NEW SOUTH WALES
STATE WINNER
Margaret
AUSTRALIAN
Cnr Bay St & Guilfoyle Ave, Double Bay
(02) 9068 8888
Chef Neil Perry & Richard Purdue
Price guide $$$
Bookings Recommended
Wheelchair access Yes
Open Lunch Thu-Sun; Dinner Wed-Sun
While it’s hardly surprising that Neil Perry’s latest restaurant is very good, it can be surprising just how good Margaret is. Over the course of his groundbreaking career, Perry has become synonymous with a specific type of modern Australian dining that melds a variety of cuisines around brilliant, carefully sourced ingredients. It can be easy to take his presence for granted. But taste a forkful of first-rate King George whiting (grilled, splashed with lemon and olive oil) and experience a heavenly choir moment. Or be wowed by meticulously balanced prawn-and-pork sausages with peanut and cucumber relish, pitch-perfect tuna sashimi or fried coral-trout wings doused in lime and chilli. The casually luxurious earth-toned room and careful yet relaxed service, along with an admirable wine list that gives maximum support to the seafood-heavy menu, only add to the feeling you’re in the presence of a master still at the height of his powers.
Beach Byron Bay
AUSTRALIAN
2 Massinger St, Byron Bay
1300 583 766
Chef Alanna Sapwell
Price guide $$
Bookings Essential
Wheelchair access Yes
Open Lunch Thu-Mon; Dinner Thu-Sat
Few dining rooms in Australia are as true to their name as Beach, the foam-white pavilion perched on the dunes of Byron’s Clarkes Beach. It’s the perfect setting for head chef Alanna Sapwell’s concise, Mediterranean-esque stylings; her relaxed-but-refined plates seasoned by the saltwater breeze as they drift through the sunny open dining room. Sapwell’s time at Sydney’s Saint Peter is particularly evident in the daily specials – ribbons of charcoal-licked squid caught two kilometres away, say, knotted over a peppery nasturtium salsa verde. There’s plenty for pescatarians, carnivores and vegetarians alike, but the knockout punch is a sweet one: cubes of pineapple, white peach and rollinia (a native custard apple, sourced nearby) jelly alongside coconut sorbet and guava granita, evoking childhood memories of ice-cream and
