Restaurant in Sydney, Australia
Neil Perry's casual neighbour. Order the burger.
Next Door, on Clarence St in Sydney's CBD, is the casual counterpart to Neil Perry's Margaret — a focused, ingredient-led restaurant built around one of Sydney's most carefully constructed cheeseburgers. Easy to book and low on ceremony, it works well for dates, solo lunches, and business meals where the food still needs to perform.
Next Door is worth booking if you want a well-executed, ingredient-driven casual meal in a composed, low-key setting. The CopperTree Farms cheeseburger alone justifies the trip for anyone who takes the format seriously. This is not a destination for elaborate tasting menus — it is a restaurant where a single dish is done with the kind of care that most places reserve for their headline plates. Book it for a relaxed date, a solo lunch, or a low-pressure business catch-up where the food still needs to impress.
Positioned at 60-62 Clarence St in Sydney's CBD and closely associated with Neil Perry's fine-dining flagship Margaret next door, Next Door sits in an interesting bracket: it has the sourcing rigour and ingredient pedigree of a serious restaurant, but the atmosphere and format of somewhere you can eat without ceremony. The room reads calm rather than dramatic — light wood, marble, and rattan, with neutral tones and an uncluttered layout. If you are coming from a high-contrast dining room like Bennelong or the grander end of the Sydney scene, Next Door will feel deliberately restrained. That restraint is the point.
The signature here is the American cheeseburger, built on a CopperTree Farms beef patty that has been cited as among the two leading tasted in Sydney over the past year. Rose mayo, a sharp-but-not-aggressive ketchup, crunchy pickles and onions round it out. This is Perry's interpretation of a classic , the kind of dish where the decisions are invisible until you compare it to a lesser version. It does not reinvent the burger; it executes it at a level most places cannot match.
On a first visit, anchor to the cheeseburger. That is the dish Next Door is known for and the one that makes the strongest case for the kitchen's sourcing approach. On a second visit, use the occasion to work through the supporting menu , the rest of the offering is built around the same premium-ingredient logic, so there is more to discover beyond the headline dish. A third visit is where Next Door earns its place as a reliable repeat: it suits the kind of occasion where you want quality without the formality of Rockpool or the commitment of a full tasting menu at Saint Peter.
For special occasions where you want a more layered experience across the evening, consider pairing a meal at Next Door with a drink at one of the CBD's better bars , the compact, focused menu means dinner will not run long, and the relaxed pace suits a broader night out. See our full Sydney bars guide for options that complement this kind of evening.
Next Door is well-suited to dates and casual business meals where the food needs to be good but the setting should not feel high-stakes. The room's calm, inviting tone works for two or four people comfortably. If you are planning a special occasion at the more formal end , milestone birthday, anniversary dinner , you may want to consider whether the relaxed format meets the moment, or whether a venue with more theatrical range would serve better. For a first date or a low-key celebration, it is a strong call: the quality signals are there without the pressure of a formal dining room. Compare this to what you get at 10 William St or 6HEAD if beef-focused dining in Sydney is the priority and you want to weigh your options.
Solo diners will find Next Door comfortable , the room's layout and atmosphere do not make eating alone feel conspicuous, and the counter-style casual format suits one person as easily as two.
For Sydney diners choosing between casual quality and formal destination dining, Next Door sits in a distinct middle tier. Saint Peter is the better choice if Australian seafood and a more ambitious menu are the priority , it is harder to book and commands a higher price, but the range of the experience is broader. Rockpool is the more appropriate call if you want beef at a fine-dining register with full service depth. Next Door is for when you want premium ingredients in a room that does not require a special occasion to justify the visit.
BENTLEY Restaurant and Bar and Bennelong offer more complex Australian Modern menus if you want a multi-course meal with wine pairing options built in. NEL is worth considering if a tighter, more chef-driven format appeals. Next Door's advantage over all of them is accessibility , easier to book, lower commitment, and a focused menu that removes the decision fatigue of a longer evening. If you are visiting Sydney and have one casual dinner to spend wisely, Next Door delivers a clear return on that investment.
For broader Australian dining context, Attica in Melbourne and Brae in Birregurra represent the more ambitious end of the national premium-casual spectrum. Closer to home, 20 Chapel is worth a look if the Sydney CBD location matters and you want to compare formats before booking.
| Venue | Price | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Next Door | Easy | — | |
| Saint Peter | Unknown | — | |
| Rockpool | Unknown | — | |
| BENTLEY Restaurant & Bar | Unknown | — | |
| Bennelong | Unknown | — | |
| NEL | Unknown | — |
Side-by-side comparison to help you decide where to book.
Anchor your first visit to the cheeseburger. Built on a CopperTree Farms beef patty with rose mayo, pickles, and onions, it is the dish the kitchen is known for and the one most likely to justify the trip. Next Door sits at 60-62 Clarence St in the Sydney CBD, closely associated with Neil Perry's fine-dining flagship Margaret next door, so the standards in the kitchen are higher than the relaxed room suggests.
The room is described as intimate, which typically means groups of six or more may feel a squeeze. Smaller groups of two to four are the format this space suits best. If you are planning a larger booking, check the venue's official channels to confirm capacity before committing a group to it.
Booking details are not publicly documented for this venue, but given its association with Neil Perry and its position in the Sydney CBD lunch circuit, same-week bookings should be feasible outside peak Friday lunch slots. Aim for at least a few days ahead if you have a firm date in mind.
It depends on what you mean by special. Next Door is well-suited to a low-key celebration or a work dinner where the food needs to be good but the atmosphere should not feel high-stakes. For a milestone dinner where the room itself is part of the occasion, the fine-dining format at Margaret next door is the more appropriate choice.
Saint Peter is the better call if your priority is seafood-led cooking with serious culinary intent. NEL is worth considering if you want a smaller, chef-driven room in the CBD. Rockpool and Bennelong operate at a higher price point and a more formal register. Next Door sits between all of them: casual enough to drop into for lunch, but ingredient-driven enough to feel deliberate.
The room uses light wood, marble, and rattan and is described as stylish but low-key. Smart casual — clean jeans, a shirt or blouse — is appropriate and likely what most of the CBD lunch crowd arrives in. No indication in the available venue data that a stricter dress code applies.
Yes. The calm, uncluttered layout and intimate scale make it a practical solo lunch option in the CBD. The cheeseburger is a single-order anchor dish, so there is no pressure to build a table of shared plates. Solo diners eating at the counter or a small table will not feel out of place here.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
