Bills, in Surry Hills, is one of my favourite places to eat. You always know you're going to get great food at Bills. Owned by celebrity chef Bill Granger, by day it's an amazing cafe, and at night, it moonlights as a great bistro-style restaurant. The waitstaff are friendly and chatty (but not creepy), and never, ever pretentious. The food isn't the most inventive or creative, but it's always made and presented beautifully. And at an average of $25 for a dinner main, it represents great value.
My friend Miss C and I went to Bills last night after an unsuccessful attempt to secure a table (sans reservation, admittedly) at The Winery. Neither of us was drinking (I'm doing FebFast, C had to drive) so sticking around without food wasn't so appealing. We walked up the road to Bills, found a table immediately and got stuck into some mineral water. It was a pretty crazy Friday night.
We ordered a mozzarella and saffron risotto ball each to begin with. I don't know about you, but I've never met a risotto ball I didn't like (except for my own, I can never get the crunchy texture quite right). These were no exception - crunchy on the outside, gooey, creamy risotto inside and chunk of mozzarella smack-bang in the middle. A side of homemade tomato sauce added a kick. Yum. The only question: why did we only order two??
We both ordered the lamb kofta for our main, and neither was disappointed. Three juicy, spicy kofta kebabs served with grilled flatbread, tomato and mint salad and a capsicum-almond relish: delightful. It was such a great example of how Bill cooks. Fresh, locally sourced ingredients served without too much fuss. You know how great dancers make dancing look really easy? Bill makes cooking look really easy, because he's so damned good at it.
Miss C was full to the brim, but I felt I deserved dessert as I wasn't drinking. I ordered the ginger biscuit icecream sandwich with butterscotch sauce...and it was ah-mah-zing. At first, though, I assumed they'd mistakenly given us two servings, as there were two sandwiches on the plate. Not so - two sandwiches is one serving, meant for one person. Personally, I think that's way too big, but if you're really into desserts, you'll enjoy. The ginger biscuits were fabulous: clearly fresh and homemade, and with that great spicy kick of ginger. Yum. Vanilla bean icecream held the biscuits together, and a wildly delicious butterscotch sauce was poured over the top. Pinch me, I'm in dessert heaven.
Bills
359 Crown St, Surry Hills (also Woollahra and Darlinghurst)
www.bills.com.au
+61 2 9360 4762
Showing posts with label the winery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the winery. Show all posts
Thursday, February 11
Sunday, November 29
the winery by gazebo
This summer, so far, I have been invited to The Winery, a new watering hole in Surry Hills, exactly eight times. Given that it's only been open for about two months, this is pretty staggering. I needed to pinpoint the reason for its popularity. So I went to discover The Winery myself.
Marky, Bec and I head to TW on a warm summer's afternoon. Having heard that TW is the place to be and be seen, I decide to wear something cool and trendy. Of course, when I walk in, I see that my efforts will go unnoticed, anyway - everyone here is wearing their Sunday best. Humph.
The Winery is run by the same cool folks who run Elizabeth Bay's Gazebo, famed for ladies' lunches, cool cocktails and a scrummy, on-trend menu. It's located in the recently revamped part of Crown St - approximately the blocks from Foveaux St to Campbell St. There's a new swish grocery store (Thomas Dux), an amazing-looking library (I'm so sad it wasn't there when I lived in Surry Hills) and a whole new host of cafes and restaurants. The Winery, tucked behind the sandstone gates next to Thomas Dux, is just another part of the ongoing gentrification of Surry.
I arrive early, order a glass of Riparian Pinot Gris (at $8, it's the cheapest on the menu) and start reading at an outside table. I quickly discover that this is one of my favourite pastimes - drinking wine in a bar, reading my book. I consider the discovery as consequential to my world as that of, say, penicillin, to the rest of the world.
When the ladies arrive, we order a jug of Pimm's & Sangria - at $15, we decide it's the cheapest way to drink here. It's also delicious, a bonus. We're all hungry, so we order from the option-heavy menu. There's a selection of share plates (I love sharing food, but we decide that we're all so starved that, as much as we like each other, we need our own meals right now), mains, cheeses, sides and desserts. I've heard that the veal and chorizo sausage roll with pear chutney is actually better than a Bourke St Bakery snag roll (and, I suppose, at $18, it should be), so I order it. Bec goes for the crispy squid, mint, coriander and chilled cucumber salad, which is heavy on the squid and utterly more-ish. Marky acts the ploughman and orders the ciabatta and dip board, which comes with olives, parma ham and a generous chunk of cheddar.
