With emu feathers and quandong seeds on the table, meat pies and avo on toast on the menu and an international cast of staff, Attica is an evocation of Australia that seems increasingly pitched at visitors to our shores. That’s what a listing in the zeitgeisty World’s 50 Best Restaurants will do — and it’s never been harder to get a booking.

But Ben Shewry remains one of our finest chefs. An increasingly innovative champion of native ingredients, his sense of playfulness never overrides his quest for deliciousness. After an opening procession of hand-eaten bites (corn custard and pippies, fresh cheese and honey among the many), highlights include a theatrical multi-elemental pumpkin dish that’s as technically stunning as it is excitingly inventive, and cured kangaroo and bunya nuts with vermouth-steeped kimchi that hat-tips the trends while still forging its own path. There might be emu served in its egg and a whole forest of nuts and seeds (and that meat pie’s a cracker) throughout the three-plus hours that pass with ease.

While the room that’s showing subtle signs of age can slightly dim the lustre of the $250-a-head menu, and service can rely too heavily on rote recitation (and, wow, that wine list’s expensive), Attica is a leading light, celebrating Australia — and, rightfully, celebrated — on the world stage.

Must eat dish: all of the pumpkin