It’s hard to imagine a time when we didn’t start our day with smashed avo.

Among his many remarkable achievements, Bill Granger is also widely credited as the ‘godfather’ of avocado toast.

The Washington Post was one of the first media outlets to name bills cafe in Darlinghurst as the site of the ‘first recorded sighting’ of avocado toast in 2016.

The cafe, of course, opened well before that. Bill Granger, a former art student and self-taught cook, opened bills in 1993 when he was just 24 years old. Smashed avo was one of the first dishes on the menu.

The menu item in question was just that, toasted sourdough topped with lightly mashed avocado, freshly squeeze lime, chilli and fresh coriander, with the option to add on a poached egg.

It was a snack Bill ate frequently himself as a quick and easy meal between shifts.

“I know, it’s just a couple of ingredients, barely a recipe. Hospitality people always eat quickly, because they have so little time,” he told the Australian Financial Review.

“It’s immediately accessible, it’s fresh and it’s light. And it’s green.

It’s a simple dish, but that hasn’t stopped it from being a smash hit. Bill ended up putting it on all his menus, both locally and abroad, with the classic combo making its way to Tokyo, Seoul, London and beyond.

Like any exceptional dish, Bill’s smashed avo inspired new versions everywhere it went. Other cafes started slicing and dicing the avo or pulverising it to a puree. Some added feta, others tomato, parsley, radish, pepitas and more.

It went from being nowhere to everywhere. These days, you’d be hard pressed to find a cafe in Australia that doesn’t serve it.

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Granger is also believed to be the first chef to publish a recipe for smashed avo, which appeared in his debut cookbook Bills Sydney Food which was published in 1999.

The celebrity chef previously said he “felt silly” including the first credited recipe for avocado on toast in his cookbook.

“We had been selling it at the restaurant for years and I remember thinking this is so silly putting a recipe for avocado on toast in a book,” he said.

“So I jazzed it up a bit and put a bit of lime and coriander on it.”

Here’s how to make the recipe at home (although it’s always better when you have it at bills).