Bill Granger Interview

Bill, Madonna, Cher. Yep Bill – that is Bill Granger – is know by a single moniker. I spoke to Bill on a cold Autumn morning where he had just stepped off a plane from London – something that would resoundingly reduce most of humankind to something akin to zombies. However Bill greets me with a sunny “Hello! It’s Bill Granger!” as if crossing multiple time zones doesn’t affect him at all. He laughs easily and is enthusiastic and chatty, an interviewer’s dream in fact. This is what he had to say.

NQN:  Your father was a butcher and your mother was a vegetarian. That must have made for some interesting dinner table debates!
Bill: (laughs) The strange thing was, we never really used to sit down and have meals the way we were brought up. We’d always eat separately and dad would always come home late and eat separately with mum so food was never a huge part of our family considering that it was our business as dad was a butcher.

NQN: I would have thought the opposite considering you have such a focus on family (and a lovely family at that).
Bill: You know I think that’s why I do it. I think it’s that thing of I didn’t have it enough. Dinner is such an important time to sit and relax and talk about your day. Especially when everyone has such disparate days with school and working, those moments of shared experience are great.

NQN:  Wait til they get to uni!
Bill: I know! I think one’s going to be a vegetarian. I know that’s going to happen just to annoy dad I’m sure (laughs). My wife was vegetarian until she met me and then she turned.

NQN: You’re originally from Melbourne but I always associate you with Sydney.
Bill: Everyone just thinks of me as so quintessentially Sydney but I’m actually from Melbourne. I was brought up down near Mentone then we moved  out to a place called Berwick which is near where Kath & Kim do the series. That was my first job – at Kmart Fountaingate!

NQN: What prompted you to move from Melbourne to Sydney?
Bill: I was studying architecture at RMIT and just didn’t like it and friends were coming up to Sydney and I’d never been and I fell in love with it. I think it was September and I think Melbourne at the time was cold and wintry and Sydney had one of those perfectly beautiful Spring weekends and I was seduced by the city. Sydney is an incredibly seductive city. Physically it’s very beautiful. So I moved and applied for some art schools and just moved up.

NQN:  How did you switch from art to food?
Bill: When I was at my second year of uni I needed some money to pay my way and there was a restaurant across the road from uni and I applied for a job as a waiter. I became friends with the owner and I cooked for her and she really like the way I cooked so she invited me to cook in the kitchen and it started from there.

The famous Ricotta Hotcakes

NQN: When and where did you learn to cook?

Bill: I used to cook all the time from the Womens Weekly cookbooks and recipe cards that were in the box right next to the stove. Then Margaret Fulton but then as I got older I got into more  sophisticated books like Elizabeth David. When I was 19 I always read them and just became a good home cook which is what I am now. Just a good home cook.

NQN: Which is why your books are so popular, because we are all home cooks.
Bill: I never overestimate what you might know as a home cook. When a friend of mine invited me to her house, her sister was a professional chef and she cooked for us and we had a tuna steak with olives and beans  and she stacked them  up on top of each other and I remember I was blown away at how professional it was.

NQN: Were you 22 when you set up the Bills in Darlinghurst?
Bill: Yes 22 or 23. I turned  23 in September and we opened in late September, early October.

NQN: Was that daunting?

Bill: Dad and my grandad always had the butcher shops so the idea of having a shop wasn’t so daunting. I wouldn’t use the word daunting, it was more of a challenge. I had no idea how to run a business and it’s still not what I’m best at. I’m very good on the creative  stuff. I’m very lucky as I had dad who used to do all the bookwork. I just sent it to him in a postbox and my mum was living here in Sydney and she used to help out so it was very much a family business and still is. Not unlike my dad’s butcher shop, just a bit more glamorous a family business.

NQN: Does he still have a butcher shop?
Bill: No, he got out of it in the late 70s. He became more of a wholesaler as supermarkets starting selling meat and the idea all changed. The idea of a suburban butcher shop, it’s changed. Smaller greengrocers and butchers were starting to disappear.

NQN: I think it’s coming back now, what do you think?
Bill: It is, especially the premium thing. That’s the way I like to shop. I like to support small businesses anyway because I have one when you can  and when you can afford it to go to the smaller guys.

