Bill Granger grilled

Bill Granger says he's just a home cook.

Bill Granger comes across as a domestic god. Blond surfer looks, laser-white smile, white T-shirt, white jeans - and he's preparing a no-stir risotto in a pristine kitchen. It sounds like celebrity chef heaven, until Granger shatters the illusion with a terrible confession.

"I'm just a home cook. I feel like a phoney if I call myself a chef," he says from his beachside home in Sydney.

Even more comforting for self-doubting homemakers is his admission that he's a cook who "wipes my hands on the side of my jeans - so I always have a big apron on".

Granger is doing what he does most days; he's in the kitchen preparing the evening meal for his wife and three daughters under 5 - and currently underfoot. Actually, he makes all the meals because his executive wife doesn't cook, and it's how he gets inspiration for the recipes that appear in his successful cookbooks (the fourth, simply bill, is due out this month).

For someone immersed in domesticity, Granger prefers simple recipes.

"It's real food. I cook this at home myself so I know it's easy - these recipes aren't developed in a test kitchen or someone's head."

This self-taught cook's unfussy approach has gained him legions of fans around the world; his three cookbooks are international best sellers, he regularly appears on Australian radio and TV, and is a columnist for trendy delicious magazine.

Last year, Granger and Natalie, a television producer, launched their TV series bill's food in Australia and cunningly sold it to the BBC, which broadcasts it to up to 1.9 million people.

The Grangers lured the director of Nigella Lawson's show to Australia to film the series, although Granger sensibly baulked at any domestic-goddess-type antics on set.

There was no licking of spoons and no low-cut T-shirts either.

But surfer Granger has his own laid-back charm and this weekend it will be on display at the Food Show in Auckland.

Granger is the kind of self-starter who, at 22, left art school to open bill's cafe in Sydney's Darlinghurst in 1993.

He quickly won over patrons with his breakfast classics. There's an art to scrambling an egg, and Granger has had a lot of practice - enough for The New York Times to name him egg master of Sydney.

Nine years after opening bill's 2 (now bill's Surry Hills) comes bill's Woollahra, also with trademark white interiors and large communal tables so strangers can get cosy.

"Cafes provide a great sense of community; they give you a sense of who you are - the tribe you belong to," says Granger.

He serves up traditional fare and it seems doing it simply is the way to garner customer loyalty. Regulars have ensured favourites like the risotto hot cakes have stayed on the menu for the past 12 years.

"Mention bill's in New York, London, or San Francisco," raved US Gourmet magazine, "and you'll find die-hard fans who wouldn't dream of visiting Sydney without eating there."

Food writer Jill Dupleix confesses she would "never queue for anything in my life except a table at bill's". Actress Cate Blanchett probably doesn't have to, but she's a regular all the same. Hollywood stars Orlando Bloom and Kate Beckinsale recently dined there, causing a media frenzy outside.

Two years ago, Granger's own celebrity status was assured after he was involved in the revamp of a new restaurant for Marks & Spencer in Britain. But these days he mostly shuns the international cuisine circuit for home life, where he keeps a notebook on hand to record every flash of culinary inspiration.

In his latest book, simply bill, Granger takes a thematic approach to food, with chapters devoted to pure days, special days and, thank goodness, lazy days. Granger is not a great fan of formal dining; he prefers his guests to feast on lots of dishes served at the same time.

"I love the dynamism of a table with everyone passing plates and sharing. It seems to me the right way to entertain."

And, Granger suggests, dimming the lights and putting a bit of icing sugar on the desert "covers all culinary sins".

Granger is an advocate of food in moderation and there's not much he won't eat - "except for offal because my father was a wholesale butcher".

His most memorable meal was boiled prawns on the beach - with lashings of mayonnaise. Indeed, he insists on his recipes containing food readily available off the shelf.

After discovering the Australian cuisine star would be appearing at the Food Show in Auckland, one fan decided to pass up a ski trip to Queenstown and instead watch her idol in action. That's real devotion for a domestic god.

Catch Granger's presentation on Sunday, August 7, 1.15pm at The Food Show, Auckland Showgrounds. www.foodshow.co.nz