Franklin

I am in the same camp as a previous Unilocaler — the wine list trumps the food here. While I enjoyed being taken on an interesting journey from local Oysters to foraged native herbs, the ambrosial fantasies werent met by taste. I found most dishes fell short, especially the polenta with gizzards. Appreciate the creative thought here, but it just wasn’t enjoyable. On the positive side; the oysters, parfait and calamari tomato dish were excellent! Hip designer space too.

It could have been so good. The design of the restaurant is perfect, Scandinavian-​industrial concrete with post punk music playing over the stereo. We tried to book but couldn’t and were told if we turn up they keep seats unbooked at the bar for walk-​ins so we might just have to wait. We got there at 6.30 and they estimated an hour wait so I was happy to have a drink and wait. The older couple who were ordering desert when we arrived ended up taking nearly 2 hours to eat dessert and mull over their wine (and they were at bar seats so they didn’t book — have some consideration for people around you, jeez) and only after we had been there 1 ½ hours the waiter offered us some bread, we eventually took a seat at 8.15pm (almost 2 hours after we arrived)
Now the food. We were pretty starving at this point. The appetisers were fantastic, the chicken liver parfait and pickled cherries I’m still thinking about, and made me think it was worth the wait. Then we ordered 2 mains and a side of vegetables. First the vegetables came out — caramelised Dutch carrots in a duck broth, but no mains. We started picking at the carrots and they were so good we finished them off quickly. 30 minutes later one of the mains arrived — the whole flathead. Good, but it was just fish and between the two of us we ate it in a couple of bites. Then another 40 min for the second main (by this time it was after 10pm) and the lamb was good, not sure about $ 48 worth of good, it was a hunk of lamb with very salty ‘bread sauce’ served very very medium rare. It would have been much better if we could have broken up the plate with some delicious carrots…
It felt like we ate 10 bites of food each over nearly 2 hours and we were not really satisfied but I didn’t want to wait another half an hour for a peach. Total bill (2 appetisers, carrots, fish and lamb, plus 3 pots of tap beer and 2 lemon lime and bitters) $ 128.

My best mate and I were in town for a few nights and on the recommendation of a friend tried Franklin. Initially we couldn’t get a booking but called to see about a walk in and were told that a cancellation made a spot available for us.
Upon arriving I was awed with the space. The large and minimal concrete surrounds are my style, the loose-​weave draperies bring a lightness to the place and the wallaby and possum skins here and there keep it grounded in Australiana. The branding is a little bit naff and kind of seems a bit too 60’s Peter Sellars for the interior, but that’s just an opinion
The tables were sparsely positioned around the joint, if this were Melbourne you would cram about 12 more seats in. That being said it was nice to have room to breathe.
Our waitress was a cute young thing who knew her business about the menu without any pretense. Admittedly the drinks list wasn’t as all encompassing as one might expect (we’re Chardonnay drinkers) and the price points were on the high end.
As for the food, we had zucchini flowers and ashen goats-​curd which didn’t have a huge amount of personality. The octopus was two tentacles that tasted surprisingly like pork-​belly. The potato dish was quite delicious, cooked in clam juice with an anchovy and fragrant basil cream, however $ 22 for 3 small potatoes was a bit steep, I guess the light-​fittings must have been expensive! Finally we had the lamb steak that came with a bready kind of roux, it was mind-​blowingly tender and juicy, but again at $ 48 for a small portion, the value wasn’t really there.
All in all, Franklin serves a level of dining that is niche in Hobart, some of their items are a little less special than others and perhaps that will change with time. Perhaps the portions could be a little more generous; despite how delicious something may be, if your customers leave hungry that’s what they will be talking about.

Hip and funky seem to have gotten a little out of hand of late; my wife and I as members of a small party enjoyed the food at Franklin but the evening was spoiled by an indulgent ‘sommelier’ who offered a wine list that frankly undermined the food.
To offer only one lesser known Tas Pinot by the glass, and the only other at $ 140 a bottle was just the start; but the ‘cuteness’ in offering obscure and frankly not very pleasant wines is a disconnect with customers (remember them!)… who are not embarrassed to be drinking top quality Australian. and hopefully Tasmanian wine.
As for the supposed ‘minimal intervention’ policy… get real. First select the best wines… then IF they are ‘minimal intervention’…and I mean IF, as several listed on the Franklin wine list were not… then mark them as so… and who knows you’ll see if that’s what your customers, not your sommelier want to drink.

