bills, Woollahra

Ricotta hotcakes $16.60
with fresh banana and honeycomb butter

There was only one gustatory must-do when Kelly--sometime foodblogger at The Occasional Epicure--visited Sydney. "Breakfast at bills" was pencilled into both our diaries months ago.

She and RJ brought the rain with them from Brisbane (it's still here!) but at least that meant the breakfast queue on Saturday morning was only 30-minutes in the waiter's notebook. We filled that easily with a meander through the pastry and biscuit displays of Buzzy Bakehouse, a wander past the local butcher (a fast-disappearing thing alas) and a stroll through Wholefoods House.

We were back in twenty minutes as instructed--"just in case", said the waiter--and were seated almost immediately. Our hot chocolates ($4.00) cause a small gasp from Kelly, admiring the polka-dot pattern of Callebaut chocolate buds down the sides of the glass. There was no time for photos, just desperate clutching of the hot milk between our cold palms. We reluctantly stirred, unleashing a chocolate tornado into the pristine whiteness that slowly, eventually dispersed and settled.

RJ is even more excited at the sight of his mocha coffee ($3.50).

This too arrives with a Callebaut curtain, and once stirred through the drink is a deep dark brown in colour. RJ takes a sip and sighs with satisfaction. "I think that's the best mocha I've ever had."

The ricotta hotcakes ($16.60)arrive not longer after. Three plump fluffy hotcakes, stacked up high, arrived on a deep white dish, each shaped in pleasing uneven splodges. The pat of honeycomb butter has slid from its original balcony, now resting at the bottom alongside three chunky spears of banana. We drown the lot in a generous flood of maple syrup.

The hotcakes are soft and spongey, little pockets of ricotta are welcome surprises. It's a huge breakfast really, but then I could always take on a challenge.

RJ is similarly pleased with bills' famous scrambled organic eggs with sourdough ($12.80) and gravlax salmon($5.70). The sourdough is thick but soft in the middle, the eggs are a pale golden yellow, cooked into a gentle ripple of folds like an edible quilt.

"It's the cream. That's the secret", Kelly points out.

RJ just nods and has another mouthful.


bills Woollahra
Queen's Court 118 Queen Street
Woollahra, Sydney

Monday to Friday 7.30am-5.00pm
Saturday and Sunday 8.00am-5.00pm
10% surcharge on weekends and public holidays

Related GrabYourFork posts:
bills Darlinghurst
bills Surry Hills (breakfast)
bills Surry Hills (dinner)
bills Woollahra (Jan 2007)