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Kitchen by Mike, the CBD incarnation of his much-loved original Rosebery canteen, is Mike McEnearney's solution to what he sees as a shift in demand away from upmarket venues in the city centre.

In mid-April 2019 McEnearney closed his higher-end restaurant No 1 Bent Street (which, ironically, he opened after closing the more casual original Kitchen By Mike), upcycled what he could (he swapped the bar for a canteen-style ironbark servery) and on May 1 reopened as Kitchen by Mike.

While the city-centre is very different to Rosebery, little has changed about McEnearney’s approach, and that’s true to the menu. The breakfast offering is understated. Choose from Mike’s widely-loved sourdough with Pepe Saya butter, lemon curd pancakes, or the bacon butty with a generous dollop of house ketchup. Balance it out with a green alkaline juice.

Lunch could be a wood-roasted chicken with salads of plum, radish and pistachio. For dinner, there’s pickled spanner crab and fermented hot sauce on toast, and a casserole of chorizo, rosemary and wood-roasted rock cod.

The drinks menu has a similar approach. It's almost completely local, without making a big deal of it.

Just like at Rosebery, McEnearney is a fixture at the counter, carving chicken and serving hungry Sydneysiders.