Kitchen by Mike

Kitchen by Mike is all about creating a shared experience around wholesome, generous, and responsibly-sourced food. Having worked his way up through the ranks of Sydney's Rockpool and the London restaurant scene, Mike McEnearney famously turned his back on fine dining to create something altogether simpler and more honest. Sharing a former canning factory in Sydney's Rosebery with the Koskela design team and other creative entrepreneurs, Kitchen by Mike has forged a new direction in dining. Behind the roller doors, a queue of hungry people snakes past a canteen-style counter piled high with burnished sourdough loaves and a seasonal array of wood-fired roasts, grain, and vegetable salads, tartines, wraps, and pastries. You point to what you want, you pay, and then you eat—at raw wooden tables, off enamel plates, using cutlery in recycled tins. With a mission to make good food available to all-comers, Mike's first book is full of his signature market-fresh recipes with unmatched depth of flavor. Generous with his knowledge, Mike also shares the secrets behind Kitchen by Mike's sensational house-made bread and fresh cheeses, and the joys of a well-stocked larder, fridge, and freezer.

Mike McEnearney is executive chef and co-owner of Kitchen by Mike in Sydney. He cooked for five years at Sydney's internationally renowned Rockpool before moving to London, where he worked at the Michelin-starred Pied a Terre, and ran the kitchens of Mezzo, Bluebird, Pharmacy, and Scott's. Mike returned to Australia in 2006 to lead the kitchen at Rockpool in Sydney. In 2010 he spent a year baking at Iggy's Bread of the World, then in 2011 launched Mike's Table, an acclaimed underground dining experience that rapidly gained cult status. Kitchen by Mike opened in February 2012 and was awarded Best Cafe in that year's Time Out Sydney Food Awards.