Berkshire Bloggers were kindly gifted an evening at the unveiling of a newly re-launched Bill’s in Reading. I’ve been to Bill’s many of times in various locations, but it usually tends to be a place I’d go for either lunch or brunch, so when we were invited to attend for dinner, we were keen to see how the evening would unfold.
So we headed down to the restaurant, located in a stunning Georgian building which now has a mix of stylish and quirky décor. We were greeted by lovely staff at the entrance and found the place decorated with huge chandeliers, decadent mirrors, plush velvet chairs and marble and gold tabletops. Once we had a good look around, we spotted seemingly random objects and ornaments dotted about the place.
Shortly after arriving we we’re lucky enough to meet Bill, the founder, who explained that he collects a lot of items to decorate his restaurants with and we were fascinated to learn that many items are bought in auctions, meaning that every restaurant is unique. We found this quite charming and thought it really added a bit more character to the place.
When it comes to food and drink, we thought we’d try one of the cocktails from the menu and we went for the Shrub A Dub Dub which was topped with an edible Bill’s logo.
For starters, we tried the fried Halloumi Sticks and Creamy Mushrooms on Garlic Focaccia and for mains we went for the Buttermilk Chicken Burger and Duck Pie.
For dessert, we tried the Mulled Berry Eton Mess, but what really stole the show was the Millionaire’s Sundae – a vanilla ice cream with little bits of shortbread, topped with a chocolate gold sphere and a warm salted caramel sauce drizzled on top to reveal the delicious ice cream oozing underneath.
We think the newly re-launched restaurant may be a real contender for dinner or evening drinks – and if you’re looking for something for larger parties, they also have private dining rooms available for those extra special occasions.