Top food critics to visit Ben Shewry restaurant after ‘oppressive’ rebuke

It was the awkward dinner where the host has torn shreds off the guests.

Weeks after one of Melbourne’s best-known chefs, Ben Shewry, excoriated food media in his new book, some of the world’s top critics visited his fine dining restaurant as part of a taxpayer-funded tour.

Attica in Ripponlea hosted reviewers from The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy on Tuesday night, part of a tour around the country showcasing Australia’s food scene.

Ben Shewry from Attica receiving an award at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2017 at the Melbourne Exhibition Building in Carlton.Credit: Paul Jeffers

It comes after Shewry called such lists “oppressive” in his memoir, Uses For Obsession.

Tourism Australia organised the itinerary, which was supposed to include Melbourne’s Reine & La Rue, part of Nomad Group, before it was dropped following its owner Alan Yazbek’s arrest for holding a Nazi sign at a pro-Palestinian protest this month.

Instead, the group dined at Attica, just hours after visiting Andrew McConnell’s Gimlet in the CBD.

An Attica dessert, whipped emu egg with quandong.Credit: Colin Page

The purpose of the trip is to showcase some of Australia’s best dining experiences, in the hope of raising their profile among top food media, and potentially pushing them higher up the prestigious World’s 50 Best Restaurants list next year.

The critics were flown to Australia on business class flights, paid for by Tourism Australia. The itinerary was carefully crafted and developed to showcase Australia’s food, drink and produce across Melbourne, Sydney and Hobart, this masthead was told.

There were protests about the decision to include Attica due to Shewry’s recent comments, according to two people with knowledge of the tour not authorised to speak publicly, while one said it served as a wasted opportunity to promote other rising Australian restaurants and chefs.

It is understood Shewry did not invite the group, and they booked on their own. However, he is part of Tourism Australia’s Friends of Australia advocacy program.

A photo posted on Instagram showing food critics and top Australian chefs. Credit: Instagram

The group visited Neil Perry’s Margaret in Sydney’s Double Bay on Monday evening, with other stops including Josh Niland’s Saint Peter in Paddington – the only Australian restaurant included in this year’s 50 Best list.

Perry, Niland and other top chefs Lennox Hastie, Matt Moran and Kylie Kwong posed for a selfie alongside the 50 Best reps and Tourism Australia’s head of global PR, Nicole Foster, which was posted on Niland’s Instagram, and subsequently shared to Tourism Australia’s 5.8 million followers.

Tour attendees include Crystyl Mo, Claudia de Brito, Xanthe Clay and Alex Carlton from The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy, each posting about the meals and interactions with the chefs on their Instagram accounts.

Carlton, the Oceania chair for The World’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy, told this masthead “I am joining the dinner, but I did not design this itinerary”.

Uses for Obsession and Shewry’s promotional tour have caused ructions in the food media, with many privately sharing frustrations over his comments and perceived hypocrisy after years of success off the back of such a system, now saying the global restaurant industry has spent too long in the thrall of food media.

“It is a feckless system, built on hype. There are conflicts of interest everywhere. Experience and insight are almost non-existent,” he wrote in his book.

A photo of Ben Shewry from a Good Weekend piece about keeping restaurants alive during the COVID-19 lockdown.Credit: Kristoffer Paulsen

Melbourne was selected as only the third city ever to host The World’s 50 Best Restaurants awards night in 2017, after London and New York.

Shewry’s Attica was named on the list for the fifth successive year that year, and was Australia’s top-ranked restaurant for six straight years, before dropping off the list in 2019. It has since appeared in the ‘long-list’, but has not cracked the top 50.

Ben Shewry and Dan Hunter from Brae at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in Melbourne in 2017. Credit: Paul Jeffers

Tourism Australia flew event organisers and media to Australia in 2017 to show off the local food and wine scene, resulting in a second restaurant, Victoria’s Brae, being included in the top 50 list. Brae’s Dan Hunter was awarded on the night alongside Shewry in Melbourne.

A criticism of the awards has often been how the system can be gamed, with top venues often going to extreme efforts to woo the media and judges. A spot on the list can change a restaurant’s fortunes overnight.

The New York Times reported that Tourism Australia paid $800,000 to become an official sponsor, and alongside Visit Victoria put on a week’s worth of events, meals and trips for judges, media and chefs who travelled.

Attica hosted both chefs and journalists in 2017, with most meals paid for by Visit Victoria, per the NYT, and came in at number 32 in the world that year.

Tourism Australia managing director Phillipa Harrison told this masthead the department is continuing a campaign to promote Australia’s food and wine offerings to the world and to international media.

“They have had the chance to experience the very best food and wine that we have to offer, meet the people behind our restaurants, wineries and produce and now they will be advocates for Australia’s food and wine.”

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