Restaurant in Sydney, Australia
Book it for a serious, produce-first dinner.
Neil Perry's Margaret in Double Bay holds No. 2 on the World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants 2026 list, and it earns the position through coherence rather than spectacle. Dry-aged beef over a wood-fired grill anchors the menu, but the seafood programme operates at the same level. Book it for a serious dinner where Australian provenance is the point.
Margaret is the right booking if you want a serious, produce-led dinner that moves confidently between dry-aged beef and Australian seafood without asking you to choose. Holding No. 2 on the World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants 2026 list, Neil Perry's Double Bay restaurant earns that position through coherence and consistency, not spectacle. Book it for a special occasion, a long-table celebration, or any evening where the quality of the raw material matters more than a theatrical tasting-menu format. If you are primarily chasing Sydney's seafood-only experience, Saint Peter is the sharper call. If you want a broader survey of modern Australian dining before committing, our full Sydney restaurants guide covers the field.
The scent that greets you at Margaret is wood smoke from the open hearth — dry, clean, and purposeful. It sets the register for everything that follows. This is not a kitchen that hides its process behind closed doors or neutral air. The grill is the spine of the room, and the aroma of dry-aged beef over burning wood tells you exactly what kind of restaurant you are in before a menu arrives.
Margaret's recent evolution has sharpened rather than broadened its proposition. The 2026 World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants ranking confirms a trajectory: the kitchen has grown more confident in letting Australian produce speak without intervention. Dry-aged beef cooked over a wood-fired grill is the centrepiece, with Blackmore's Rhone and Mishima beef and CopperTree Farms cattle representing the quality ceiling of what Australian pastoral farming produces. These are not interchangeable options on a steakhouse checklist — each reflects a considered position on breed, origin, and ageing method that a first-time visitor will notice in the eating.
What the awards data does not fully capture is how well the kitchen maintains its discipline when it moves away from beef. The same standard applied to the steak programme extends into the seafood section of the menu: Glacier 51 toothfish, line-caught coral trout, Mooloolaba king prawns, and Fraser Isle spanner crab arrive with the same restraint that defines the beef cookery. Nothing is obscured by heavy sauce work. That consistency is the most useful thing to know before you book: Margaret is not a steakhouse that does seafood as an afterthought. For explorers who want to order across both categories in one sitting , and compare the precision of the grill work on a Wagyu rib against the kitchen's handling of a whole fish , this is the right room.
The seasonal dimension matters here. Australia's coastal and pastoral seasons move in tandem at Margaret: what the kitchen does with seafood shifts through the year as line-caught species availability changes, and the beef programme is shaped by the ageing cycles and resting periods built into the Blackmore and CopperTree supply lines. If you are visiting in summer (December through February), the seafood selection is typically at full strength given peak coastal catch periods. Timing your visit around that window gives you the leading chance of seeing the full range of what the menu can do. Visitors from Attica in Melbourne or Brae in Birregurra who make the trip north for Margaret specifically should factor in that seasonal read.
The wine list supports the food intelligently, with emphasis on Australian producers and sustainable winemaking practices. Service is well-prepared and calm , detail is offered when it adds value, not as performance. The room combines warm materials and generous lighting in a way that works for a two-hour weeknight dinner and a long celebratory table equally well.
For context, this is a restaurant operating at the level where comparisons to international benchmarks apply. Guests who have eaten at Le Bernardin in New York City or Lazy Bear in San Francisco will recognise the same commitment to sourcing rigour and front-of-house preparation. Margaret earns its place in that conversation without borrowing their formats.
Margaret is located at 30-36 Bay St, Double Bay NSW 2028. The suburb is accessible by ferry from Circular Quay (approximately 20 minutes), which makes for a practical arrival before dinner, particularly in summer when the harbour is at its leading. Booking is currently rated Easy , walk-in availability exists, though advance reservation is sensible for weekend evenings and any table larger than two. Check availability through the restaurant directly or via standard reservation platforms. Dress code is not specified in the venue data, but the room and price positioning suggest smart casual at a minimum , Double Bay dining typically skews toward that register. Explore the wider Double Bay neighbourhood and the Eastern Suburbs with our Sydney hotels guide, Sydney bars guide, and Sydney experiences guide.
