Franklin Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Hobart

Hobart has a lot of beautifully preserved architecture, and the heritage-listed, Argyle Street art deco exterior of Franklin Hobart is no exception. Prior to housing the Mercury newspaper’s printing press, the minimalist restaurant space was once a 1930s car dealership called City Motors. Today you’ll find it sleek, dark and angular, dominated in the light-filled front room by an austere polished concrete and metal bar.

In the darkened rear, it has been softened with painted paling faux-walls, fifties-inspired furniture, and gauzy drapes that try to create some cosy lounge-room type nooks inside the industrial space. In the large open kitchen, centred around a wood-fire Scotch oven, you’ll find Analiese Gregory. You might recall Gregory’s cooking from her last Sydney venue, Bar Brosé, before she relocated to this island state. At Franklin her emphasis is showcasing Tasmanian produce, starting with Blackman Bay Pacific Oysters ($5/each) enhanced with a bright green dribble of elderflower vinegar.

Opening bites are best consumed with your fingers; starting with wafer-thin yeast crisps stuffed with generous, fat pink squiggles of rich, Chicken Liver Parfait ($4). Crisp Octopus Head and Saltbush Dumplings ($4/each) are tasty, especially when dragged through a golden sauce that evokes preserved lemons. The only disappointment is a too-oily, set Scotch Quail Egg ($5) encased in sobrasada, a spreadable Spanish sausage.

Gregory’s emphasis on local produce continues into our shared dishes with Bruny Island Wallaby ($20) served raw and delicate against a slight rumble of coffee brown butter offset by pickled pear. Eat it with a fork, or scoop it up with the edible blooms onto the accompanying buckwheat crisps, if you prefer.

For our drinking journey, we left ourselves in the hands of Manager Forbes Appleby, whose list leans towards pricy. He kicked us off with a co-branded drop from local star winemaker, Peter Dredge, the 2017 Dr. Franklin-Stein Pinot Noir. I don’t know if it did dishes like the Wood Roasted Octopus ($24) any favours. Regardless it was a pretty dish with a nice smoky undercurrent brightened up by sweet and sour currants.

With most of the list leaning towards natural, we gave our palates a break by ordering the four listed sakes. While quite slow to arrive, the four sakes all imported by Blackmarket, were bested by the pure intentions and natural rice characters of the Mutemuka Shuzo ‘Mutemuka’ ($15) from Koshi in Japan's Kumamoto Prefecture. It went particularly well against the Tunnel Hill Oyster Mushrooms ($16) served with braised mekabu and egg yolk sabayon. The buttery seaweed mushroom combination was insanely good; well I think it was - I would have needed a second mouthful to really be sure. And therein lies the sticking point for me, refined as we tried to share four-ways a well-executed triangle of Wood Roasted King Edward Potato Galette ($20): the portions at Franklin are too small.

Combining four people with very small portions, left everyone wanting for more of each dish. Well, except for the Littlewood Lamb ($40), which, while still small, was dominated by unrendered fat and required too much sawing for my liking. With the benefit of hindsight, I’d opt for the ‘Feed Me’ ($85/head) option initially suggested by staff without any explanation that tackling the menu otherwise might lead to disappointment.

They redeem themselves by encouraging us to order the Crispy Potato ($16) dessert in duplicate. With lashings of salted caramel and a fluffy brown butter mousse, it’s a bit of a Gregory signature, travelling with her from Sydney, though here I hoped to taste more of the top-quality...

EASTER WEEKEND RUINED - SO DISAPOINTED! I am here from interstate for the Easter Break. I booked Franklin restaurant back towards the end of February on a recommendation from a friend. I had booked dinner for a table of four for my partner and two friends, also from interstate who were equally excited to go. Yesterday ( Good Friday)! I had missed a call from the restaurant and had a voicemail to re-confirm my booking for this evening at 12.39pm. Given it was Good Friday I was out for lunch with family and friends and I called the restaurant back at around 5pm. The restaurant manager Forbs had trouble finding my booking and when I tried to confirm the spelling of my surname he cut me off in an abrupt tone and said the system was searching. His phone manner was rude and obnoxious. In a accusatory tone he snapped that they had not heard back from me since Feb, which I responded 'this is when I made the original booking, that I have an email confirmation confirming this booking and that I was doing the right thing returning his call from the voicemail,. He said that sometimes they cancel the bookings which could have happened... WHY??? I expressed my upset as I said he only called at 12.30pm and here I am calling back same day to confirm my booking and that if it has been cancelled I would be most frustrated. He proceeded to say that this restaurant has a long waitlist (irrelevant as I had a booking already). He did find the booking however he didn't once apologise or acknowledge his mistake. His manner was defensive and aggressive he raised his voice a number of times, he proceeded to say that he didn't have time to take this call as he was getting ready for service. All I was trying to do was return 'HIS' call and confirm my booking. This should have been a two minute phone call.

Be very cautious about a place that picks and chooses their reservations and employs this type of person as their restaurant manager. Forbes attitude and manner was disgusting. His lack of professionalism is something I have never experienced in other restaurants around Australia. It's extremely dissapointing that there are people like him in this industry. His blantant arrogance that I should be so lucky to dine at Franklin. He is embarassment to what makes Tasmania great.

In the end I asked to speak to the owner, to which he replied "no you cannot, the owner is never here, I run this place" I feel sorry for the owner who's livelihood is in the hands of someone so detrimental to the...

Another highly praised restaurant which we checked out in Tasmania was Franklin restaurant in Hobart. We had booked for a late meal at the end of a busy day seeing the sights. The restaurants has large glass windows which are very visible from the street. The restaurant interior is paired back with concrete and industrial fittings, providing clean visual features. The open kitchen and bar provide the ability to watch what is going on. It is a busy restaurant but the staff are attentive. The ambience is buzzing and this makes for a great dining atmosphere.

The drinks list includes craft beer, interesting wine options, including natural wine and there's also a mix of cocktails and craft spirits.

The menu has a number of inviting options and was headed up with some exciting small bites. A must eat item is the scotch quail eggs. This tasty morsel has a crisp outer crust, a tasty mid layer of sobrasada and the yolk of the quail egg oozing out once cut into. The octopus and salt bush dumplings may not be the most appealing looking bite, however this was made up for by the texture and flavour. We were also provided some amazing complimentary bread.

The mushroom dish was full of umami from the braised wakame and egg yolk sabayan. This was the tasiest dish of the evening. With the oyster mushrooms providing a meaty texture.

Potatoes are certainly abundant in Hobart and were well put to use in the potato galette with an emulsion of huacatay, a Peruvian herb sourced locally on the tasman coast. This accompanied the main source of protein we ordered, the woodroasted littlewood lamb, served with braised almonds and pickled kohlrabi. This dish was very simple looking on the plate, however the flavour of the lamb was incredible and the almonds provided texture and the pickled kohlrabi cut through the richness of the lamb.

Franklin is great place to enjoy a meal in Tasmania to savour some local produce and wash ot down with a quality...