Fat Rupert’s, Bondi

After many weeks (OK, months) of wanting to check out Fat Rupert’s on Bondi Road, Bondi, tonight, I finally got the chance. Truth be told I’ve had many chances, however, that’s not the point. The point is that Fat Rupert’s has some seriously delicious cocktails and mighty good tucker that you just can’t go past.

Sitting on a corner of Bondi Road’s busy, er, road, Fat Rupert’s presents a air of understated charm and cosiness. The small and dimly lit interior (I’m a sucker for dark, mood setting restaurants) allows you to comfortably sit back and settle in for a night of Australian-style tapas food and pretty cocktails.

Books inventively line the wall next to the bar, with scattered books about dogs placed around the restaurant. Because, Fat Rupert’s, is indeed named after the owner’s Cocker-Spaniel, Rupert, who, as the name suggests, is quite the chubbster.

Checking out the cocktail menu, a stand-out drink was definitely the ‘Shiver me Timbers’ – vodka, Fireball whiskey, Kalhua, honey, orange

bitters and a splash of pine and lime juice ($17). Hands down, this was one of the loveliest cocktails I’ve had in a while. The cocktail was presented in a jar (major cool/hipster points), and also came with a stick of cinnamon. The strong cinnamon spice paired exquisitely with the citrus tang. Waiter- another round of these, please!

To eat, we started off with the polenta chips with chipotle aioli ($9). The chips were wickedly crunchy with a slightly smokey flavour to them, which was complemented by the spicy chipotle aioli. Only criticism? There was not enough of the scrumptious aioli!

Then came what I was most excited for, the Mini Yeezy Burger’s with in house ground beef, Swiss cheese and chipotle ($17). I’d heard many-a great things about these little buns of perfection so I was keen to give them a go. They were good – but not as amazing as some have claimed. The brioche bun was soft, the cheese wonderfully gooey, but the beef patty was a touch dry and again, they went too easy on the sauce. Guys please, the more sauce the better. It should be every restaurants motto! But they were delish, none the less.

I felt a little bit dazed (it doesn’t take much) as the salad was next to come. Um, don’t salads usually come first? But it was tapas, so I suppose anything goes! The fennel and apple salad with bacon and broad beans ($11) looked interesting on the menu, but tasted even more interesting on the palate. I’d never really considered fennel and bacon to be a good pairing, but by George is it ever! That distinct licorice flavour of fennel and the smokiness of the bacon was a taste explosion in my mouth. Definitely an interesting but satisfying combination.

After a bit of a mix-up with our order, the buttermilk and fried chicken with honey butter and coleslaw ($14) finally arrived. The flavour was almost Asian style, almost like honey chicken with a golden, fried, buttery twist. This was the night’s stand out dish. The sauce was utterly moreish and the chicken was soft and tender with a gorgeously crunchy exterior.  Unfortunately the coleslaw salad was quite and tasteless.

After much thought, we decided we should get dessert. We of course knew we were always going to get dessert but at least pretending like we were trying to be good made us feel slightly better about ourselves. There were only two options, a brownie with vanilla bean ice-cream ($15) or popcorn creme brulee with candy corn. I’m not such a fan of creme brulee so despite how interesting the popcorn flavour combo sounded, we opted for a good old brownie.

You can either get a brownie oh so wrong, or oh so right, and Fat Rupert’s definitely fell under the latter category. Just a simple brownie with plain ice-cream, but it was wonderfully gooey with little chocolate bits hidden inside too. The ice-cream was beautiful as well. A+ !

Thank you Fat Rupert’s, I will definitely be back!

Check out their website here.