Quick reference: 30-36 Bay St, Double Bay , Easy booking , Smart casual minimum , Ferry from Circular Quay available.
See below for the full peer comparison.
If Margaret's emphasis on Australian provenance appeals to you as a frame rather than just a menu, it is worth knowing the same philosophy operates at different price points across Sydney and beyond. 6HEAD in the Rocks focuses purely on the steak format with harbour views if you want a less complex menu. 10 William St in Paddington is the call for natural wine and a more casual Italian-Australian table. 20 Chapel offers a different register again. For a full picture of where Margaret sits in Australia's broader produce-led dining conversation, the Botanic in Adelaide, Bacchus in Brisbane, and 400 Gradi in Brunswick East each represent their city's version of that standard. The Sydney wineries guide and Carlton Wine Rooms in Carlton are useful companions if the Australian wine focus at Margaret prompts further exploration.
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Margaret | A restaurant shaped by provenance, service and quiet authority Margaret retains its No. 2 position in the World’s 101 Best Steak Restaurants 2026, and it does so with the kind of confidence that cannot be manufactured. In Sydney’s beautiful harbourside suburb of Double Bay, Neil Perry has created a restaurant that feels complete - not because it aims for spectacle, but because every element is resolved. The result is one of the most compelling produce-led dining experiences in the world of steak restaurants today. What sets Margaret apart is coherence. The room, the kitchen, the service and the produce all move in the same direction. The open kitchen and hearth are not design statements for their own sake. They create rhythm and clarity, keeping the focus where it belongs: on the ingredients, the cooking and the guest experience. At the centre of Margaret is Australia itself. Perry’s respect for provenance is not presented as language, but as practice - a steady commitment to the farmers, fishermen and producers who define the country’s culinary identity. Dry aged beef cooked over a wood-fired grill delivers depth and character with a restrained hand, allowing the quality of the beef to remain the centre of attention. Nothing is overworked, nothing is disguised. That focus is reinforced by the calibre of producers behind the selection. Blackmore’s Rhone and Mishima beef sit alongside the offerings from CopperTree Farms, where the wider range of products reflects a considered approach to animal, origin and use. Together, these choices underline what Margaret does best: it does not rely on excess, but on the strength of the raw material and the clarity of how it is handled. Yet Margaret’s authority is not limited to steak. What elevates it to the very top tier is the way it carries the same standard into seafood and the wider menu. The restaurant moves seamlessly between pasture and coastline without changing its discipline, which creates an experience that feels both generous and sharply composed. The wine offering completes the picture, with a strong focus on Australian producers and sustainable winemaking. Service is calm and well prepared, delivering detail when it matters and leaving space when it does not. As both the reigning and continuing No. 2, Margaret stands as a living portrait of modern Australian dining - confident, grounded and built on substance. It earns its position not through volume, but through clarity: a restaurant that knows exactly what it is and delivers it with consistency and conviction. And we are confident that the very best is still ahead for Margaret. From our point of view, the businesses under the Margaret family are exemplary models of how restaurants should be run, not least when it comes to leadership and staff culture.; Margaret - Neil Perry’s Grand Celebration of Land and Sea in Sydney In 2025, Margaret continues to shine as one of Australia’s most important culinary destinations- a restaurant that effortlessly balances elegant sophistication with heartfelt hospitality. Located in the stylish suburb of Double Bay, this flagship venture by legendary Australian chef Neil Perry has firmly established itself as a showcase of the very best Australia has to offer - both from the land and the sea. At Margaret, beef and seafood don’t compete - they coexist as centrepieces of a thoughtful, ingredient-driven menu. Perry’s lifelong commitment to provenance and sustainability is on full display here, and every dish carries the confidence of a chef who has spent decades at the pinnacle of Australian gastronomy. On the meat side, the offering is nothing short of world-class. A selection of the finest