FAREWELL TO ‘THE KING OF BREAKFAST’

Bill Granger, the Australian self-taught cook, food writer and restaurant owner, who died of cancer aged 54, will always be remembered for revolutionising the breakfast menu in Australia and taking it to the world. “He will be remembered as the ‘King of Breakfast’, for making unpretentious food into something special filled with sunshine and for spurring the growth of Australian informal and communal eating around the world,” his family wrote in a statement.

After dropping out of art school, Granger opened his first restaurant, bills, in Sydney in 1993 at the age of 23. His iconic meals, still much-loved today, included fluffy ricotta hotcakes with honeycomb butter, silky-smooth scrambled eggs and the original smashed avocado on sourdough. In 2008, he opened branches in Tokyo, London, Seoul and Hawaii, later expanding to 19 restaurants globally. Speaking in 2019, Granger reflected on the humble beginnings of his breakfast empire, saying: “I’ve done all these extraordinary things, just from liking to cook pancakes and scrambled eggs, which is pretty amazing.”

Granger published 14 cookbooks, selling more than 1 million copies, and made five cookery television series. In 2023 he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for his services to tourism and hospitality. Granger’s family shared news of his death, saying: “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.”