bills, Queen St, Woollahra

bills, Queen St, Woollahra

Saturday 4 August

I don't like over done hype and by that I mean the celebrity chef thing, coupled with a gazillion cook books, TV shows, gourmet produce etc. So, it's for that very reason I have resisted going to bills. Call me crazy but I don't want to go to a place that tries to cross sell (unless it's really fabulous XO sauce by Neil Perry or truffle butter by Tetsuya). What a snob!

Anyway, this morning I sucked it up and drove to Woollahra. I was expecting pretentious and I was pleasantly surprised. bills is located through an archway behind a bookstore on the Queen St entrance and behind Sotherby's on the Moncur St entrance. There's a sun drenched courtyard, known as Queens Court, in the middle and bills spills out into this.

Everyone had suggested I have the ricotta hotcakes. However, this morning I felt like eggs and at least two coffees. So, eggs it was. The great thing about bills menu is there are options, so when ordering eggs you have a selection of accompaniments to pick from e.g. avocado, mushrooms, bacon, roast tomato, gravlax salmon, chicken chipolatas, aged cheddar etc. After ordering our first coffees I ordered scrambled organic eggs with sourdough toast with a side of mushrooms and bacon. My breakfast buddy ordered the sweet corn fritters with spinach, bacon and roast tomato.

Once we had ordered the place started to fill - inside and outside were very busy and we noticed the staff were stretched trying to accommodate everyone. However, the food didn't take too long and the plates were enormous. The eggs looked so delicious and were creamy and very, very good and the bread was just too big. I'm annoyed at places that serve bread that is too hard to eat. This sourdough was so large that I couldn't fit it in my mouth - seriously! I had to cut it through the middle to at least try it and left most of it on my plate. The bacon came served in rolls - I thought this was really cool and they had cooked our bacon to order - which was perfect.

Thanks to the resources available on the net it was pretty easy to locate the recipe for bill's eggs. (Special thanks to Bill Granger for sharing the love).

Scrambled eggs (per person)
2 eggs
1/3 cup (2 fl oz) cream
a pinch of salt
10 g (1/4 oz) butter

Place eggs, cream and salt in a bowl and whisk together.
Melt butter in a non-stick frying pan over high heat, taking care not to burn the butter. Pour in egg mixture and cook for 20 seconds, or until gently set around the edge. Stir the eggs with a wooden spoon, gently bringing the egg mixture on the outside of the pan to the centre. The idea is to fold the eggs rather than to scramble them. Leave to cook for 20 seconds longer and repeat the folding process. When the eggs are just set (remembering that they will continue cooking as they rest), turn out onto a plate and serve with hot toast.

Note: If you are making more than two serves of scrambled eggs, make sure you cook separate batches so as not to crowd the frying pan.

I enjoyed the food (except the bread) but the tables were packed a little too close inside. We could hear (and participate) in the conversations on either side of us. There was a buzzy atmosphere but too tight inside. The other thing I particularly liked was that there was no bill shrine - I was expecting this (unless I missed it altogether?). I could be persuaded to try another bills location.

bills - 118 Queen St, Woollahra - (02) 9328 7997

http://www.bills.com.au/restaurants/woollahra.htm