breeds and cuts from Australia’s top producers like Blackmore Wagyu - Australia’s benchmark in full blood Wagyu excellence - and also CopperTree Farms with its beef from retired Holstein-Friesian dairy cows are cooked over a wood-fired grill with stunning precision. The steaks are charred and caramelised outside, tender and expressive inside, with seasoning that respects the integrity of each cut. Margaret is not only one of the best steak destinations in the world - it is also one of the most refined. Yet what makes this restaurant truly unique is Perry’s equal devotion to Australian seafood. Line-caught coral trout, Glacier 51 toothfish, Mooloolaba king prawns and Fraser Isle spanner crab arrive at the table in preparations that are clean, bright, and elegant, often kissed by fire or elevated by subtle Asian influences - a nod to Perry’s deep connection with pan-Pacific flavour profiles. The wine list is intelligent and expansive, with a strong emphasis on Australian producers and sustainable winemaking. The front-of-house team, led by seasoned professionals, moves with polished ease - friendly, informed and always a few steps ahead. The atmosphere is both contemporary and timeless. Warm, natural materials, an open kitchen and generous lighting give the dining room an energy that feels as local as it does global. In 2025, Margaret stands proudly among the world’s best. It is a restaurant that celebrates Australia’s culinary identity through its finest produce - from pasture to coastline - and presents it with clarity, skill and soul. Under Neil Perry’s visionary leadership, it is not only a place to eat - it’s a place to understand what makes Australian dining truly exceptional. Margaret - the proud No. 2 of our list of the World’s 101 Best Steak Restaurants. Age Method: Australia Beef Type: Dry aged beef Grill Type: Wood fired grill | Easy | — | ||
| Saint Peter | Australian Seafood | World's 50 Best | Unknown | — | |
| Rockpool | Australian Cuisine | World's 50 Best | Unknown | — | |
| BENTLEY Restaurant & Bar | Australian Modern | Unknown | — | ||
| Bennelong | Australian Cuisine | Unknown | — | ||
| NEL | Unknown | — |
A quick look at how Margaret measures up.
Lead with the dry-aged beef cooked over the wood-fired grill — that is the core of what earned Margaret the No. 2 position in the World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants 2026. The seafood is worth equal attention: line-caught and coastal preparations are handled with the same discipline as the beef program. Producers like Blackmore Wagyu and CopperTree Farms supply the beef side, so ask your server what is on the grill that night before committing to a cut.
The room at Double Bay reads contemporary and composed — warm materials, open kitchen, considered lighting. Dress accordingly: neat, presentable, not necessarily formal. A jacket is not required, but jeans and sneakers would feel out of place given the occasion and the calibre of the room.
Book at least two to three weeks ahead for a standard weekend table; further out for Friday and Saturday evenings, which fill quickly given Margaret's ranking as No. 2 on the World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants 2026 list. A produce-led dinner at this level has an audience — assume seats are competitive.
For steak-forward dining, Rockpool Bar & Grill is the obvious comparison — broader menu, more central location, but a different register from Margaret's quieter Double Bay setting. For seafood, Saint Peter in Paddington is the more focused option if fish is your main reason to go out. Bennelong and BENTLEY offer serious cooking in their own right but skew toward different occasions and formats.
Yes, and it handles that well without leaning into theatre. The service is calm and prepared rather than performative, which suits milestone dinners where you want the conversation, not the spectacle. Neil Perry's name and the No. 2 world ranking give the booking weight if that matters to your group.
The open kitchen at Margaret creates a natural focal point, which makes solo dining at the counter a reasonable option if available. A wood-fired hearth and an active kitchen give you something to engage with. Call ahead to confirm counter or bar seating — a table for one in a room geared toward groups can feel less comfortable at this price point.
A menu built around provenance and producer relationships tends to have flexibility, but Margaret's kitchen is centred on beef and seafood, so a plant-based or vegan diet would significantly narrow your options. check the venue's official channels at 30-36 Bay St, Double Bay ahead of your visit to confirm what can be accommodated.
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