Okay, we admit it, we are seriously thrilled about the restaurant “bills” opening in central Tokyo. The Australian restaurant based in Sydney is known to serve the “best breakfast in the world”, and apparently their food is so good that  celebrities from around the world travel to Sydney  to have a meal there. So, naturally we had to have one of our reporters check the new restaurant – and our verdict? Their amazing soft scrambled eggs are to die for!

The restaurant is located on the 7th floor of the brand new shopping complex Tokyu Plaza Omotesando Harajuku that opened on April 18th. (If you’re interested, you can read one of our past posts in Japanese about the impressive new shopping complex.) This is actually the fourth bills restaurant to open in Japan, but the first one located in central Tokyo.

Our reporter had previously been to the bills restaurant in the Yokohama Red Brick Warehouse Building (known as the Aka Renga Souko in Japanese) and also the one in the shopping and entertainment facility Decks Tokyo Beach in the Odaiba area and had found the food delightful and unforgettable, but both locations had been somewhat far from central Tokyo. As such, our reporter is extremely happy that bills has opened a shop in a more convenient location in the Omotesasndo/Harajuku area, and with many people probably feeling the same way, the restaurant is sure to attract a lot of attention and customers in the coming months.

Bills is actually famous for their “ricotta pancakes” – a dish hailed by many as worthy of being called the best breakfast in the world. But there is another dish at bills which seems to be just as or even more popular – their heavenly scrambled eggs (priced at 1200yen ($15) with bread). Well, they’re called scrambled eggs, but at bills, they only stir the eggs lightly 2 to 3 times while cooking, so the finished eggs are not really “scrambled” but very soft and smooth like an omelette.

Naturally, our reporter wanted to have both the scrambled eggs and the ricotta pancakes, and yes, we did order both incredible dishes, but our report in this post will focus on the scrambled eggs. The standard plate of scrambled eggs at bills comes with bread, but it’s quite a big serving (especially if you want to have the ricotta pancakes as well), so we were very glad when we found out that we could order scrambled eggs without the bread  for 200 yen less, and that’s exactly what we did.

Okay, and now for our comments on how the eggs tasted. Actually, even before we tasted the eggs, we were impressed by how they looked. The scrambled eggs were shiny and glowing a soft and gorgeous pale yellow, the fine texture visibly apparent. Just the appearance of the eggs was enough to convince us that the dish showcased the flavor and essence of the eggs to perfection.

We took a bite of the eggs, and they felt incredibly creamy and smooth while still retaining a fresh firmness. In fact, the texture was so unbelievably refined that it nearly brought tears to our eyes.

And the taste? The fresh eggs, rich butter and cream all combined to create an exquisite flavor in the mouth. It was pure bliss! The restaurant staff told us that they keep the basic flavoring quite light and that we should add salt as desired, but there was no need for additional seasoning at all. The taste as the chef cooked it, simple and mild, and the sublime texture of the eggs were enough to send our senses into overdrive – it was  practically addictive!

As wonderful as the food was, however, we did have one concern about this new restaurant. Naturally, there are many fans of the restaurant, which means a huge number of people wanting to dine there. Our reporter went to to the restaurant on a weekday afternoon a little before 2 p.m. and we were told that seating would not become available until 3:45 p.m. This meant that we had to wait close to 2 hours at the Starbucks on the floor below before we were called to our seats. We knew the restaurant would be popular, but this was way beyond what we expected.

By the way, bills doesn’t take reservations for lunch, so you have to actually go there to get your name on the waiting list. If the long wait doesn’t daunt you and you really want to have a meal there, we suggest that upon arriving at  Tokyu Plaza Omotesando Harajuku, you first leave your name at the restaurant, then enjoy a bit of shopping; that way, your seat will be ready around the time you get tired from looking through all the shops. You may want to remeber this if you have plans to go to bills anytime soon. In any case, we hope you have the chance to try the amazing food that completely blew our reporter away!

Restaurant details: bills Omotesando
Address: 4-30-3 Jinugu-mae, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, 7F Tokyu Plaza Omotesando Harajuku
Business Hours: 8:30 ～ 23:00
Access: 4 minute walk from JR Yamanote Line “Harajuku Station”; or 1 minute walk from Tokyo Metro Chiyoda Line/Fukutoshin Line “Meiji Jingu Mae Station”

Original Article and Photos by Ren Ikeda
Photos taken with iPhone4

Source: bills Japan website (Japanese)


See how smooth the surface of the eggs is!


The eggs look absolutel heavenly!

Even after finishing the eggs, we couldn’t stop thinking about how incredibly soft and creamy they were – a work of art, really!


Mmm… we continue to happily reminisce.


The standard scrambled eggs come with bread. This was taken at the Red Brick Warehouse shop. (The avocado and bacon were ordered on the side. Yum!)


The famous ricotta pancakes which we also ordered, priced at 1400yen ($17.50)


The melted butter and maple syrup creates total bliss in your mouth!


Coffee after a meal is always nice.


The view right outside the restaurant


They also have outside terrace seats. It should be nice if the weather is fine.


You can see the small artificially created woods (the Omo-hara woods) on the floor below.

[ Read in Japanese ]