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Sustainability and locality come to the fore at this farmhouse-style hotel restaurant from Sydney chef Mike McEnearney, who opened this southside iteration of his original venue last year. Both 1 Hotel and McEnearney have solid reputations, and they’ve already drawn a crowd despite the difficult location by the Seafarers yard in Docklands. The result is an ambitious, sustainability-minded restaurant where the ideas sometimes outshine the execution.
The vibe
Linen panels hang from the ceiling, low-slung timber seating fills the room and foliage spills throughout the space alongside large repurposed wooden beams salvaged from the shipyard. From Here By Mike – and 1 Hotel Docklands more broadly – are stunning, design-driven spaces worth popping into for a drink, but the food gives you reason to stay. The service, though a little green at times, is friendly and eager to explain the concept. Inside is nice and cosy, but come summer, grab one of the outdoor seats and look out over the Yarra.
The food
The modern Australian menu is surprisingly expansive for a slow-food restaurant, with around 30 plates that can be mixed and matched a la carte or bundled into a set menu ($165pp). It’s also surprisingly experimental. The chicken sausage with Puy lentils ($29) uses the chicken neck as its casing, with the head still attached. Its beady eyes looking up at you from the table are a bit off-putting, but if you can get past that, this is the best dish of the bunch – something that wouldn’t be out of place at a fine-dining restaurant.
The flatbread ($23), a fan favourite, is delicious, and surprisingly generous in this case. It was a bit heavier on the nut-based cream and lighter on the showstopping housemade vegan XO than we’d like, but still worth ordering for the table.
The octopus ($35), charred and sitting on a bed of puréed turnip and dotted with sweet potato crisps, spent slightly too much time on the grill, leaving a bitter aftertaste. The vegetable elements are nice enough to make up for it, though. A charred leek is forgotten, but we don’t mind: an order of four dishes to share turns out to be plenty of food.
The greatest miss is the gnocchi ($37) with cheddar and cockscomb, the fleshy bit from the top of a chicken’s head. It’s a clever way to use a less popular part of the animal while honouring a historic Italian peasant dish. In practice, though, it doesn’t quite hit the mark, with the soft gnocchi and flabby comb offering too little textural contrast. It needs some crunch, perhaps, or a little more rendering on the protein.
It mirrors what I’ve experienced here on past visits: while the venue has a strong concept, the finesse sometimes falls a bit flat. What it lacks in execution, it makes up for in ethos – but is that enough to carry a restaurant in a hard-to-get-to part of Docklands? Time will tell.
The drinks
The wine list is surprisingly local for a hotel restaurant – though, as already noted, this is a far more high-concept spot than your typical something-for-everyone hotel eatery. Glossary defining symbols such as MS (minimal sulphites), BD (biodynamic) and SC (skin contact) helps bridge the gap for those new to natty wine.
Bottles climb in price if you want them to, though wines by the carafe are a more economical option. There are also several considered cocktails and mocktails which lean into seasonal flavours. Some skew a little sweet, while the martini ($26) offers a great counterpoint to the seafood-forward menu.
Time Out tip
If you’re making the trek to Docklands, make a booking and order several dishes to share.
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