Franks Restaurant, Hobart

 
Now that we have moved to a bigger city, one of my priorities of course is discovering the best cafes and restaurants in Hobart. So, last night we decided to check out Franks Restaurant which is located on the water at Franklin Wharf. I had actually been there once before (a couple of years ago), but as Dave had not yet tried it, we decided to make a booking and enjoy some South American influenced food.

Franks is a very popular restaurant in Hobart, and despite booking a few days in advance, we could only get a spot at 8:30pm. Upon arrival, we both decided to get a margarita to start - I went for the watermelon version while Dave had the pepperberry one. Both were very refreshing and a lovely drink to enjoy along with the mixed roasted nuts that were brought to us as we perused the menu.
 

The dishes at Franks are all designed to be shared, so we decided to order a mixture of items - a couple of empanadas, the white fish ceviche, some charred sweet potato and the tira de ancho grilled steak.

The empanadas were brought out first - one was pork and chipotle and the other was tres queso (with cheddar, mozzarella and fontina). They were crispy but not too oily, the pork was delicously slow cooked and the cheese was very oozy and flavoursome - a delicious start to the meal. The white fish ceviche came out next, which was served with yellow chilli leche de tigre, avocado and golden beetroots, and the tangy flavours of this dish, paired with the extremely fresh and tender fish, made it one of the highlights of the meal.


After these starters, we were brought the tira de ancho steak (which is a spiral cut version of rib eye) which was served with chimmicurri and salsa picante, as well as the charred sweet potato with goats curd, muddled almonds, garlic and coriander. The steak was sliced quite thinly and was incredibly tender, and the sauces, while fairly spicy, paired very well with the meat. The charred sweet potato was another highlight of the meal for me, as the sweetness, tartness and crunchiness of each element made it an incredibly delicious side dish.




We then decided to share a couple of desserts - opting for the charred banana with almond and salted caramel icecream, and the nemesis cake (a flourless dark chocolate and whisky cake) with creme fraiche and raspberry textures. While the charred banana was quite a simple and light option, the nemesis cake was definitely the standout - the fudgy texture and extremely dark chocolate consistency made it an excellent end to the meal (I have since researched how to make this at home, and as it has only five ingredients, I will definitely be baking a version of this soon). Adding a bit of the salted caramel icecream to the cake definitely took it to another level.


After such a lovely dinner at this South American infused restaurant, I am sure that we will be back for many more meals here in the future.