Kipling's Garage Bar
2 Eastern Rd
Turramurra, Sydney
We came here looking for a simple light meal and left quite impressed with this popular bar/restaurant in Turramurra near the station. In what was once a corner garage, the space has been well used and there's a nice atmosphere inside and outside in the courtyard. There are a few tables streetside as well and they were just as popular even though it was a very hot day! We settled down in the cooler room inside, grabbed a few drinks - ginger beer for Mlady and an Irvine merlot for Sir - and perused the menu for our tapas.
An easy first selection was the trio of dips to start our eating off nicely. This had hummus, taramasalata and smoked tomato and feta. It came with warm pita bread. The bowls of dip may look small but they held plenty and the warm soft pita bread was impossible to resist.
Time for some fried goodies and we went for the chicken croquettes with smoked chilli aioli and the five cheese arancini balls with smoked aioli. Both these choices were great but the arancini balls were our favourite. They looked spectacular and tasted so good.
We were going to stop with three or four plates but couldn't split the final two choices so went with them both. Our final two selections were the mini eye fillet medallions wrapped in pancetta with horseradish cream and the baked sea scallops with herb crumb. Again we were very happy with both. The medallions were tender and juicy with a nice gentle bite from the horseradish working well with it. The scallops were almost as good - tender and juicy with good contrasting texture from the herb crumb.
We left Kipling's full and very satisfied. It's a place with a nice vibe, pleasant decor, good food and friendly helpful service. The prices don't break the bank either. It's quite rightly busy so even though drop ins are fine it's best to book .