Bill Granger's Restaurant

Baba's thought for today.

"Whatever acts, a good or bad man may do
the fruits thereof follow him and will never stop
pursuing him."

We are all responsible for our actions - be they good or bad. The law of Karma (the effect of action and reaction) is something that we cannot escape from. When good things happen to us, we say it is good luck or attribute it to one's ability or resources. But when the unexpected bad things happen we try to blame everyone, everything, anything but ourselves!! It is prudent then that one reflects carefully before one says anything or do something. This is my reflection for today.

The fame of Bill Granger's talent of preparing simple food into something tasty and well presented has led to more cafes being opened since the first one in Darlinghurst, Sydney in 1993. On a cold and wet Saturday morning Sin directed the cab driver to Bill's Restaurant, a quaint looking cafe located in the corner perched on a slope!!

The setting here is relaxed and informal and diners may even choose to eat fuss free from a communal table. (See picture) There are comfortable corners for reading and customers have free access to the numerous magazines and books. It feels like home to be inside, so much so that I was immediatley attracted to the centrepiece of the communal table; a large bowl of attractive red pomegranates. I noticed a little girl on the next table eating this fruit and so I decided to help myself to one of them too after I had finished breakfast. Shortly after this , the nice waiter came by the table and asked whether I had wanted one of the fruits. When I replied in the affirmative, he added that the fruits were for display only. Imagine my embarrassment! I apologised and requested that it can be put into our bill. It was a pleasant surprise when Sin settled the bill as this item was not charged! Was it done out of courtesy or maybe they did not know what to do. But we were happy!

We were fortunate that we did not have to wait for a table as the place became crowded just when we were about to leave. We started off with a drink called 'Sunshine', a smoothie of yoghurt, orange juice, strawberries and bananas. The couple next to us had champagne but for us, Asians this seem somewhat strange. They were celebrating their anniversary and I guess they just wanted a head-start to the day!

We had the chef's speciality of scrambled eggs with rye-toast and we added a side order of smoked salmon. The other order was hot cakes and bananas served with flavoured butter and honey. Well, as I am not a food connoisseur, I ate the food slowly to savour everything, not only because it was expensive but also to try to determine what secret ingredient had been added to the dish. It was fabulous, well worth the effort of getting up early and braving the unfriendly weather!

So on your next visit to Sydney do head for bills (note that there's bills2 too!).