Kitchen By Mike, Rosebery – Rating: 22.5/25

Kitchen By Mike is full of surprises.  It is secluded, hidden inside The Cannery warehouse yet is is expansive.  There is plenty of space in the garden, on the deck or inside.  This makes it a great location for large breakfasts or events.

Despite its size, there is definitely no love lost.  Staff are friendly, the food is locally sourced from the garden or markets and the menu is ever changing.  Speaking of the menu, I was initially disappointed on arrival to see the relatively small number of dishes available but the specials expand your options and I was about to be taken on one of the most marvelous food adventures in a long time!

My spirits soured as soon as I noticed the packets Five Senses dotted around the shelves.  My favourite beans delivered and Kitchen By Mike prepared all of our cups expertly.

A delightful dish to share is the fruit & nut toast with ricotta and honeycomb ($12).  The smooth ricotta, crunchy toast and dash of honey alongside honeycomb was a real treat.  The bircher muesli ($8) also had my mouth watering at the mere sight of it!

I learned today, thanks to some British friends, that a “butty” is a shortened term for a buttered sandwich.  We didn’t know this at the time of ordering but Mike had me at “bacon”!  The bacon butty ($8) then, as you can see, is a sandwich filled with plenty of bacon and a slightly sweet tomato relish.  Any bacon lover will adore this.  The bun itself was also stunning; soft and flavoursome.

The eggs Benedict ($13) is KBM’s hollandaise dish which is also available as royale with smoked salmon for the same price.  The roll once again was part of what made such a delicious meal but the slow cooked egg, next-to-perfect hollandaise and chewy prosciutto were heavenly.  Unfortunately it was too small so I had to go back for…

The tomatoes ala creme with nduja toast ($16) was one of the specials for breakfast on this particular day.  One of my guests ordered it and I went back for more after tasting his.  The creamy tomato base would find a good home on some pasta but in this case it was coupled with roasted tomatoes, basil and nduja toast.  Nduja is a spicy, spreadable pork sausage and this rendition blew me away.  Yes, it was extremely hot but it packed a lot of flavour too and the toast was perfect to scoop up every last bit of sauce.

Something a bit more recognisable on the menu was the big breakfast ($20).  KBM added their own flair though by combining all of the flavours into a tiny, simmering hot dish.  Coddled eggs, mushrooms, bacon, tomato and chipolata all made their way in and it was simply an explosion of gorgeous flavours.

I am of the firm belief that Mike could simply do no wrong in the kitchen!  Every beverage or plate that found its way to our table was exquisite.  Some other dishes on the menu include coconut yoghurt with seasonal fruit ($11), granola, yoghurt and stewed fruit ($12) and raw vegetables, sprouts, quinoa and poached egg ($15).

When I returned to the counter for my second round of orders, the staff member checked with the kitchen only to be told that they were actually not taking any more orders.  But as I have come to discover, the KBM staff go above & beyond and she persuaded them to produce one more dish!

If you plan to indulge in the lunch menu (which starts at twelve precisely), do yourself a favour and arrive early.  The line was easily twenty people deep as the kitchen switched over.  You have most likely heard of Kitchen By Mike and in my opinion, it’s worth the fuss and the trip to try it!