Granger said he was "very pleased" his dish had been included alongside dishes from world-renowned restaurants such as Momofuku, el Bulli, The Ivy and Noma. "Not being a formally trained chef I suppose it’s only appropriate that my dish is a combination of things that are just assembled and requires no skill," he said. Bills in Darlinghurst, the original home of Bill Granger's world-renowned avocado toast. Credit:Edwina Pickles Granger said the dish summed up the casual and friendly atmosphere of an Australian cafe, which differed from European eateries. "The avocado on toast feels slightly exotic and has a bit of a holiday vibe," he said. "It feels like the kind of dish you'd eat when you get up and be ready for a surf."

But he said it was originally simply his breakfast when he was "on the run". "We had avocado salsa in another dish and I'd put it on toast in the mornings when I was hungry, or if I just had an avocado hanging around that’s what I’d do for ease and speed," he said. The oldest dish listed in Signature Dishes that Matter is gelato, dating from 1686 at Paris' oldest cafe Le Procope. The cronut, Big Mac, kale salad, Irish stew, shepherd’s pie, Hawaiian pizza and sushi are among dishes listed in the book alongside fancier offerings such as Blumenthal’s meat fruit and Spanish chefs Ferran and Albert Adria’s molecular gastronomy. Bills' avocado toast was chosen by Christine Muhlke, editor-at-large for Bon Appetit magazine and one of the book’s "curators".

Muhlke described avocado toast as a virtuous, yet indulgent, Instagrammable dish that was synonymous with a lifestyle of "sun, sea, and breakfast whenever you wish". Loading "As a dish, it's as simple as they come," she said. "And yet it led to an international trend that's still going today, thanks to young Australians who left on work visas and ended up working in cafes in New York, LA, London and beyond." Muhlke said a range of factors influenced what dishes were featured in the book. "When I was nominating, I thought more about how a particular dish inspired other chefs around the world — the first dot on the map, so to speak, from which the lines of influence could be traced decades later," she said.