Cafe Margaret’s Bacon and Egg Roll Is My New Benchmark

Some things just go together. Bacon and egg. Salt and pepper. Fish and chips. Neil Perry and Double Bay.

This year has been one of pivots for Perry and, consequently, for the suburb. Song Bird became Gran Torino. Bobby’s became Bar Torino. And then on November 1, Next Door became Cafe Margaret.

Doing my Broadsheet duty, I went down to Cafe Margaret for Saturday brunch.

The breakfast menu is concise but covers all bases. There’s also a string of sweet treats: a banana muffin with almond streusel, sugar-topped scones sandwiched with cream and jam, carrot cake, fior di latte soft serve (great as an affogato, or zhooshed up with Cobram Estate Hojiblanca olive oil, sea salt and corn flakes), and a very of-the-moment apple pie cinnamon scroll.

But I arrived with tunnel vision. I’m here for the bacon and egg roll.

There’s something magical in the alchemy of salty and crisp bacon, a gooey egg and a fluffy bun. A good bacon and egg roll can set the tone for a whole day.

Perry’s Next Door burger – which survived the Cafe Margaret switch-up – was recently named Australia’s best, so expectations are high.

Perry has put double-smoked bacon, free-range eggs and very melty cheese together, with smoky chipotle mayo and thinly cut spring onions. I’ve added the hash brown slab, made with Margaret’s twice-cooked potatoes. It’s $6, bringing the cost of the B&E up to $22.50. It’s Double Bay – it is what it is.

And what it is, is excellent.

My standard was, and always is, set by Andy Bowdy’s Saga brekkie sanga (RIP). One bite in and Cafe Margaret’s bun rockets into top spot. The cheese pull on each bite is seriously satisfying, and the hash brown bulks it out. I’m left with hands covered in yolk and mayo, coming to the sobering realisation that this brunch might be the start of a very expensive weekend-morning habit.

“Neil Perry is a fucking magician,” says the guy at the table next to us as he eats a classic club with shredded chicken and salted chilli.

Alongside that magic club, the breakfast menu goes long on sangas. There’s a four-cheese toastie and a Reuben-esque situation with David Blackmore Wagyu salt beef and Swiss cheese.

The lunch menu includes both the club and the salt beef, plus a nicoise salad, ploughman’s plate and chicken schnitty. Then there’s a trio of burgers: fried fish, crumbed confit mushroom cheeseburger, and that “famous” one.

Perry’s use of the word “cafe” doesn’t denote daytime-only service. “[It] invokes some of the great cafes around the world that are my favourites,” he shared last month. “River Cafe, Zuni Cafe, which are not anything but world-class restaurants.”

The night-time menu includes lunchtime favourites (yes, the burger) alongside fancier entrees and large proteins, including grilled mulloway, Thai fish stew and Shanghai noodles with blue swimmer crab and XO.

After a series of pivots, Perry’s landed somewhere that feels true to him and right for the suburb – with a knockout bacon and egg, for all those who celebrate.

Cafe Margaret
30-36 Bay Street, Double Bay
(02) 9068 8888

Hours:
Mon & Tue 7am–3pm
Wed to Sat 7am–10pm
Sun 7am–9pm

themargaretfamily.com/venue/cafe-margaret/
@cafemargaretdoublebay