Bill Granger, the beloved chef behind the famed Bills cafes, has passed away on Christmas Day, aged 54.
The news was shared on Bill Granger’s Instagram account on the morning on December 27. The post read: “It is with great sadness that the family of Bill Granger announce he has passed away on 25th December at the age of 54. A dedicated husband and father, Bill died peacefully in hospital with his wife Natalie Elliott and three daughters, Edie, Inès and Bunny, at his bedside in their adopted home of London.”
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Chefs from around the world paid tribute to the Aussie icon. Jamie Oliver said: “This is devastating news, I’m so sad to hear this, what a guy he was …. a wonderful human, kind calm soul….I admired everything he represented in food I remember the first time I met him many moons ago he couldn’t have been nicer and his food so good …. Sending so much love to all his family.”
Nigella Lawson also paid tribute to Bill, “I’m heartbroken to hear this. So cruel,” she added.
Bill was born in Melbourne in 1969. He studied arts but ended up dropping out of school to open his first cafe Bills in Darlinghurst, aged just 24.
The cafe was an instant success and Bill shot to fame as Australia’s ‘King of Breakfast’. His name has become synonymous with his most famous dishes – fluffy ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter, sweetcorn fritters with avocado salsa and, of course, scrambled eggs.
His casual style of cooking spurred the growth of informal and communal eating both in Australia and around the world.
Bill and his wife Natalie Elliot are behind 15 restaurants around the world, with four Bills cafes in Sydney and 11 other venues in London, Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka and Seoul. His 14 cookbooks were best sellers, and many young Australians learned to cook with a trusted copy of Simply Bill by their side.
The chef was also a beloved contributor of delicious. His recipe for buttermilk pancakes with chocolate fudge sauce graced the first-ever cover of the magazine in 2001.
Granger is survived by his wife Natalie Elliott and their three daughters, Edie, Inès and Bunny. He was recently awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in January 2023.
