Margaret Sydney

Margaret sits on Bay Street, a five-minute walk from Double Bay Beach. The restaurant holds two hats from the Australia Good Food Guide and received the Icon Award from The World's 50 Best Restaurants. The room runs smart and elegant, serving contemporary international seafood.

While many of the harbour-side venues in this part of Sydney lean heavily on their water proximity to justify a meal, Margaret succeeds because it demands your attention regardless of the view. The service avoids the stiff performance often found in fine dining settings, feeling more like a local institution that happens to operate at a higher technical level than its neighbours. If you are choosing between the crowded waterfront spots and this, you come here for the cooking, not the scenery.