Billy's at Balmoral Beach

Billy was a local street sweeper's dog who all the locals knew. A statue was built to commemorate Billy and the special relationship between dog owner's and their faithful pooches. Being a dog owner, I love this cute little statue on Balmoral Beach. And, after seeing this statue, the name of the cafe directly opposite it makes a whole lot more sense.

Being New Year's Day and an extremely hot day, we decided that Billy's looked like the perfect place for a lazy breakfast. It was extremely packed, but we managed to get a table outside for two, with a slightly wobbly table and solid stools. We could see through the giant window next to us that inside had some funky mismatched furniture and a lot of takeaway orders coming on. There was some friendly banter going on inside with the locals and their takeaway orders, and judging at the rate that the muffins (made on the premises) were ordered and sold out, they seemed to be a hit.

I assumed, being New Years Day, and very busy (including a lot of takeaways), that service would take quite a while. But we were handed menus and ordered coffee within minutes of sitting down. And our food order came before we had a sip of our coffee. Considering how nightmarish getting a carpark was, this came as quite a surprise.

I have to say that I was extremely impressed when my order came out. The grilled haloumi, avacado and balsamic on oven baked sourdough bread looked and tasted amazing. The olive oil had a great green tinge to it and the balsamic reduction had a lovely sweetness to it. Although everything at Billy's isn't exactly cheap, I didn't feel that $16 for this meal was a rip off. It was just the right amount of food for breakfast, and the bread, which they make, was delicious. As we were sitting there a fresh batch of croissants came out of the oven, so you could tell that their baked goods were extremely fresh. That's what brought such simple ingredients into a great meal. Sun ripened cherry tomatoes, perfectly grilled haloumi, great olive oil and balsamic and of course, freshly baked bread.

My companion's meal was eggs (he chose fried) with freshly baked bread. (It also had tomatoes, which weren't listed on the menu). A great simple tasty breakfast he said. We also had a side of bacon. It was cooked to how I like it (not crispy), but not quite to how he likes it, so some may be disappointed with it.

Both meals were plated simply, but I thought quite elegantly. I liked the relaxed vibe, although my companion thought that all the shouting going on inside about which muffins they had left sounded a little bit stressful. We had amazing views of the beach and got to watch a Japanese wedding in the white pagoda across from us. Our meals gave us enough energy for our lazy day ahead of us, including lounging at Balmoral Beach, climbing around the rocks and discovering a great cave, and then "chillaxing" with books, more great food, and some movies. Ah, a perfect start to 2011!