Aus: reprise

I am one lucky Roy. After a long and lovely holiday in Australia, and after having completed the hat trick of visiting all three of Bill Granger’s restaurants, I found myself only a week after my return being retreated to a repeat delight.

Tipped off by melly bo, the gent had secured us two tickets… actually, scrap that, maybe it would be best to walk you through this? Yes, I think so.

So please imagine you are unbreakfasted, tripping through the streets of Marylebone early on a Sunday morning; the kind of spring morning that causes deep excitement and hope, even without certain good times ahead of you.

Your gentleman friend leads you to La Fromagerie, where you and around 20 other folk squeeze around tables, are served coffee, juice, and a pumpkin cinnamon muffin… and in walks bill granger. To give you a cooking demonstration. And chat about his culinary begninnings, powdered gravy and ‘owning the morning’.

Obviously it doesn’t get much better, but here is what we ate:

Coffee, juice

Pumpkin cinnamon muffin

Banana bread

Strawberry and rhubarb crisp with yoghurt

Ham and egg Alsatian tart (the very best thing of the morning)

Bill-dressed salad (salad sourced from only 3 miles away) with fromagerie cheese

prosecco

I got to bashfully raise a hand as someone who had been to bills recently, AND he signed my book. AND he likes my name! Although that could be a book signing thing to say when you have nothing else to say, as Stephen Fry said that too.

I was on swinging on a cloud after all that so can't recall the name of the delicate pyramidal cheese the gent chose, and which we ate later with oat cakes.

Things to look up:

Bill liked a restaurant called Petersons (sp?) - run by a chap or chapess by the name of ‘sky’ or somesuch.

All the Bill Granger books I haven't read yet.

The oils / vinegars mentioned by the fearsome fromagerie lady, and which Bill used to dress the salad.

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