Image: Attica

Australian cuisine is experiencing a renaissance like no other. The past decade has seen the
land down under seriously up its game when it comes to haute-cuisine and culinary
inventiveness, and fans of luxury and fine dining have plenty to celebrate.
At the top of the tree of fine dining experiences sits the tasting menu. Chefs all across
Australia have been competing to release the most exciting tasting menus – which give them
the chance to show off a wide range of culinary skills, and their most tempting ingredients –
and the results, to say the least, have been phenomenal. This week, we’re straightening our
napkins, and sitting down at the table to unveil the three most sought-after tasting menus in
the Antipodes. Make your bookings quick, though; these dining encounters are usually fully
reserved for months in advance!

 
Attica, Melbourne
What is there to say about Attica which hasn’t already been said? Melbourne’s premier fine
dining hub has caused waves of excitement since opening, and every year it continues to
gather steam as a powerhouse of flavour and sensory journeys into the country’s finest
ingredients.
Attica’s tasting menu comes in at $220 per person, and features some inventively named
dishes (we especially like ‘Pests of the Neighbourhood’, ‘All Parts of the Pumpkin’, and
‘Whipped Emu Egg with Quandong’), promising to take you to new heights of tantalising
taste-bud teasing. Voted several times as Australia’s best restaurant, waiting times are
currently between three and four months. Believe us, it’s more than worth it.

Brae, Birregurra
Being on the site of an organic farm is never a bad thing for a fine dining restaurant; it means
that guests get to enjoy the ingredients exactly as nature intended, bursting with freshness
and flavour. Brae makes great use of their products, and serves up variations on kale,
boysenberry, purple sprouting broccoli, radicchio, and much more besides. The meat also
comes from local producers and game hunters, meaning you’ll always have the chance to
experience incredible ingredients handled with care and expertise. The tasting menu costs
$210, and for a further $130, you can have a specially selected wine flight included, which
boasts the very best of the region’s top quality vino.

 
Vue de Monde, Melbourne
New twists on classical fine dining aren’t particularly unusual nowadays, with luxury
restaurants from Perth to Sydney offering something which could be described as such. Vue
du Monde, however, has perfected this art quite unlike any other eatery. The chef’s tasting
menu, which again costs $220, shows a level of culinary flair and gastronomic genius which
places it among the world’s best restaurants, and diners are taken on a journey through the
classics and into the future. Rusty wire oysters served with paperback smoked asparagus
and seaweed, striploin in buttermilk, tender kangaroo, mud crab… it’s a cornucopia of top
quality ingredients, handled with the utmost respect and admiration. The tasting menu to end
all others? At least for now…