bread was really lovely and fresh and the relish was lovely - salty, sweet and bitter.

Salted cod in grapeseed oil with watercress, nettle puree


This was light, fresh with saltiness and a hint of sweet bitterness.

We ordered:

Fresh trout with smoked trout broth, pork crackling and basil seeds, with fresh hickory smoke - $23


This dish has been talked about in almost every blog and review so I shall keep it short - Ryan enjoyed it, however, he said he would have liked the pork crackling more had it not been soggy.

A simple dish of potato cooked in the earth it was grown - $20


The potato was tender, creamy and went well with the sour sauce (fromage blanc?), salty shaved trot, and crispy saltbush leaves which still allowed the potato to shine through. It was a little on the small side though.

Lamb shoulder brik with mint manuka honey, lamb spice with Jerusalem artichoke puree - $38


Ryan said the shoulder was tender and flaky, the sliced lamb on the other hand was a little cold. He loved the minted honey with the Moroccan spiced brik. There were also fried Jerusalem artichoke skins which he liked as well as baby leeks. He felt like there were two separate dishes on the one plate which he didn't like.

Heirloom tomatoes in a Moroccan crust, celery sticks, apple disks, smoky tomato, celeriac puree, leaves - $30


The crust was loaded with black pepper, it made me cough and my eyes water so I had to scrape it off. The tomatoes were mushy and overwhelmed the subtle celeriac, walnuts, apple and celery, only the smoky tomato jam managed to come through. It left me hungry.

Terroir -$18


This was a combination of fromage frais, beetroot and almond cake, berries, brewing malt, flowers, white pepper, golden kiwifruit, vanilla avocado jelly, & sorrel granita.

Each mouthful interchanged between pleasure and somewhat yukky tastes. The first taste reminded me of eating moist earth - not pleasant. Then the sharp, tangy berries came in as well as the sweet fruit and it became lovely but overall this didn't really do anything for me, hubby liked it a little more though.

Violet crumble - $18


Both of us liked this, hubby adored it. I wish the violet fromage frais had been a violet ice cream as I was hoping for something creamy to go with the honeycomb, chocolate dust and caramel, not something with a lemony tang. It was nice overall, but I would have loved creamy over tangy/icy.

Cost: $147 - 2 entrees, 2 mains, 2 desserts.

Service: OK. There was a bit of a mix up, I originally called to book on a Saturday for a degustation (one vegetarian) but they wanted a credit card and we were in the process of cancelling ours (overseas fraud situation) so I said we'd go on the Friday instead. Upon arriving we are informed that they only do vegetarian degustation a Saturday night, so my husband was a little disappointed. There was quite a long wait in between the entree and main meals.

Atmosphere: Mellow. The lighting is definitely dark, towards the end of the evening it began to make us tired as the restaurant is also decorated in dark, woody hues. The noise level isn't to loud and the tables are spaced apart. It has a stylish casual feel. The only downside was that I could see straight into a washing room, so I spent most of the evening watching a waitress unload a dishwasher and polish cutlery etc, which just reminded me of the housework I left behind at home.
Parking: Ample - the main street doesn't get much traffic after hours (we went at 8:30).

Website: http://www.attica.com.au/

Hours: Tues-Sat: 6pm til late

Would I return: Yes. Hubby wants to give it another try.