Stable Palms Club brings mid-century glamour to Kensington

Stable Palms Club has arrived in Kensington, and it's the most ambitious opening yet from restaurateur Jared Kichula and his Block Hospitality group. The ground floor of the newly renovated space — formerly home to Free House and most fondly remembered as Molly Malone's — is an explosion of cool mid-century design: low lounge seating, buzzy bar energy, and the unmistakable vibe of a glamorous 1960s California desert escape.

The 150-seat restaurant sits somewhere between Kichula's other concepts. While the Block barbecue restaurants are all meat-sweats affair and the underground cocktail lounges are spirit-forward, Stable Palms Club uses an impressive open-fire grill for full meals or leisurely nibbling.

Chef Jordan Mayo, who migrated from Cardinale, leads the kitchen. Plates start modest — bread with smoked mushroom butter ($10) or crispy dill pickle-marinated, Southern fried chicken ($18) — but build to substantial dinners. The top-notch burger ($28) is ingeniously split in half and placed on a puddle of jus for extra flavour absorption. Savoury pastas range from vongole at $24 to shimeji mushroom and black truffle lasagna at $36. Charcoal-grilled mackerel runs $36. Small pizzettas ($15–$17) feature rich toppings on puffy dough.

Drinks are absolutely a concern. The cocktail menu includes standouts like a pickle martini and a balanced rotation of sweet, savoury, and spirit-forward creations. Non-alcoholic cocktails and a bespoke beer brewed at South Block's in-house brewery round out the bar.

Stable Palms is just the opening act. The Pali Room, a Hawaiian-themed second restaurant with a custom-built retractable roof, is scheduled to open within a week. A third venue in the basement — more of a bar — will launch this fall.

It's a full-scale renovation 18 months in the making, and it signals Kichula's restaurant group is playing for the long game.