Foodie Paradise

bills (Sydney)
433 Liverpool St Darlinghurst
NSW 2010

Ratings: 7.0/10

Quoting the Financial Times, "Breakfast made Bill Granger famous; specifically, scrambled eggs. Light, rich, and quivering on the plate like jellies of gloss paint, the Australian chef’s eggs have been analysed and eulogised by critics from Sydney to New York to London." Our local "8 Days" magazine had also mentioned that Nicole Kidman had her breakfast there. With such high praises, Nicole Kidman mentions, and delicious-looking cookbooks as shown above, I couldn’t resist a chance to pop by at bills (yes…no capital B here, as Mr. Granger dislikes the look of it) for breakfast when I was in Sydney.

Free range scrambled eggs with wholewheat toast - A$11.80

A cup of flat white

How can I ever resist having coffee during breakfast? I ordered a cup of Flat White. The aromatic cup of coffee had definitely started off my breakfast at bills on a good note.

Communal tables and bright sunlight flooding in through its windows gave the atmosphere at bills a very "breakfast" touch that piqued my mood and appetite for breakfast. Though I found the service and the crowd at bills a tat pretentious, the food at bills is definitely not pretentious.

My first impression of the meal at bills is that the portion of the food is enormous! Used to the usual "Asian size" serving I had in Singapore, I nearly doubted if I can ever finish them. (Well I did actually…) Two thick slabs of wholewheat toast stacked above a generous portion of scrambled eggs were served for a price of A$11.80. For a place that’s well-known for its breakfast, the price for breakfast at bills is definitely reasonable.

Ricotta hotcakes with fresh banana and honeycomb butter - A$16.00
 

Sweet Corn Fritters with Roast Tomato, Spinach, and Bacon - $16.80

Freshness is the key word here in describing the breakfast at bills. Freshness is also one of the key words in my foodie dictionary that dictates how good the food is. As long as the food is fresh, great food can be made out of simple ingredients and equally simple techniques. And it is this freshness in the ingredients used that had made my breakfast at bills memorable. For instance, in its Sweet Corn Fritters, the natural sweetness of the corn can be tasted in every bite, giving the dish an extra wholesome touch. However, an additional note to add is that though the food at bills tastes really fresh, it might tastes a little bland to the taste buds of Singaporeans due to the stronger flavouring of food we tend to have here.

Though it’s the scrambled eggs that have made Bill Granger famous, it’s the Ricotta hotcakes that had left the deepest impression in me. It was the best hotcakes that I’ve tasted. They are sweet, fluffy, and simply delicious. I’ll love to taste them again, if given the chance to fly back to Sydney. The scrambled eggs were great too, except it’s a bit too creamy for my taste, thus I didn’t enjoy it as much as the hotcakes.

Like I mention earlier, the food at bills is totally unpretentious. For a famous joint for breakfast like bills, I guess what attracts its customers to visit it again and again is the rawness in its food - fresh ingredients served simply, a characteristic which I feel is hard to find in the food in Singapore, and also a characteristic I hope to find in Singapore more often.