The famous scrambled eggs plus trimmings

NQN: What do you think set Bills apart from other cafes? Aside from the ricotta hot cakes and the eggs. There are so many cafes meander along or close so why do you think it struck such a  chord? You’ve got 3 here…

Bill: Yes and 1 in Japan! I worked very hard at it – it wasn’t perfect but I tried to get it as good as I possibly could. It’s getting old now, the original Bills is getting onto 17 years. I think it’s a bit of luck but a lot of hard work. Consistency is very important. Sydney is a city that likes things to be new –the latest and greatest. I think if you can get through a certain mount of time like 6-7 years it’s ok. I’ve worked very hard at it, even for the last 6 months I’ve been working in the restaurant  to see what we can do with them and I think the media helps with letting people know about them or reminding them about them. We had Nicole Kidman on the Oprah Winfrey show about 2 months ago saying how Bills was her favourite breakfast place in Sydney. It is amazing that it’s such an old business. In the UK or New York the old restaurants are the favourites like The Ivy  or the Four Seasons. They like the fact that Bills is there and it’s still the same. There’s something reassuring about that.

NQN: I think for something such a breakfast where you have a following, people want the comfort  and routine.
Bill: Yes you don’t want too much challenge at breakfast!

Bills Japan

NQN: How is the place in Japan going?
Bill: Fantastic, we’re opening up another one this year or next year. Japan is such an incredible place to be and to be working. The food is extraordinary. It’s mind bogglingly wonderful.

NQN: Why Japan?
Bill: Through a friend of mine Hide Nakata who is a soccer player, he’s like Japan’s David Beckham and another friend who is Tyler Brûlé who started a magazine called Wallpaper and now one called Monacle. So with mutual friends and the company we work with which is a cool young restaurant group called Transit partners (who run the café for Gucci) and it all just worked. I love Japan. I spent time there when I was 19 and loved it, the look of it, the way they present thing and food is such an important part of the culture like the French or Italian which I just love.

Bill’s Japan, photo from the Sydney Morning Herald

NQN: Have you tailored your menu to Japanese tastes?
Bill: No not at all, portions are slightly smaller – not hugely – but slightly smaller. But no it’s the same. You sit there outside Tokyo and overlook the beach and the water on a Sunday morning and then you’d have what you’d have on the other side of the world in Woollahra or Darlinghurst.

NQN: They don’t really have a breakfast culture in Japan…
Bill: No not at all. When I think of it Sydney, didn’t either really apart from Coluzzi (Bar), Mamma Maria or Tropicana and it’s hard to believe that people didn’t eat breakfast out 17 years ago. London now is getting a breakfast culture which is amazing because I think breakfast is a fun thing but it’s also a simple thing, once you’re addicted to coffee it’s nice to sit down and have one. I can’t start my day without a proper coffee.

NQN: Have you got any plans to open in London?
Bill: I’d love to. I got of the plane from London this morning. That’s the next dream. We’re been tentatively looking at things in the last few months. I just love the food scene there. It’s very exciting.

NQN: What’s happening there in the food scene?
Bill: You can eat better in London than any city in the world I think. I just did an event with Skye Gyngell, out at Petersham nurseries and another one with Mark Hix who is the ex chef of the Ivy and the Caprice Group and he’s got a great restaurant called Mark Hix down in Dorset and one in town. The produce they’re getting through now is incredible with the springtime cheese from Devon and other cheeses. You can taste an amazing pasture in the milk.

NQN: Would you be tempted to change the menu to take advantage of all of this fantastic produce?
Bill: Absolutely. It’s a matter of feeling different ingredients. When I’m in Kamakura, in Japan they are  famous for their vegetables in the local markets so I always use a lot of those. We make our own ricotta in Japan. We just can’t get the quantity that we need and it all comes from Italy so we thought let’s just make it and it’s fantastic. I’d love to make it here (in Sydney) but we just don’t have the space in the kitchen. We’d like to, in the future, have a central place to make all of our cheese and make our own butter and have a little bakery. Restaurants are very much like theme parks for grown ups. You really have to offer the whole experience.

NQN: Do you eat out a lot?
Bill: Yes, yes I love  it. I just spent 2 weeks in the UK and I feel like I should come back and eat grilled fish for a week (laughs)! I like simple places, I’m not so much a formal diner because we tend to go out with the children now that they’re older. Neil Perry’s new restaurant was great – we ate steak there. I eat simply when we eat out, a simple grill and a salad. We eat out Thai a lot and Japanese is probably what we eat out the most. We eat at Shimbashi Soba in Neutral Bay about three times a week as it’s one of the best quality Japanese in Sydney.

