Restaurant: Bills
What is a celebrity chef? Logic would suggest a chef with celebrity status, while Wikipedia defines it as “someone who has become well-known for his or her cooking”. In this case, the latter is a more apt description; Bill Granger is certainly a well-known commodity in the cooking world, but it is as a cook, not a chef, that he has built his fame. An art student from Melbourne, who went on to wait tables in Sydney, Granger has carved his career from interest rather than credentials. This difference lends him much of his appeal – his recipes are approachable, pared back and simple to recreate.
Granger’s cooking is about the home and cooking for life no matter what stage you are at: whether it be cooking for a gaggle of children, your loved one, or a sophisticated dinner party. By taking his cooking into family kitchens he hopes to encourage healthy food by teaching simple, tasty techniques.
Interestingly (but perhaps unsurprising given the homemaking patterns of the last century) it is the female cooks he looks to most for inspiration and ideas. Granger believes that the culture of food and its history is inextricably linked to the family home. These stories are traditionally weaved by the matriarchs and passed on by female writers. It is these stories and recipes that feed Granger’s hunger for new, exciting recipes that translate well into the home.
Granger has extended his talent well beyond the kitchen bench. His three self-titled Sydney restaurants are among Sydney’s favourite dining locations – drawing regulars and visitors alike. He is also a regular contributor to Sydney’s weekly food and wine bible, Good Living, in addition to his columns in Delicious magazine and a handful of international titles. His cookbooks have enjoyed huge success, with four books to his name and a fifth due out in late 2006.
Turning his hand to television, he is now a regular fixture on the LifeStyle channel – his big smile and chef’s whites (where jeans and t-shirts rule over chef’s jackets and toques) beamed to an international audience in 22 different countries.
Libby Travers, September 2006
