Bill Chiappini learnt to make coffee in Kings Cross after emigrating to Sydney from Sicily in 1957. When his boss lost his café in a high-stakes poker game, Bill was unemployed until Luigi Coluzzi offered him a job and soon, the means to buy Bill & Toni's (then San Siro) in 1964. Almost half a century on, you can taste that classic Sydney story in every coffee: strength, tradition, charm... and no bitterness. The cafe itself is an echo of the Piazza del Popolo in Ascoli Piceno - old men sip espresso from short glasses, gym junkies chug cappuccinos, Russell Crowe mulls scripts over macchiatos and footballers feast on pasta and free-cordial upstairs.
