Bills - Surry Hills

Everyone knows of Bill Granger - he is renowned for his scrambled eggs which Nicole Kidman flocks to whenever she is in Sydney. New York Times once said Bill is "the egg master of Sydney" and i guess you can only have that acclamation for one reason.

I walk past bills all the time when i visit surry hills and each time i tell whoever would listen, that i need to try it one day. That day came when my sister's friend watched a Japanese show featuring Bill Granger. Bill is well known in Japan as he has several restaurants in and around Tokyo and as such he was showing how his eggs were made on the tv show. She suggested a trip to nearby surry hills for breakfast at bills to try out the real thing and off we went on a busy saturday morning.



You would've thought that because bills in surry hills has been opened since 1996 that people would be sick of it already but no, we were squashed amongst an eager crowd of anxious breakfast goers waiting for a table. These eggs must be good!



My sister ordered the sunrise drink which was a concoction of orange juice, banana, yoghurt and berries. Nothing beats a refreshing kick start to the morning.


sunrise drink $5

I opted for the hot chocolate which did not disappoint! It was served with melted callebaut choc chips adhered to the side of the cup. It was fun having to scrape off the chocolates and making sure i got every little bit off the side. As it was extremely rich i probably shouldn't have ordered it to accompany my very full-bodied eggs.


bills hot chocolate made with callebaut $4.50


scrambled eggs with sourdough toast $13.50, extra: cured ocean trout $5.70

The eggs arrived at the table. My initial thoughts were that the eggs seemed very whipped and paler in appearance, not the usual scrambled eggs. Per Bill Granger's recipe it says the secret is not to over stir and treating it as folded eggs rather than scrambled.

The fluffy light and luscious eggs seem to glide in your mouth. It was definitely not overdone as it was still a little runny. A few arteries must've been blocked as the overpowering taste of butter and cream becomes too much after half a plate but happiness swept over me as i devoured the dish.

Sometimes its the simple things which are deceivingly good.


full aussie breakfast, scrambled eggs, sourdough toast, bacon, roast tomato, chipolatas and mushrooms $24.50

Bills
359 Crown Street
Surry Hills
Tel - 02 9360 4762
www.bills.com.au

Danks St Depot

I've been meaning to go to Danks St Depot ever since i had my birthday dinner last year at Jared Ingersoll's other restaurant, Cotton Duck. Dank St Depot has such a following and after 9 years of operation it is still thriving.

We purchased the spreets voucher $29 for a breakfast for two and shocked (but not surprised) that so many people also brought this voucher. I booked the morning straight after the release of the deal and managed to secure a saturday morning breakfast reservation.

Dank St Depot is situated across the road from The French House (which i promised myself i will visit one day!) in Waterloo in an unflattering grey warehouse. As soon as you enter however, it is anything but dull. Light streaming from outside illuminated a rectangular room lined with wooden furniture bustling with patrons. With the kitchen at one end and the bar at the other, we were seated near the front door to witness all the breakfast goers pour in.

The $29 deal included coffee/tea, entree of roasted pears and any two egg dishes from the menu.


$29 breakfast for 2 including coffee or tea

The pears arrived and looked more like roasted potatoes with fetta, but was in fact roasted pears with labneh (a soft cheese made form yoghurt) drizzled with honey and sprinkled with walnuts. The pears were amazingly soft and sweet with honey. The labneh was much needed to cut through the sweetness and married beautifully with crunchy walnuts to finish it off.


A platter of roasted corella pears, labneh, roasted walnuts and local honey

I was a bit disappointed with the coffee though. My mocha was overly bitter even with chocolate, so i'd hate to have ordered a latte.


Mocha

We had a choice of any egg dishes on the menu. All the eggs are made with Cornucopia Farm’s biodynamic eggs from the Hunter Valley hence i was eager to quickly order and dig my fork into some gooey egg.

What caught my eye was the creamed eggs with truffle. Thinking about the bottle of truffle olive oil i purchased from Hunter Valley last time, i had to try it out and see if it was any good (so i can replicate it at home!).

The eggs were creamy and slightly runny which i didnt mind. Probably due to the copious amounts of cream and butter in it! The gigantic mushroom was nicely roasted -dry around the edges but with juicy centres. The sourdough was good albeit a little tough, maybe a bit more butter required?! haha.


Creamed eggs with truffle oil - two eggs cooked with cream and butter, served soft with chopped chives, truffle oil, roasted field mushrooms, herbed tomato and sourdough toast


Poached eggs with hash - two eggs, served with herbed tomato, sourdough toast and your choice of bacon hash or silver beet hash

Dank St Depot
2 Danks St
Waterloo Sydney
Tel - 02 9698 2201
www.danksstreetdepot.com.au