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From Here by Mike
9 Maritime Place
Docklands

Mother’s Day is this Sunday and if you are still looking for something sorted, no judgement, we’ve all been there, I have got you. From Here by Mike in Docklands is the kind of place that will make whoever is doing the organising look very thoughtful and frankly a much better family member than you probably are. Whether you’re a husband, a sibling, a grandchild, or the one in the family who always pulls it together at the last minute, this is your answer. And the best part? They still have plenty of bookings available, so you are not too late.

Mike McEnearney, the Sydney chef behind the beloved Kitchen by Mike, has done something quite remarkable down there on the waterfront. The restaurant sits inside 1 Hotel, a heritage docks warehouse built in 1895, and they’ve kept over 2000 original features including bluestone pavers, timber doors and those incredible steel trusses soaring overhead. When Mike got approached about the partnership he said he’d never worked with a hotel before because he found them too beige and cookie-cutter. But this one won him over because the values genuinely aligned. It’s also Mike’s Melbourne homecoming in a way – he spent time here as a young chef staging with the legendary Stephanie Alexander, and the twice-baked soufflé on the menu today is a quiet nod to that experience. Lovely bit of history there.

The philosophy is hyper-local. Every menu features a literal map of Victoria with pins marking the producers. You drive a couple of hours in any direction and you’re in Gippsland, the Yarra Valley, the Otways, the Macedon Ranges, and that’s exactly where this menu comes from. Head Chef Josh Bosen leads a kitchen that feels genuinely tied to this place, this state, this season.

Now the food. We started with the Twice-Baked Goat’s Cheese Soufflé, goat’s cheese from Meredith Dairy midway between Geelong and Ballarat, baked once for structure then baked again to order. What arrives is impossibly light but deeply savoury in this rosemary cream sauce that is just dreamy. Then the Fried Brussels Sprouts from Plenty Valley, picked after the first frost, fried until caramelised, finished with vincotto mustard and shaved ricotta salata. Sweet, sharp, salty, crunchy. No right being that good.

Then we got into the share plates and the steak, and honestly this is where the meal really opened up. The Wood Roasted Sugarloaf Cabbage was the dish of the night for me. Charred on the outside, almost buttery in the centre, with silky onion soubise, black garlic, walnuts and chives. The kind of thing that makes you completely reassess what plant-based cooking can be. The Wood Roasted Pumpkin with maple syrup, burnt sage butter and pepita granola was right alongside it, sweet and rich and deeply savoury all at once, that granola giving it this lovely crunch that just lifted the whole thing. And then the steak, the Wanderer Free Range Flat Iron, MB5+ marbling from Lockington and Gippsland, grilled over fire with house-made condiments, pickles and preserves. No fuss, no theatre. Just exceptional beef cooked with real confidence. The three of them together made for a pretty spectacular table.

We finished with two desserts that are worth saving room for. Mike’s Grandmother’s Vanilla Rice Cream with roasted strawberries and thyme is exactly as comforting as it sounds, the kind of dessert that feels like someone genuinely cares about you. And the Chocolate Torte with Cuvee chocolate, hazelnut and a makrut lime curd is rich and a little bit unexpected in the best possible way. That lime curd cuts right through it beautifully.

The wine list is ninety percent Victorian and Mike writes it himself alongside the food menu because, as he puts it, they need to talk to each other. If something from outside Victoria makes the cut it’s because it shares the same values as the local producers, care, integrity, restraint, a real sense of place. The common thread matters more than the postcode. I had the Nebbiolo 2018 Tesoro from Pipan Steel in the Alpine Valleys, light and elegant with plenty going on. Victoria’s Alpine Valley Nebbiolo is still an undiscovered gem for a lot of people and this was a great example of why.

Go before winter’s over because that soufflé and those sprouts are peak-season right now, and that cabbage and that steak are absolute must-orders. And if Mother’s Day isn’t sorted yet, get online and grab a table. There are still plenty of bookings available right now, and I cannot think of a better way to spend a Sunday with the mum in your life than eating well by the Yarra in one of Melbourne’s most beautiful heritage buildings. She deserves it.

You’ve got time. Go book it.

Images: Supplied