Perry pivots Next Door to Café Margaret
If you thought Neil Perry was done opening and closing venues for the year, take a seat.
Double Bay’s busiest corner (Bay Street and Guilfoyle Avenue) has been a carousel lately: Perry shuttered cocktail bar Bobbie’s in May, wrapped up modern Asian spot Song Bird in August, then flipped the same site into Italian diner Gran Torino that month. In September, he also bowed out of his partnership at Baker Bleu, two doors down.
Now there’s another pivot. Perry has morphed Good Food Guide Critics’ Pick, Next Door, into an all-day venue: Cafe Margaret. “I always thought Next Door belonged to Margaret, so I thought I would make it official and bring it in,” says Perry.
Margaret and Cafe Margaret sit side by side, linked behind the scenes with shared 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 told The Sydney Morning Herald.
From this Saturday, Cafe Margaret kicks off with breakfast—think French toast with caramelised bananas and scrambled eggs with cotechino—plus fresh juices, Mecca espresso, batch brew and matcha from a new 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.”
Wondering about that cheeseburger—the one “recently crowned best burger in Australia (and 10th globally) in the World’s 25 Best Burgers 2025 list”? It’s staying put. It’ll be joined by a crispy fish burger with gochujang and pickled kimchi, and a caramelised onion smashburger with tomato sauce, cheese and a pickle. There’s also a steak-frites sandwich with cafe de Paris butter and a line-up of deli sandwiches for grab-and-go.
A quick spruce-up has removed the bar and opened up the space, which means—for the first time—those burgers are available to take away.
Evenings won’t skip a beat: dinner continues with snacks, salads and grilled fish, and a couple of the lunch favourites (including the steak sandwich and select burgers) will roll through. Cross-pollination with Margaret will be minimal; for now, the only shared dish is 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.”
If recent moves feel like consolidation, that’s by design. Perry is focusing on two core brands—Gran Torino and Margaret—which included parting ways with Mike and Mia Russell at Baker Bleu. “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 Bar Torino now shaking and stirring in the former Bobbie’s site, Perry’s sounding settled. “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.” And as for what’s next? “We’re just going to be growing the businesses for the next few years,” Perry says.
Jonathan Jackson, 30th October 2025
