bills #3

having visited bill grainger's restaurants in darlinghurst and surrey hills, i was delighted - nay, ecstatic - to discover there is a third version in woollahra, paddington. to re-cap my earlier experiences, i adored the darlinghurst place but was less in love with the surrey hills version, so my expectations were tamed a little.

bills woollahra is a beautiful spot, a cool, shaded courtyard away from the heat of the day already brewing at 8 or 9 am. to give you an idea of the area, this is a snippet of overheard conversation between two aus-sloaney women with yappy dogs 'you have to take him to board there - they hand-feed him poached chicken'.

however pampered the dogs, the people are every bit as lucky. i started with a flat white coffee, then submerged myself in corn fritters with bacon and tomato, and a side of avocado chunkily chopped up with spring onions. bert and the murph shared the same, plus a bowl of seasonal fruit. hg had creamy curds of scrambled egg on sourdough toast. i tasted the eggs and speculated out loud how they were made. 'his book uses cream in them' bert said, then added 'if you really want to know why don't you just ask him?' and nodded to the table behind me, where bill grainger himself sat.

bill! in all of his white teeth, man-tan, white-t-shirted glory! the man who put the inverted commas around 'lifestyle' in australia! look at his picturesque kitchen... and family... and wife! actually, melly bo is convinced it's a charade and he protests too much; that he's as gay as he is camp. i digress: how rude of me to gossip. the breakfast was delicious, the star-spotting wasted on someone as shy as me who would never disturb a breakfasting celeb, and the whole morning immortalised.

it didn't escape my attention that bill is doing a book signing in ten days...


links:

bills
http://www.bills.com.au/

another blogger has written about bills, darlinghurst here. i am fascinated by the whole blog and it's rating system.... and also the list of other breakfast blogs:
http://thebreakfastblog.blogspot.com/2005/05/bills-darlinghurst.html

Vegetarian Chopped Liver

Note to self about this great Jewish cook book I have been reading at Verity's. I was excited to finally discover what kreplach and cholent are, and I just adore the writing. I can't say any more now as Bert has just covered the table in cheese, olives, beer, fresh bread... Very Good Times!

'The art of Jewish Cooking' by Jennie Grossinger, Bantam Books, 1958 ISBN 0553205838

Incidentally, other great titles in the Bantam series of this time include: ' Fasting as a way of life', 'Blend it splendid'

are raisins ever welcome in a puttanesca?

to me, the answer is no. and the overwhelming majority of the straw poll i conducted (well, only bert so far) agreed with me.

a puttanesca is so easy and already super-flavourful ... why add raisins? there was also a smattering of toasted pine nuts which i'm not sure a purist would have necessarily added. i got my recipe from anna del conte so i am pretty sure it's a regular version.
well. i just had to get that off my chest.

in other news, bert made the most terrific salads this evening. there was tabbouleh, a fennel dish with lemon and orange zest, and also a salad of spinach, pumpkin and chevre cheese. super, super tasty and fresh. i am still craving fruit and veg after the long flight so this was perfect. there was fresh baguette with a virgin oil to dip into, plus another dish of sesame seeds and spice to dip the oily bread into. hg and i are being thoroughly spoiled here; we are going to have to think of something good to cook for bert and jim this week to say thank you. thinking cap on...

I have just had my second free coffee in two days. If only this were the start of a beautiful trend! Yesterday I benefitted from a latte surplus to requirements, and today I was apparently recognised as a regular who hasn't been seen in a while and this was a ploy to lure me back. Either that or I was being chatted up: I'm not very good at spotting the difference.

There's no reason for me to be impartial so.... Pret: the coffee shop that keeps on giving.