NQN: Do you spend time a lot of time in Sydney?
Bill: Yes I’m based in Sydney and the kids go to school so I’m always home. I do travel but our office is just under one of the restaurants so I’m at the restaurant most days I am in Sydney.

NQN: Do you still cook in the restaurants?
Bill: No I manage them. When I started cooking there it was by accident, I never expected to do it. I had a lot of interest in the menu and what I wanted on it but we got so busy I started cooking professionally. Now I set the menus and train the people.

NQN: You’ve got the tv show, books and restaurants. Which is your favourite?
Bill: Restaurant, still. I love nothing more than seeing people being really happy with food and getting really excited and having a nice coffee. I like making customers happy. Food is an amazing way to communicate with people.

Bill’s Portugeuse custard tarts-a neverfail recipe

NQN: It’s a silly thing to say but I appreciate that your recipes always turn out.
Bill: No not silly at all! I really try very hard to do that. If you go to the trouble at the very basic level of buying things and spend all that money and it doesn’t work out, it’s a really bad thing to do to people. I find that when people are using the recipe it’s for an occasion and having people over so I make sure they all work. Some recipes are so simple I think “I shouldn’t have put that in” but I’ll find it’s the one recipe I get so much feedback from.

NQN: Which recipe from your new book Feed Me Now are you most proud of?
Bill: Oh it’s like picking my favourite child…the chocolate cake is a pretty knockout one, I love tipping it out and you get this great oozy chocolate icing on top and I love the beef pie which I did on Richard Glover’s show and that was the biggest thing they’d ever had on their website! Rather than browning the meat and having all different stages I throw it all in a pan at once and make it a lot simpler. I want to make useful recipes.

NQN: Do you ever get the urge to spin toffee or press duck?
Bill: No no (laughs) I don’t have time. Years ago when I was 19 I used to buy Vogue Entertaining and I’d write lists and shop in Chinatown for days. If I ever have that time again I think I’d just grow the food and vegetables.

NQN: What do you do on a day off? Do you have one?
Bill: No I don’t because I’m always cooking! I’m the cook in the family so my days off are cooking. Relaxing – we live near the ocean so we’ll go for big walks and read. The whole family are big readers and we have those lovely days where everyone is lying around reading. It’s pretty low key, spending time with my family. They’re 5, 6 and 8 so we can do different things.

NQN: You have three girls, Edie, Ines and Bunny. Bunny is such a cute name!
Bill: I know, she’s such a Bunny! The names get crazier as you go down. Her name is Bunny Beatrice. She’s really grown into her name. They’re really close. We had 3 in 3.5 years.

NQN: Are they good eaters?
Bill: Yeah, though they do have their moments. You just have to keep persevering. Eat what you eat and just keep serving it and it will all work out. Don’t take any prisoners and if you give them a good breakfast it doesn’t matter if they don’t eat dinner.

For kids to reject food it’s the first time they show their independence so you don’t want to make food a place of  conflict. It really becomes emotional and being the father of daughters I’m really careful not to muck with their attitude to food too much.

NQN: What do you think about food bloggers?
Bill: Oh it’s great! It’s fantastic. The way people get information and what the people listen to is much more democratic now rather than one person being anointed and having one person’s opinion setting the tone of the city. Now it’s a bit broader.

NQN: You don’t mind when food bloggers come into your restaurant?
Bill: No I’ve met a lot  of food bloggers in the UK especially taking quick shots for their blogs. But one thing I’ve learnt though is that you can’t please everyone. You can’t make everyone happy . As long as you do what you love yourself and just hope everyone likes it and be passionate and have integrity, that’s the most important thing.

NQN: Who do you admire in food or regular life?
Bill: I think actors, people like Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett  are extraordinary and have taken a new Australian style to the world. Often Australia is not considered a sophisticated place but they’re great ambassadors. In food I love Maggie Beer, she’s wonderful and I like Jamie Oliver. He has a lot of integrity and he’s the nicest guy. He does great creative work and has really changed how a broad range of people look at food. He’s really made it good for men to cook food and be with their family and it’s what I’m really passionate about. Who else? I love Nigella, I had dinner with her when she was in Sydney last time. I was very star struck. I’ve never seen anyone quite as staggeringly beautiful, it doesn’t come off on camera. She has the most amazing skin and hair and is so sweet and gentle and polite.

