22 March 2010

Bills, Surry Hills

Bills is somewhat of a breakfast institution in Sydney, and it shames me to admit that, even though I am a born and bred Sydneysider, it was only a few weeks ago that I first visited Bills for brunch. We arrived at 12 so they had already progressed onto their lunch menu, but luckily for me all of Bills classic breakfast dishes were also offered for lunch :)

Sweet corn fritters with roast tomato, spinach and bacon - $18.50

To be honest, no matter how much hype I hear about the scrambled eggs, I simply can not bring myself to pay $13.50 for scrambled eggs and toast (especially when I know the secret ingredient is lots of cream!). Instead, I opt for the sweet corn fritters, which are two lovely crisp patties of pop-in-your-mouth corn held together by an eggy batter. Sandwiched between these tasty fritters are pieces of juicy roasted roma tomatoes, baby spinach leaves and the best bacon I have tasted to date! The bacon wasn't particularly crispy but it just had the most amazing smokey bacony flavour. I don't know what kind of bacon I've been eating in the past but this is what REAL bacon should taste like! Needless to say I ate every last bit of this dish.

Semolina-crusted calamari with lemon, parsely, green beans and fennel - $19.50


Tasha decided to pick something from their lunch menu and chose the semolina-crusted calamari, which was supposed to come with green beans and fennel but it looks like it got replaced with a spinach salad of sorts. Not to worry though, because the calamari was fabulously tender with just the lightest coating of semolina which gave it just that little bit of crunch. It also came with a side of tartare sauce, which imparted a touch of tangy-ness to the dish.

Ricotta hotcakes with fresh banana and honeycomb butter - $17.50

Carol, a girl after my own heart, skipped straight to the sweets and went for the famous ricotta hotcakes. These were gooooood... the hotcakes were nice and thick with blobs of ricotta scattered throughout. Sadly there was no thick wad of honeycomb butter on top of the hotcakes as I've seen in the past but it seemed to have been melted and used as some sort of sauce. Nothing that some good lashings of maple syrup couldn't fix though. It was almost a struggle to finish this because it was so filling but we eventually managed some mouthfuls in between some chatting and laughing over fond memories, and soon, it was all gone!

Bills 
359 Crown Street
Surry Hills NSW 2010
Ph: +61 2 9360 4762


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Bills on Urbanspoon

12 comments:

  1. Mmmm the hotcakes and the fritters are the bomb! I still have to try their wagyu burger haha

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  2. The eggs seem exxy but you have to try them at least once so you know how to re-create them at home :) I love the sweetcorn fritters and the ricotta hotcakes are always good - shame you missed out on the honeycomb butter though. That's the best part!

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  3. I haven't been to Bills either... this post is making me want to go sometime. Just another one to add to the list!

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  4. Bills' corn fritters are still the best I've had anywhere - there's just so much corn compared to batter holding it together and they're incredibly crisp. The ricotta pancakes are excellent as well! Do try the eggs when you get a chance, perhaps with a side of bacon =)

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  5. i've still yet to visit but i really want to try one day :-)

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  6. I went to Bills in 2007, tried the scrambled egg and hotcake... the egg dish was great but maybe I set the expectation too high.. but the hotcake was awesome ! I am thinking about going there to try the corn fritter ( heard lots about how good it is) and hotcake again :D

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  7. I can't see myself to spend that much on scrambled eggs as well! But the corn fritters - totally worth it!

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  8. awww :( i still haven't been to bills looking forward to going soon since karen and I are probably the only ones that have never been :(

    Those hotcakes look soo good and HUGEEE and fluffy.. i dont think i can finish it though :(

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  9. The sweet corn fritters look cool. Most fritters I have seen are mainly flour with a bit of the feature ingredient. These ones appear to be corn stuck together with flour. I have some ricotta in the fridge so I might just have to make myself some hotcakes after seeing the gorgeous ones.

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  10. I've yet to make it to Bills but it's definitely on my radar. I can see myself enjoying the hotcakes and corn fritters with a cup of mocha :)

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  11. I would queue just for that ricotta hotcakes! How good are they!!

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  12. Hi FFichiban - I actually tried their wagyu burger a while back and I didn't think it was anything special... I prefer the Plan B one!

    Hi Helen - Ok, you've convinced me to get the eggs next time!

    Hi Rose - You should definitely try it!

    Hi mademoiselle délicieuse - Hehe I loved how there was so much corn in the corn fritters and minimal batter :) Bacon sounds like the perfect accompaniment to those creamy eggs

    Hi Simon Food Favourites - I'm sure when you do visit I'll be reading all about it on your blog :)

    Hi Bean Sprouts Cafe - Ah well I can't comment on the eggs since I didn't get them but the ricotta hotcakes seem like they're still just as good in 2010!

    Hi Trissa - Haha thank you, you make me feel a lot less stingey for saying that I wouldn't spend $13.50 on scrambled eggs!

    Hi Leona - You never know... they might be so delicious that you'll gobble them all up hehe. I'm sure there's plenty of other people who haven't been to Bills, it's just one of those 'touristy' kind of places that people living in Sydney don't frequent that much

    Hi Mark - Yeah the corn fritters were chock-a-block full of sweet juicy corn =D

    Hi foodwink - I've heard that their hot chocolate is pretty good as well! I was going to get one but it turned out to be a really hot day so I passed =P

    Hi Anh - Luckily I didn't have to queue when I went! But yes I would probably queue to have those hotcakes for brekky as well :)

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