We visited Franklin during Dark Mofo’s Winter Feast and pretty much loved everything about it. The room is expansive and uncrowded, the furnishings slick yet comfortable. We especially enjoyed the many excellent cocktails suggested by the highly knowledgeable and pleasant staff and the general vibe of the place — kinda trendy and dandy, but not aggressively hipster. Do try it for yourself — highly recommended!

My review should be as short and to the point as the restaurant itself. The large room is sparse and sterile. The service was aloof and, well, sterile. It was like dining in a surgical suite.
The menu was also as short as my grade school girlfriend. There were just twelve entrees and mains combined. That’s it.
The food, if it requires heat goes into a massive industrial wood fired oven. Everything, therefore, takes it’s sweet time to get to the table. So, if you have tickets to a play, a plane to catch or your wife is in labor, this may not be the place for you.
The bread is baked in house although the the one beard hair I found in my thin slice could have used a few more minutes in the oven. Hey, it happens. Just slather more cultured butter over it and keep eating. No worries, it’s biodegradable.
Six oysters came on a small tray nestled on a a bed of rock salt which is fine unless you over-​lip the oyster as you will get some rock salt along for the ride with your gorgeous fresh Pacific Oyster for your trouble. Maybe ice chips would have been a better choice.
The Calamari Salad was as good as such a dish can be. A mound of tender calamari strips backstroking on a pond of blackened pureed eggplant and accented with oil and vinegar misted sorrel leaves. Inventive and brilliant. I could have eaten a whole school of these squid.
The wood fired Flathead with Uni Butter and Crisp Lemon Leaves was also wonderful. So, you had to wrestle the skin off the carcass and extract a bunch of bones from the fish and you gums. Hey, it’s a fish and them buggahs got bones unless you eat a shark which don’t have none. The fish itself was moist, firm, fresh and hot from it’s turn in the pit. Sounds like a perfect date with a mud wrestler. Both are a good idea.
Boiled potatoes with a chiffonade of basil and a splash of cream came with the fish. If you order them. Order them. They are as delicate as the fish and excellent company for the Flathead. A potato is vegetable, isn’t it? Well, close enough.
All in all this place gets a four star rating from me. As stated above it was a bit cold.
All business. I know we don’t dine out to find a new BFF among the staff or line cooks but these automatons took «distance» to new heights. Minimalist on every score card. A restaurant with no foreplay. It reminded me of dining at Le Serpent in Montréal as they wrote the primer on detached staff, but that’s another story and review.
As a bonus, this spot masquerades as Betsy in the morning for breakfast. Betsy occupies space in Franklin by the windows in the front of the house. Great coffee and an obliging friendly good morning to you greeting staff waiting for and on you. They all should be working the night shift.
A perfect poached egg on a house made wheat toast with sauerkraut and a nice thick chunk of corned beef, so good the boys at the Carnegie Deli in Manhattan would remove their hair nets and sweat bands to righteously bow their heads.
If you’re in Hobart, you ought to be at Franklin at least one night.

Fantastic venue with good wine list and open plan seating.
Very modern and cement walls/​ceilings but I like it. Well done.

Open just a few weeks. Not quite ready for prime time. Worlds best salted butter, good bread. Had the salted fish broth (3 out of 5) not much salt or taste and calamari (good 4 out of 5) for appetizers. Clearly both prepared before-​hand as they came out within 5 minutes of us ordering.
Next up was our first fish the Grilled silver Trivially. Rubbery, barely warm, and in spite of the bright green bed of nettles, celery and lovage — all of it lacked any flavor (1 out of 5). Then 10 minutes later our Wood roasted flathead fish with Urchin butter. Fish was flavorful but I assume all Australians must be born knowing how to expertly debone a very bony fish, because our waitress left it up to us. (3 out of 5)
They don’t serve coffee.
We did not stay for dessert.
Waitress was nice, however the whole place felt like a work in progress.
Here’s hoping they get better in a few months.