The story
Margaret’s began with a regular at Restaurant 22 – a fervent solo diner named Margaret who came for lunch every week. Conversations over coffee and dessert turned into a friendship, and that spirit of warm hospitality now lives on in this modern British bistro. The younger sibling to the Michelin-starred Restaurant 22, Margaret’s opened on Chesterton Road with a clear purpose: to serve the local community and create a place where guests feel genuinely welcome, whether it’s their first visit or their fiftieth.
The kitchen works with suppliers as close to Cambridge as possible, building a seasonal set menu around what’s available that day. Sustainability guides every dish – ingredients are used thoughtfully to minimise waste, and the menu changes regularly to reflect the time of year. Designed to be shared, the cooking is produce-led and unfussy, served with the same care that defined those early conversations with Margaret. Sample menus on the website give a flavour, but the real experience changes with each season.
Margaret’s has earned a Michelin Recommended distinction, a fitting recognition for a bistro that balances relaxed counter and table service with serious cooking. The atmosphere is welcoming, the team warm and attentive. Whether you come for lunch, Sunday lunch, or dinner, the two-hour sitting gives you exactly the right amount of time to enjoy a meal built on quality ingredients and genuine hospitality.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
The bistro alternative to Sam Carter and Alex Olivier’s acclaimed Restaurant Twenty-Two, just two doors away, is casual and cosy but feels expansive, helped along by service that is utterly charming. It’s appreciated for being open all week, ‘unheard of for a little independent like this,’ and for making fine dining accessible and neighbourly. It’s bound to win you over. The food, based on first-class seasonal, often local materials, is sophisticated and comforting rather than experimental and challenging. It nourishes, gratifies and cheers, from the opening rosemary and sea-salt focaccia and sublime snacks to the finale of just-baked madeleines, and from the ‘unmatched’ Sunday roasts (‘who doesn't want ox cheek inside their Yorkshire pudding’) to a set lunch menu that feels like Cambridge’s best. Settle into the window seats and watch the world go by or book a booth on the upper tier to glimpse the kitchen action. As for drinks, the well-curated wine selection does an agile job of satisfying the novelty-hungry as well as traditionalists, but they already had us at the aperitif stage – every cocktail has a spot-on alcohol-free version.
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