The chef-restaurateur makes another change to his Double Bay precinct, turning Next Door into Cafe Margaret.
If you thought Neil Perry had opened or closed his last venue for the year, take a shot.
The corner of Bay Street and Guilfoyle Avenue in Double Bay has been a hub of activity of late, with Perry closing his cocktail bar, Bobbie’s, in May, and his modern Asian restaurant, Song Bird, in August, while opening Italian diner Gran Torino on the same site that month. In September, he also stepped away from his partnership at Baker Bleu, just two doors down.
Now the chef-restaurateur has made yet another move, evolving his Good Food Guide Critics’ Pick restaurant, Next Door, into new all-day eatery, Cafe Margaret.
“I always thought Next Door belonged to Margaret, so I thought I would make it official and bring it in,” says Perry.
The two venues sit side by side and are connected internally, sharing access to coolrooms and storage. “They’ve always been completely reliant on each other. Changing Next Door into Cafe Margaret just seemed like the right thing to do,” he says.
Cafe Margaret will open from this Saturday for breakfast, offering French toast with caramelised bananas and scrambled eggs with cotechino sausage, alongside fresh juices, Mecca espresso coffee, batch brew and matcha from a newly installed stainless-steel coffee bar.
“Breakfast is a really important part of it because it allows us to keep that engagement with the local community. We live down here, and I’m in here seven days a week, and it’s great for us to be able to have all the folks that work in Double Bay come in and grab a coffee and bacon and egg roll.”
‘I always thought Next Door belonged to Margaret, so I thought I would make it official and bring it in.’
Neil Perry
If you’re wondering about the cheeseburger – recently crowned best burger in Australia (and 10th globally) in the World’s 25 Best Burgers 2025 list – it will remain on the menu, where it will be joined by two new offerings: a crispy fish burger with gochujang with pickled kimchi, and a caramelised onion smashburger, served with tomato sauce, cheese and a pickle. There will also be a new steak-frites sandwich with cafe de Paris butter, and a selection of deli sandwiches, available to grab-and-go.
For the first time, you’ll be able to get the burgers to take away, made possible due to a brief renovation that removed the bar and opened up more space for service.
Dinner will remain business as usual, featuring snacks, salads and grilled fish, while the steak sandwich and a couple of the burgers will carry over from lunch.
There will be minimal crossovers between the menus at Margaret and Cafe Margaret, Perry says. For now, the only shared item will be the beef empanadas with jalapeno dressing.
“Cafe Margaret is for the community’s daily needs, and then Margaret is there for when you want a really great fish or steak, and an amazing dining experience.”
Several of Perry’s recent moves have been about consolidating his business into two main brands, Gran Torino and Margaret. This included ending his partnership with Mike and Mia Russell at Baker Bleu last month.
“I just want to stay in Double Bay and I don’t want to go on the growth path that they’re going on,” he said.
With those changes in place, Perry says he’s content with where things have landed. “Now Sam and I are really kind of set up – no partners, we own the restaurants, we’re in a really good position and feel really good about the way things are going.”
With Bar Torino now pouring cocktails in the former Bobbie’s site, further changes seem unlikely, at least for now. “We’re just going to be growing the businesses for the next few years,” Perry says.
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Erina Starkey – Erina is the Good Food App Editor for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Previously, Erina held a number of editing roles at delicious.com.au and writing roles at Broadsheet and Concrete Playground.