My sausage roll is: a) huge (probably about 25cm long); b) delicious; and c) fairly high on the artery-hardening scale, I'd say. I admit I was reticent to indulge in a sausage roll without the requisite tomato sauce to accompany, but I'm happy to say that TW's pear chutney did the job nicely. If only there was more of it. Bec and Marky report happily that their meals are going down a treat, and to celebrate, we order another jug of Pimms & Sangria.
Bec has spied a dessert that takes her fancy (marscapone and golden peach trifle with flaked almonds), and, ever a sucker for chocolate, I'm keen to try the chocolate brownie with icecream, fairy floss and hot fudge sauce. Sadly for our gluttinous appetites, neither is available. Sure, it's busy at TW, but at 5pm on a Sunday arvo, should you really be telling customers you're out of food? Especially when you're right next door to a grocery store, no?
Anyway, I had fun at TW. It's full of beautiful people, but if you can stomach that, you'll have a good time there. I can't wait to go back to try the Girls' Picnic (only on Saturdays).
The Winery by Gazebo
285A Crown St
www.thegazebos.com.au/winery/
+61 2 9331 0833
Marky, Bec and I head to TW on a warm summer's afternoon. Having heard that TW is the place to be and be seen, I decide to wear something cool and trendy. Of course, when I walk in, I see that my efforts will go unnoticed, anyway - everyone here is wearing their Sunday best. Humph.
The Winery is run by the same cool folks who run Elizabeth Bay's Gazebo, famed for ladies' lunches, cool cocktails and a scrummy, on-trend menu. It's located in the recently revamped part of Crown St - approximately the blocks from Foveaux St to Campbell St. There's a new swish grocery store (Thomas Dux), an amazing-looking library (I'm so sad it wasn't there when I lived in Surry Hills) and a whole new host of cafes and restaurants. The Winery, tucked behind the sandstone gates next to Thomas Dux, is just another part of the ongoing gentrification of Surry.
I arrive early, order a glass of Riparian Pinot Gris (at $8, it's the cheapest on the menu) and start reading at an outside table. I quickly discover that this is one of my favourite pastimes - drinking wine in a bar, reading my book. I consider the discovery as consequential to my world as that of, say, penicillin, to the rest of the world.
When the ladies arrive, we order a jug of Pimm's & Sangria - at $15, we decide it's the cheapest way to drink here. It's also delicious, a bonus. We're all hungry, so we order from the option-heavy menu. There's a selection of share plates (I love sharing food, but we decide that we're all so starved that, as much as we like each other, we need our own meals right now), mains, cheeses, sides and desserts. I've heard that the veal and chorizo sausage roll with pear chutney is actually better than a Bourke St Bakery snag roll (and, I suppose, at $18, it should be), so I order it. Bec goes for the crispy squid, mint, coriander and chilled cucumber salad, which is heavy on the squid and utterly more-ish. Marky acts the ploughman and orders the ciabatta and dip board, which comes with olives, parma ham and a generous chunk of cheddar.
My sausage roll is: a) huge (probably about 25cm long); b) delicious; and c) fairly high on the artery-hardening scale, I'd say. I admit I was reticent to indulge in a sausage roll without the requisite tomato sauce to accompany, but I'm happy to say that TW's pear chutney did the job nicely. If only there was more of it. Bec and Marky report happily that their meals are going down a treat, and to celebrate, we order another jug of Pimms & Sangria.
Bec has spied a dessert that takes her fancy (marscapone and golden peach trifle with flaked almonds), and, ever a sucker for chocolate, I'm keen to try the chocolate brownie with icecream, fairy floss and hot fudge sauce. Sadly for our gluttinous appetites, neither is available. Sure, it's busy at TW, but at 5pm on a Sunday arvo, should you really be telling customers you're out of food? Especially when you're right next door to a grocery store, no?
Anyway, I had fun at TW. It's full of beautiful people, but if you can stomach that, you'll have a good time there. I can't wait to go back to try the Girls' Picnic (only on Saturdays).
The Winery by Gazebo
285A Crown St
www.thegazebos.com.au/winery/
+61 2 9331 0833
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