First Look: Everything Is “From Here” at New All-Day Restaurant From Here by Mike

Mike McEnearney grew up in Sydney and made his name there. First working alongside some of the best chefs of his generation at Neil Perry’s Rockpool, before going on to open Kitchen by Mike, a democratic canteen known for uncomplicated food.

Along the way he’s McEn-earnt a reputation for seeking out the finest produce available and treating it right – hence 10 years serving as creative director of the Carriageworks Farmers Market alongside more commercial gigs like Kitchen by Mikes at Sydney Airport and Westpac’s Open Air Cinema.

Now it’s Melbourne’s turn to feel the passion. Tomorrow McEnearney opens From Here by Mike, a 100-seat restaurant inside 1 Hotel in the Docklands. Founded in 2015, the nascent chain has been on a global tear, launching 20 new properties in its short time.

“I started to listen to them after they contacted me a couple of times,” McEnearney says. “I’d never partner with a hotel – I find them beige and cookie-cutter. But these guys have a real commitment to sustainable and local. These are big things that I’ve always stood by, with what I’ve done.”

He motions upwards, to the fire-engine-red steel trusses that soar over Crane Bar, which serves as both the hotel’s lobby bar and From Here’s de facto pre-drinks spot. “All of these rafters are from the original goods store. All of them,” he says, seemingly in awe.

The building, a docks warehouse built in 1895 and once known as Goods Shed No 5, is in Convention Land, opposite South Wharf across the Yarra. Some 2000 original features have been retained and restored, including tiles, bluestone pavers, timber doors and window frames. The original steel crane the lobby bar is named for sits right outside, stretching up just half the hotel’s considerable height. Upstairs there are 114 residential apartments and 277 hotel rooms – a considerable cache of hungry mouths.

McEnearney is meeting them with an all-day concept that loudly champions Victorian ingredients, hence the name “From Here”. The breakfast, lunch and dinner menus each feature a map of the state. Twenty-plus pins locate star producers for the tourists. There’s Meredith Dairy, Valenca Free Range Pork, Aurum Poultry, Timbarra Farm and, less helpfully, Tea Drop and Urku Chocolate, which mainly work with imported ingredients.

All this underlies numerous wholesome breakfasts: miso and avo toast, chicken and ginger congee, coconut chia pudding with baked rhubarb and a collagen broth with turmeric and lion’s mane ’shrooms. Walking the talk and keeping the menu properly seasonal will take some work at a relatively high-volume place like this, McEnearney acknowledges. “It’ll be challenging, but I’m really happy with my squad.”

Leading that squad in the magazine-ready open kitchen is Josh Bosen, formerly head chef at Smith & Daughters. At lunch his team fires up the wood grill and wood oven for a $59 set menu, which includes one main and two sides per person. Poached snapper, roasted porchetta, smartly sauced pumpkin or broccoli – that sort of thing.

McEnearney’s chicken-liver pâté, a product of his many years cooking in classic French kitchens in Europe, is an also an à la carte lunch option in the “additional small things” section. Want to add a little glass of wine? It’ll probably be local, of course. “I write the food and the wine list, ’cos they need to talk to each other,” McEnearney says. “The wine list has over 40 per cent Victorian growers on it. If it’s Spanish, or French, it’s gotta earn its way onto the list. It can’t be taking up space I want to give to a local winegrower.”

The famous pâté returns at dinner, alongside oysters with pickled daikon and finger lime mignonette and a handful of other thoughtfully dressed seafood dishes. Portarlington mussels with cider butter and garlic shoots, and grilled Skull Island prawns with carrot koji and chilli oil, to name two.

Also of note: a pressed capretto (goat) from Meredith Dairy, currently served with labneh and a saltbush-watercress take on salsa verde; and a twice-baked goats cheese soufflé that calls back to the ’90s and McEnearney’s time staging (interning) at Stephanie Alexander’s eponymous restaurant, one of the city’s most legendary.

Because here’s the thing: he might have made his name in Sydney, but as a young buck McEnearney spent some of his holidays from Rockpool down here, learning the ins and outs of Victorian produce not just with Alexander, but also her contemporaries Greg Brown and Bill Marchetti. Is he From Here? No, but he could be.

From Here by Mike
1 Hotel, 9 Maritime Place, Docklands
(03) 7053 0888

Hours
Mon & Tue 7am–10.30am & 5.30pm–10pm
Wed to Fri 7am–10.30am, 12.30pm–3pm & 5.30pm–10pm
Sat 7am–11am & 12.30pm–3pm & 5.30pm–10pm
Sun 7am–11am & 12.30pm–3.30pm

1hotels.com/melbourne/taste/from-here-by-mike