I had been walking past a new restaurant in my neighbourhood for weeks, eager to try it out but also aware that it was very popular and correspondingly hard to get into. It brought back memories of the cozy eateries I fell in love with during my visit to Melbourne many years ago. I've always appreciated the idea of having a local spot to enjoy great food and chat with your neighbours. Unfortunately, back in Brisbane, I found an overabundance of sports bars with predictable menus and TABs. I wonder if there have always been hidden gem eateries in Brisbane, and I have only recently discovered them, or if the dining scene is evolving?
The restaurant is called Bar Francine and looks like an old worker's cottage outside. It's subdued and understated. The artwork for the restaurant feels like it was created by the artist Maeve Lejeune, a local West End treasure who started The Houses of West End project to admire and document the many houses of West End.
It's a Tuesday night, and it's positively pumping when I walk inside the restaurant. The waitpersons are bustling between tables, hands loaded with pretty cocktails and ornately designed plates of food. It looks like the whole West End is out and about.
There were six of us in my group, and after some forethought, we managed to order most of the menu.
First up were these delightful little canapés on cocktail picks. Very 70's dinner party inspired, with olive, anchovy, lemon, and mouthwatering pickles.
Next, we sampled the mushroom parfait and cherry mustard crostoli. The mushroom parfait was my favourite dish, but I've always been partial to bakery items. The crostoli was the perfect combination between the crunch and richness of the pastry. The parfait was heaven, this great combination of tart cherry, woody mushroom and astringent mustard. I tried biting it in half and realised quickly that it was better to set aside modesty and shove the whole thing into my mouth.
The whole menu lends itself to communal enjoyment. It is reminiscent of the tapas dining experience. There are beautiful, carefully selected wines and an original cocktail menu that doesn't require you googling the ingredients of each drink. The energy is clean, fresh, and ethical.
After the entrées, we tried a few bready dishes. First up was the pizza fritta, a kind of puffed calzone. A cross between garlic bread, naan and calzone. It had a lovely savoury flavour, and whilst it can stand on its own two feet, it's a handy dish to order as you can use it to mop up the sauces for some of the mains.
I love bread, but sadly bread doesn't really love me back, and all too often I find myself regretting how full I feel after dipping into the bread basket at a restaurant.
With that said the bread at Bar Francine seamlessly inserts itself into the dining experience. Instead of a detractor, it adds to the joy of the experience.
The Tuna Bruschetta Piperade (right) was a great example of this in action.
The tuna was so mild you hardly knew that you were eating fish, and the bruschetta was absent of any chewiness and almost melted in one's mouth, not making you feel overfull, just wonderfully satisfied. The dish possesses a lovely light flavour and left me wishing that there was a second serving.
The Onion Fritti with Mint Jelly Creme Fraiche was sublime.
The onion was battered and deep fried, opening like a crispy flower, but with that gorgeous soft, stringy cooked onion texture.
The combination of creme fraiche and mint jelly complimented it perfectly. It felt incredibly decadent, and once more, the creme fraiche evoked images of a '70s-inspired dinner party.
Or a Sunday roast at your nan's house.
The only dishes I wasn't keen on were the Kohlrabi 'minute steak' (on the right) and Francine’s tartare, sauce bois boudran, and chippies (below). For the Kohlrabi, I think it's probably that the vegetable didn't absorb enough of the flavour to make the unusual vegetable taste more interesting. As a dish, it felt a bit at odds with itself. The sauce was rich and enticing, but the Kohlrabi was bland.
The tartare and bois boudran, would have been much better if more love had been put into the chippies. I love a french fry that's crisp and flavoursome, the chips, unfortunately, let this dish down. In theory, I liked the idea of both dishes, but the execution needs more attention.
The last three dishes, or 'mains', were all gorgeous and beautifully executed. The Butter beans, garlic butter, and bottarga (left) had this perfect combination of smooth, squishy butter beans, with that lovely garlic flavour driving you to want more. It looked like it could be oily, but it was perfectly balanced (especially if you were clever enough to save some of the pizza to help mop up the flavour).
Swimmer crab, creamed corn, tarragon, and chilli butter (below) possessed all the richness I've grown to love about dishes that add swimmer crab and creamed corn - hello, the 70s'!
The entire evening was charming. The energy in the restaurant was gorgeous. And when inflation is putting many people off going out, it was great to see that the meals were easily affordable. And I look forward to seeing all the new creative dishes that the chefs at Bar Francine come up with. I will make many excuses to return as often as possible.