If there’s anyone in the Emerald City who knows a thing or two about high-quality comfort food, it’s Mike McEnearney. The award-winning chef, author and restaurateur first captured the hearts and stomachs of Sydneysiders with his canteen-style cooking at Kitchen by Mike back in 2012. The Rosebery original shut up shop in 2015, but its second incarnation opened on Bent Street in the CBD in 2019 – and picked up a nod for Best New Restaurant at last year’s Time Out Food Awards.
The all-day eatery is currently closed, but like so many others across town is getting into the home-delivery game with the launch of Kitchen by Mike at Home. The new online store will be a one-stop shop for hearty and wholesome pre-cooked meals, in addition to larder staples, booze and fresh produce.
As for heat-and-eat dishes, the seasonal menu is set to rotate weekly, with a heavy focus on New South Wales ingredients. Expect individual and family-sized portions of nourishing favourites – think meatloaf, Moroccan-style lamb stew, Wagyu shin and stout pie, a sweet potato and cabbage gratin – as well as tried and true hits from the restaurant such as chicken-liver pâté, twice-baked goat’s cheese soufflé and rice pudding.
Customers will be able to order items individually or as whole meals, like a Sunday roast with all the trimmings, or a vegan feast featuring a silverbeet pie with a broccolini and tofu salad, and a dark chocolate and beetroot cake to finish. McEnearney’s own range of jams and condiments will be available to add on, as will his highly sought-after sourdough bread and a range of Australian beers and wines from small producers.
This just so happens to be the creative director of the institutional Carriageworks Farmers Market we’re talking about, too, so boxes of farm-fresh produce and pasture-raised eggs from the stallholders you usually see on your Saturday shop are also a part of the offer. And if for whatever reason you’re short of inspiration, don’t worry – McEnearney’s two cookbooks will also be for sale.
Kitchen by Mike at Home is slated to start delivering next week. For more information, click here.