NQN: Did you cook for her?
Bill: No, we had a friend in common and just ended up having a pizza in Bondi. You can always have so much in common with food people. I get really excited about meeting other food people.

NQN: What would your last meal be?
Bill: My last meal would be with my family so it would have to please them (laughs). A perfect steak, being the son of a butcher I can’t get away from that – a beautiful rib eye or any other delicious steak; some french fries; a perfectly dressed green salad with lettuce from my garden; strawberries and cream and some little chocolate truffles and nice glass of champagne. Simple and straightforward.

NQN: Where do you see yourself or hope to see yourself 20 years from now?
Bill: Oh wow… hopefully having a great relationship with my family, my girls. I’d like to get back to art. I read an interview with Helmut Lang the fashion designer and he is practising art. When my girls get a bit older and family life changes I’ll get into a studio again. I’d like Bills to still be there. We’re getting onto 20 years now and I’d like to be around for another 20 years making scrambled eggs and ricotta hotcakes. The thing is about good food is once you’ve eaten it, you cant go back to bad food. That joy factor of food is often overlooked, even in reviews. Food should be about joy, it’s the flowers of life.

Bill Granger’s Feed Me Now is available from bookstores now and is published by Harper Collins.

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52 Comments | Add your own

  • 1. Feasting on Art | May 4, 2009 at 8:48 am | #

    What a wonderful interview! Thanks so much for sharing.

  • 2. Sporbo | May 4, 2009 at 8:59 am | #

    thats fantastic! cant believe he has opened one in japan! love the ricotta pancakes… hmhmhmmh

  • 3. tresjoliestudio | May 4, 2009 at 8:59 am | #

    I just read the interview, great job! You asked really interesting questions and I found out a lot I didn’t know about him.

  • 4. Rachel | May 4, 2009 at 9:04 am | #

    Thanks for the interview Lorraine.

    I’m very fond of Bill Granger’s fresh, clean, seasonal approach to food. I find his recipes to be extremely approachable and his sensible attitude to kids’ food is a breath of fresh air. (Thank goodness no purees hidden inside other foods!)

  • 5. Mike | May 4, 2009 at 9:06 am | #

    Kudos to you for a wonderful interview-very insightful and more in depth than what I’ve read and gives a real insight into the man beyond the eggs.

  • 6. Simon | May 4, 2009 at 9:08 am | #

    Good interview :)

    Bill seems like such a humble, family oriented guy and it shows in his food. Love how casual Bill’s is. No pretense and yet still good food. A big fan.

  • 7. Iron Chef Shellie | May 4, 2009 at 9:12 am | #

    I bought his new book yesterday =D yay!!

    Planning a trip to Sydney later this year… just to eat so I plan to visit one of his restaurants! So jealous you met him!

    xo

  • 8. Brianna | May 4, 2009 at 9:13 am | #

    I luv Bill! Hes so sunny and happy and I luv watching him on tv. Great interview!! =)

  • 9. belle | May 4, 2009 at 9:18 am | #

    This is a so fab! You have such a great interview technique, getting great insights from Bill, with each question a natural progression from the last. And thanks for popping in a ref to foodblogging!

  • 10. romaverona | May 4, 2009 at 9:19 am | #

    Thanks for a great interview, NQN. I really admire bill and the way he comes across in interviews. Can’t wait to get my hands on ‘feed me now!’.

  • 11. Kathy | May 4, 2009 at 9:29 am | #

    Great interview NQN! Even though I don’t know who he is I think you asked some really good questions and I’m interested in checking out his new cookbook now

  • 12. Angela @ A Spoonful of Sugar | May 4, 2009 at 9:29 am | #

    What a fantastic interview, Lorraine!! And here was me thinking I was telling you juicy gossip that you wouldn’t have heard yet!

    Every time I see or hear about Bill he always seems like such a fantastic, open and genuine guy. Love him!

    I was quite sad not to be able to get to either the Petersham or Mark Hix events when he was over, but alas… no babysitter. (And judging from Lucas’s behaviour at the wedding we went to on Friday, I totally made the right call in not taking him to such an event!!!) Next time, for sure!

  • 13. Jessie | May 4, 2009 at 9:41 am | #

    Thanks Lorraine, I really enjoyed ready this interview – it really captures Bill’s down-to-earth and friendly personality. Can’t wait to get the book and get back to his restaurant!

