Review: On Song with Song Bird

• Neil Perry has been one of Australia’s leading chefs for four decades.
• He has moved to Double Bay and opened restaurants, a cocktail bar and a bakery.
• Song Bird marks his return to Cantonese cooking.

Neil Perry’s takeover of Double Bay’s food scene—known to locals as “double pay” for its reputation for high prices—has given this eastern suburbs location a strong distinction. But it has not been without hard work.

The pony-tailed rock god of CBD dining once owned Rockpool, Spice Temple, and Rosetta and famously coordinated Qantas catering for more than two decades. But he decided to move out of the city (not far, admittedly) and open fine diner Margaret to much fanfare in 2021.

A sister restaurant called Next door—it is indeed next door—followed, then Baker Blue, a bakery collaboration, Bobbie’s basement cocktail bar and Song Bird, a three story Asia restaurant.

Song Bird’s opening was not without drama. Perry called the first four weeks the hardest month of his career in an Instagram post. In interviews, he suggested it had opened too fast.

However, he has enormous experience in Chinese food—Spice Temple in the city was a personal favourite, and one of five he has opened in a career of more than four decades.

He doggedly set about changing things for the better.

Tonight, we arrive to a packed house. There is a party of 12 in the basement and our second-floor table in the dining venue is ready.

Service is friendly and there is a large contingent of waiters on the floor as we move swiftly through our starters of spinach and chive dumplings ($22) and Spencer Gulf prawn wonton ($39). Both are good

Our coral trout fillet ($65) is large and delicately flavoured and our crab noodles ($65) delicious.

Outside, Margaret is still bustling as is Next Door. It must give Perry satisfaction to work with his daughter Josephine to reinvent this once stately suburb, that suffered a decline a decade ago and has now risen from the dad.

He has worked hard for it. When he opened Baker Blue I remember seeing him at 7am cutting the bread and making sandwiches in the back.

Song Bird is not your average Chinese restaurant, and the menu eclectic and mixed to cater for the clientele. But the ambience is good, and the food is, as you would expect from the master, excellent.

Song Bird

Where: 24 Bay St, Double Bay, NSW.
When: Dinner from 6pm Wednesday to Sunday, and lunch from 12pm Thursday to Sunday.
Price guide: our meal for two cost $205 without wine.

Bookings: themargaretfamily.com/venue/songbird