Sunday, November 04, 2007

Bills, Darlinghurst, Sydney


Back in February this year, I paid my first visit to one of Bill Granger's Sydney restaurants. It was Bill's in Surry Hills. My meal there was terrible, I couldn't have been more disappointed, hence my scathing review.
For some reason though, on a more recent visit to Sydney, I felt compelled to try another of Bill's restaurant's, this time the Darlinghurst version- just to see if it was all really that bad. Now, even though I had read Mellie's Review of Darlinghurst, I thought I'd pay a visit anyway.
I arrived at Bills at about 10am on a Thursday morning and was suprised to find that the place was almost empty, apart from two other tables of people. Score!
The cheerful waiteress greeted me at the door and told me that I could sit wherever I liked. I sat next to a nice big window, which had a leafy view out onto the Darlinghurst Street.
This time 'round I ordered the Ricotta Hotcakes with Banana and Honeycomb butter and a breakfast juice.
Since I was here solo on this occassion, one of the waiters were kind enough to point me towards their magazine collection for something to read, instead of blankly staring out the window.
My after about 5 minutes, my Hotcakes arrived and amazingly this time around they were infact, hot! The hot cakes were delicious. They were just light enough, with the perfect ratio of chocolate/honeycomb to butter. Being that the restaurant was so quiet, it was a relief that they got my breakfast right. I can see now why Bill's is famous for his hotcakes.
The service this time around was fast and friendly and the food was spot on.
I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it, but 2 days after my visit to Bill's Darlinghurst, I also visited Bill's in Woolhara. Woolhara is very different to the others. This version is set up in a courtyard of a small shopping mall on the main shopping strip and a majority of the tables are outside.
I'd suggest if you're after the real and original Bills vibe, go for the Darlinghurst option - definately the best of the three.

4 comments:

Cindy said...

Hey Adski, great to see you back! And great to know that you got to try Bill's hotcakes in all their glory this time... shame they can't seem to maintain that standard when they're busy.

Anna said...

Bills at Darlinghurst is on my "to-eat-at" list for my wonderful weekend in Sydney that I'm going to do eventually (probably to celebrate when I quit the 2nd job). Garfish at Kirribilli is also on there.

Glad you finally had a great experience. Shame it can't be replicated at the other Bills's's's.

Adski said...

hey, thanks cindy, good to be back!
Anna, if you like Thai food, give Papaya in Cremorne a try. It's the best Thai I've had. When I was there, I went 3 times!

Anonymous said...

We went to Bills Darlinghurst for breakfast last time we were in Sydney and it was really good (I had the sweetcorn fritters with bacon). It was much quieter and not quite as good when we went back for dinner a couple of evenings later - breakfast must be the thing to do!