  • 14. Cakelaw | May 4, 2009 at 9:45 am | #

    OMG – you got to speak to Bill in person!! I love Bill – I have an autographed copy of his new book, and wish I had pay TV so I could watch his shows. Great interview!

  • 15. Julia @ Mélanger | May 4, 2009 at 10:08 am | #

    Great interview, Lorraine. You really asked some interesting questions. Bill seems so down to earth. But that comes through in everything that he does. I’m with you, I’m so glad when one of his recipes actually turns out. I always have luck with Bill. I have a few books where I can’t say the same!

  • 16. Helen (grabyourfork) | May 4, 2009 at 10:18 am | #

    For someone who’d just gotten off a plane from London, he’s surprisingly chirpy and articulate! Great to hear he’s so receptive toward foodbloggers – although it was reasonably obvious given he’d agreed to an interview! Now I have a huge craving for beef pie too…

  • 17. Steph | May 4, 2009 at 10:25 am | #

    Ahh!! How cool that you got to interview Bill! I’ve only seen him once when he stopped by his cafe while I was there and that got me excited haha. Great interview :)

  • 18. Simon Food Favourite | May 4, 2009 at 11:08 am | #

    I liked the questions you asked Bill. well done. a very interesting interview. i think i need to check out Shimbashi now for japanese and try his scrambled eggs and ricotta pancakes which i have yet to try.
    Simon :-)

  • 19. Arwen from Hoglet K | May 4, 2009 at 11:18 am | #

    I love the bit where he said he’d rather spend his time growing the veggies than cooking them in complicated ways. It’s a nice way of looking at life.

  • 20. Forager | May 4, 2009 at 12:20 pm | #

    Great interview! Such a broad variety of insightful questions to ask. I used to work within a stone’s throw of Bills Darlinghurst and had my fair share of his ricotta hotcakes. This reminds me that I haven’t been in ages and it’s high time I went again. Thanks for sharing!

  • 21. Alexandra | May 4, 2009 at 1:52 pm | #

    Great interview…he sounds like a really nice guy… :) and he met Nigella too! hehe…that’s cool.

  • 22. sallyc | May 4, 2009 at 2:43 pm | #

    Great interview NQN! love, love, love Bill Granger, his restaurant and cookbooks (his latest tv series is quite good too)! As you said in the interview, his recipes always turn out – such simple good food that everyone loves.I have literally just baked his oatmeal and raisin cookies from Everyday Food and taken them out of the oven. They are delicious!

  • 23. Karen | May 4, 2009 at 3:05 pm | #

    Bill Granger knows Hide Nakata?! *gobsmacked* Now that’s something I didn’t expect! I wonder how? I’m such a big fan of both Bills and Nakata. *still gobsmacked*

  • 24. Anita | May 4, 2009 at 3:09 pm | #

    Fantastic Interview! Bill seems so lovely!

  • 25. FFichiban | May 4, 2009 at 4:37 pm | #

    OOohh great interview! Very interesting ^^! Hee hee yay for Shimbashi ^^! and yay for Jaime Oliver ^^! and yay for Bill and NQN XD

  • 26. Lilia | May 4, 2009 at 5:44 pm | #

    Great interview, I though you were writing about one of recipe, then turned out that you actually interview him in this blog entry. I’ve been to bills before and was planning to go there last week with some friends from other city in June. I bet bills sign you new bills book, rite?
    If you can arrange for food bloggers to meet bills, count me in :D

  • 27. cherryblossomcupcake | May 4, 2009 at 8:06 pm | #

    That was such a beautiful interview NQN! It was so insightful and even though I already know and love Bill so much it endeared me to him even more. I just love his approach to food and sharing that with others.

  • 28. Sophie | May 4, 2009 at 8:08 pm | #

    Aaaaaah Lorraine, you lucky woman!! I am a fan of Bill Granger ever since the beginning & i have all of his books!
    I made a lot of his recipes & they are easy & lovely: healthy too with a twist! Thanks for this wonderful intervieuw!!

  • 29. Johanna | May 4, 2009 at 9:01 pm | #

    Thanks for an interesting read – I think the combination of art and food in his career is interesting – I will check out his recipes a bit more

  • 30. Tiffany | May 4, 2009 at 9:30 pm | #

    wow, he is so down to earth, I have never heard of him till I read this interview and am now tempted to try those Ricotta Hotcakes.

