Billy’s kitchen is a new entrant into the market and a welcome breath of fresh air into the Knox Ozone area.

What immediately catches your eye is the decor. It’s well done which takes into account the slope outside the shop. That has been the bane of that location for as long as I have seen there. You would not believe the number of people I have seen trip over that damn thing before these guys came along. Furthermore, the outdoor design ensures that you are blocked from the main traffic that runs through as the divide between the shopping centre and Ozone.

The service was quite quick. It took 2 minutes to be seated and 2.5 minutes for someone to come see if we were ready to order. I was super impressed! However our hostess had to come back and re-verify my order because of the speed she was moving at. I honestly believe that in their haste to be quick, they came across looking a little clumsy. Maybe I am reading too much into it but when the cost of the meal is the same as you’d expect to pay in the city, you want to ensure you match every aspect of it.

The reason I mention cost was because I noticed that there weren’t too many mains   below $20 on the menu. This did come as a surprise but I was excited to see whether they would rise to the challenge. You must understand though, when Westfield took over the Knox shopping centre, they were going for the upmarket feel. As such, everything will be a little bit more expensive, including the rent that new shops will need to cover. And this invariably will flow on to the end customer.

With the city experience framed well and truly into my mind, I was intrigued. We decided to do the Pork Belly for entrée and were enticed with 3 pieces of pork belly.

I found the cut to be fatty yet the crackling was cooked perfectly! I didn’t know what was going on in my mouth… I felt the crackling could have been thicker, and the meat a little leaner but it was an exquisite choice and one served up well for Knox.

My steak was cooked just the way I liked it.

With all the recent steaks I have been sampling, I have become accustomed to my steaks having marble.

And I enjoy my mushroom sauce a little thicker.

The steaks were cooked to a clinical sort of precision. It was cooked well, but I guess I wanted to see their flare to it!

I don’t believe that the steak is their strong point and perhaps I should have chosen the parma. My dinning partner’s calamari and chips looked to die for. And sampling some of those chips, they confirmed my food envy.

Look, to be honest, I have been dying to try out Billy’s Kitchen and had high expectations for it and I should have not done steaks there… And I acknowledge that this was my fault completely. What I did like though is that they have a chance to evolve and grow with the new changes in the shopping centre landscape. And that’s what excites me most about the place!

Perhaps they do know their customers well because if those chips were anything to go by, then the traditional styled pub fare is what I should be trying next.I will be back soon and a review of the traditional fare will be coming!

TDT: 3.5/5.0

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