Bill Granger may not have been the first person in the world to put avocado on toast. But according to food writer and Good Food columnist Jill Dupleix, he was the first to recognise the beauty and simplicity of the now ubiquitous combination and put it on a menu.

“If that means he invented it, well then he did. And then he took avocado toast to the world,” Dupleix said.

Bill Granger died on Christmas Day after a long battle with cancer. Chefs and leading food writers from around the world, from Jamie Oliver in London, where Granger lived, to Kylie Kwong in Sydney whom he opened a restaurant with, have lauded Granger as being Australia’s most internationally successful restaurateur.

Granger, together with his wife Natalie, built a business with restaurants across Sydney, London, Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka and Seoul. He authored 14 cookbooks, made 5 TV series and was honoured with the Medal of the Order of Australia in January 2023.

But perhaps his most popular claim to fame was that he put avocado toast on global menus.

It debuted on the menu at his first cafe, bills in Darlinghurst, the airy, sunny, communal table-dominated space that he opened in 1993. And was a signature on menus at his overseas restaurants.

“Bill was all about freshness and health. He used to get up early and go to the market to get the food daily, there was no coolroom in the original bills,” said Dupleix.

“And avocado toast was a hit right from the start. Recently, he came to accept that avocado toast was his legacy to the world,” she said.

A rollcall of Australian chefs are crediting Granger with taking Australia’s vibrant cafe culture to the world. Chef Mark Best, whose three-hatted Marque Restaurant was in the site now occupied by a bills cafe, says he was lucky enough to come through the restaurant ranks with Granger in the early 1990s when chefs were trying to work out what Australian food was.

“Bill pioneered a style of breakfast, including his famous glistening scrambled eggs, that changed the breakfast benchmark in Australia. Then he went on to change the global breakfast benchmark,” Best said.

Icebergs restaurateur Maurice Terzini also paid homage to his impact on Australian cafe culture saying Granger, a self-taught cook, had the courage to do food that was “very simple in ingredients but rich in flavour” and then take that idea to the world.

Granger’s first cookbook, Sydney Food, published in 2000 was another achievement.

“This book held up a mirror to Sydney, and it changed the way we felt about Australian food,” Dupleix said.

As well as well-lit photos of delicious, approachable-looking food on white crockery, the book is full of images of the Icebergs pool Bondi, the Sydney Fish Market and shoppers strolling at the Good Food Farmer’s market.

“Avocado toast was a hit right from the start. Recently, Bill came to accept that avocado toast was his legacy to the world.”

Jill Dupleix

“It showed Sydneysiders who we were. And was even strong enough to cross the interstate rivalry because people in Melbourne loved the reflection that shone from its pages and were proud of it too,” she said.

Granger’s stable of cookbooks sold more than 1 million copies.

Here is the original recipe for Bill Granger’s avocado toast from Sydney Food.

Bill Granger’s avocado toast with lime, pepper and coriander

• 1 avocado, peeled and quartered
• 4 slices sourdough bread, toasted
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• coriander leaves
• sea salt
• freshly ground pepper

1. Place lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk until combined.
2. Serve quarters of avocado on toast, drizzled with dressing and topped with coriander, sea salt and lots of freshly ground pepper. Chilli is optional.

Serves four