  • 31. Not Quite Nigella | May 4, 2009 at 9:51 pm | #

    Hi Feasting on Art -Thankyou! You’re welcome, glad that you liked it :)

    Hi Sporbo-Thanks! Yes it’s great and apparently people queue up for hours! :o

    Hi tresjoliestudio -Thanks so much :) That’s great, I’m glad to hear that!

    Hi Rachel-You’re welcome! :) Haha yes no purees, I think he has a good attitude all around!

    Hi Mike-Thankyou very much! That’s very kind of you to say! :)

    Hi Simon-Thanks. I was glad to know that he was as nice as he seemed!

    Hi Iron Chef Shellie-Oh cool! Hehe yes you must! Breakfast there is a must ;)

    Hi Brianna-He is very sunny and happy indeed! Thanks! :)

    Hi belle -Aww shucksm thankyou! It flowed really easily and it hardly required any editing at all which I was chuffed about

    :) Hehe I couldn’t resist! I’m always intrigued to know what people think about blogging :)

    Hi romaverona-Thank, you’re welcome! :) It’s a great book indeed!

    Hi Kathy-Thankyou! Haha you don’t? I suppose he hasn’t taken over the US just yet. Thankyou so much! :D

    Hi Angela-Thankyou so much! Hehe I didn’t want to spoil the surprise ;) Ah well, perhaps when he opens up in London you can

    have a Bill’s breakfast! :)

    Hi Jessie-Thankyou! That is so great to hear :) He was really lovely! Me too! :lol:

    Hi Cakelaw-I did it by phone :) Thanks so much-cool did you get it autographed in person? :)

    Hi Julia-Thankyou! I tried to :) Yes a recipe that workjs is a valuable and treasured thing indeed!

    Hi Helen-He was as bright as sunshine. Even thought it may have seemed obvious, I wasn’t not going to ask it!

    Hi Steph-That is very cool that you saw him in his environment! Thankyou so much :D

    Hi Simon -Thanks! They’re jsut what I was curious about so I figured that was what everyone was curious about :) Yes I feel

    the need to check Shimasbhi out too!

    Hi Arwen-Hehe yes that was a surprisingly nice thing to hear!

    Hi Forager -Thankyou very much! It was like chatting to a friend which was nice. The ricotta hotcakes are so good!

    Hi Alexandra -He was! Hehe yes he seems to know everyone! :lol:

    Hi sallyc-Thankyou! :D Yes it’s so important isn’t it! I hate recipes that don’t work :( Oh what cool timing about the

    cookies!

    Hi Karen-Hehe he really seems to know a lot of people! Hehe another reason to visit Bills?

    Hi Anita -Thankyou-he was! :)

    Hi FFichiban-Thanks so much! :) Haha you’re as perky as Bill! ;)

    Hi Lilia-Thanks! Yes that was my surprise ;) It’s a great place to meet up with the communal table! :)

    Hi cherryblossomcupcake-Thankyou! That’s so sweet of you to say and great to hear :)

    Hi Sophie-Thankyou! Oh you are a true fan! :D You’re more than welcome!

    Hi Johanna-You’re welcome! Yes his background is quite surprising and he’s a thoughtful, interesting man indeed.

    Hi Tiffany-he is, and modest too! Oh you should, they’re the best! :)

  • 32. Porkygourmand | May 5, 2009 at 4:44 am | #

    Great interview, learnt a lot about Bill the man, great person great food. I love his cookbooks. I miss Sydney & Bill’s after reading this interview.

    Great stuff Lorraine!

  • 33. SarahKate | May 5, 2009 at 5:57 am | #

    What a great interview with a great guy. When I think of Bill I think of ideal, Australian flavours… which I am missing already over here in the UK!

  • 34. Cakelaw | May 5, 2009 at 7:48 am | #

    Hi Lorraine, unfortunately no – it came autographed from Booktopia :(

  • 35. Maria T | May 5, 2009 at 5:33 pm | #

    I can’t believe I overlooked this interview yesterday! Congratulations to him for having such a longstanding food career. You did a great job interviewing Mr Granger and he comes across and very genuine and a true lifestylist. Thank u!

  • 36. ArtemisIII | May 5, 2009 at 9:10 pm | #

    such an amazing interview! And such an extordinary man! I will have to look for the book. :)

  • 37. 5 Star Foodie | May 5, 2009 at 9:23 pm | #

    What a neat interview with Bill Granger! Really enjoyed reading this!

  • 38. Carolyn | May 5, 2009 at 9:42 pm | #

    Wow how awesome to be able to interview Bill Granger!!

    Mmmm looking at those Portugese tarts makes me hungry!!

  • 39. Not Quite Nigella | May 5, 2009 at 10:08 pm | #

    Hi Porkygourmand -thankyou! I was curious about him too so i was excited to interview him :)

    Hi SarahKate-thanks! Oh you poor thing but you can get a taste of Sydney when he opens up his new place! :)

    Hi Cakelaw-ah well, still you still have an autograph!

    Hi Maria-Hehe! He definitely has longeviety and well deserved. Thanks so much! :D

    Hi ArtemisIII-Thankyou so much! He’s a lovely guy and the book is well worth having a look at :)

    Hi 5 Star Foodie-Thanks, that’s great to hear! :)

    Hi Carolyn-thanks! I was very excited :D Hehe yes they’re so great, I must make some more! :)

  • 40. Tammy | May 6, 2009 at 8:37 am | #

    wow, great interview! Funnily enough I bought Bill’s new book yesterday – I have them all, so didnt even open it, just bought it! But I have picked somehting to make from it for dinner tonight. I helped at a cooking class a few years ago that Bill was teaching. he was so lovely, so appreciative of the helpers and signed my book!

  • 41. Anne | May 6, 2009 at 9:06 am | #

    Brilliant interview. You really got some interesting insights into him. I love the Bill approach and he always makes cooking such a pleasure. Have already used Feed Me Now a couple of times, and only just received it. Tiramisu cake will be ready for tasting tomorrow!

  • 42. Not Quite Nigella | May 6, 2009 at 11:13 am | #

    Hi Tammy-Thankyou so much! Cool, I can’t wait to see what you make! That is very cool that you helped him at one of the cooking classes. He is so friendly and lovely!

    Hi Anne-Thankyou-you are too kind! :) Aha the delicious Tiramisu cake-great choice!

  • 43. Teena | May 6, 2009 at 8:50 pm | #

    Glad to see the Japan q’s made it!! Well done NQN!!

  • 44. Rachel | May 8, 2009 at 12:33 pm | #

    what a great interveiw!
    Me and my mum went to a lunch for Bill’s new book’Feed me now’ in Melbourne yesterday got a photo and the book signed…such a happy person, hope he opens a bill’s in Melbourne!!

  • 45. Taiko Tari | May 8, 2009 at 6:58 pm | #

    Inspirational! Gotta go check out Bills Tokyo then. :)

  • 46. Not Quite Nigella | May 12, 2009 at 8:59 am | #

    Hi Teena -Thanks so much! :D

    Hi Rachel-Thankyou! Lucky you that sounds absolutely lovely and you never know what his plans are! :)

    Hi Taiko Tari-Yes from the pictures it looks amazing! :)

  • 47. nellbe | May 15, 2009 at 10:24 am | #

    What a great interview! Thanks for doing that, it was great to read. I wish he’d consider opening a bills in Melbourne!

  • 48. Kate Noack | November 19, 2009 at 7:45 am | #

    Hi Bill mum wanted me to look up a recipe of yours and i found this page! How is London everything is good at school!

  • 49. Kate Noack | November 19, 2009 at 7:46 am | #

    Hi Bill AWSOME recipes!

3 Trackbacks/Pingbacks

  • [...] an interview with Bill Granger at Not Quite Nigella. Bill Granger’s Feed Me Now! is published by Harper [...]

  • [...] It’s been a long time between visits to Billy Kwong, Kylie Kwong’s famous Chinese restaurant in Surry Hills and it’s not for lack of trying. Their no bookings policy means that you either have to eat very early (i.e. line up at 5.45pm and eat when doors open at 6pm) or leave your name at the door and come back in a couple of hours-neither things we wanted to do. This year for my birthday, we are trying again and as we’re eating early there should not be a problem in theory. Outside there are posters advertising the Fair Trade Fiesta as Kylie Kwong is involved in environmental and social causes and since 2005, they only serve Biodynamic, Organic and Free Range produce. Billy Kwong is said to be the first carbon neutral restaurant in the State and the “Billy” in the name is from Kylie Kwong’s partnership with Bill Granger (my interview with Bill is here). [...]

  • [...] crostini with ricotta and salsa verde I found myself muttering “Lordy be still my heart. That Bill Granger is a genius!” Of course since I was crunching away on the crunchiest sourdough (Brasserie [...]

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