Restaurant Review: Franklins

The roast with the most?

Franklins has been a favourite haunt for a number of years. Partly because it's so close to where we live, but mainly because it serves impressively reliable contemporary dishes. Not the cheapest on the Lordship Lane drag but always good quality and their weekend brunch fry-ups are legendary.

That was until Covid anyway. Money had been tight due to lack of work, but when Eat Out To Help Out was launched we decided to do our bit and treat ourselves for half the price. My daughter had recently been in and raved about their Welsh Rarebit, but instead I opted for a roast lamb dish. I’m sure the right ingredients were there, but it was just too deconstructed for me.

My bad, I thought, I'm simply not sophisticated enough for this kind of thing. I just wanted a trad roast and veg. Then I had health problems and had to cut back on fry-ups so that meant their brunches were off my personal menu.

I hadn't been in for a while. But we'd had a complicated Sunday and missed a proper lunch so sod the Statins, around 4pm we decided to pop in for a late afternoon/early evening blow-out. My partner originally asked for a posh table in the restaurant bit at the back, but I spied a couple of seats on the end of the large farmhouse table at the front in the corner. Perfect for gazing out of the window or spying on all the other customers. And no chance of someone coming up behind you and hitting you on the head.

They were still serving from their lunch menu, although the roast beef must've been good because it was all gone. First off, we had starters. I went for the smoked mackerel, samphire, radish and frisée (£9.75), my partner opted for cured quail and kohlrabe remoulade (£11.50).

I've eaten in upmarket eateries before and one thing I've come to expect is small portions. One scallop and a spit of froth. A cube of lamb and a mouse's tear of gravy. So I was delighted that my delicious salad filled the entire plate. And there was no skimping on the mackerel. I wasn't even sure if I'd need a main after this. The quail was the complete bird. Not the meatiest poultry dish but the slivers of flesh were prepped to perfection, as was the remoulade.

There was quite a pause before the main course, but maybe the staff realised we needed it after such large openers. Time to gaze out of the window as the early evening drizzle swept in from the West (ie Brixton). Franklins really is cosy. Fancy fine dining at the back, boozing and grub at the front. I was tempted to grab a nearby jar of cashews from the bar counter but knew they would scupper my appetite.

After a wait, our mains pitched up. I had brioche, beetroots courgettes, flat mushrooms with a dollop of creme fraiche on the top (£16.95). I've been concerned about the inexorable rise of brioche in recent years. If I'm having a burger I don't care how aged the beef is or whether it’s Wagyu or Tesco, I want it in an old school, floury, chewy bun. Not. I repeat. Not a brioche. There is a time and a place for a brioche.

And do you know what? Late Sunday afternoon in Franklins when you've ordered beetroots, courgettes, flat mushrooms with a dollop of creme fraiche might just be the time and place. This was no bun, it was more of a small rectangular tombstone on which the rest of the dish was balanced.

The beetroot fell off quickly and was soon dealt with. I'm not a big fan of beetroot unless it's pickled, but this was fresh and crisp to the bite. The courgette/mushroom combo was something else. It had clearly been cooked with love and oodles of attention so that the juices ran seamlessly together. There may have been garlic in it as well, but I was in too much of a culinary reverie (ie hurry) to waste my time working out what the ingredients were.

Luckily I had no difficulty working out what the ingredients were in my partner's roast pork, apple sauce and crackling (£21.95). Unlike my disappointing Rishi Sunak-supported lamb post-lockdown this had all the makings of a classic roast lunch, even if it did come piled high with the crackling on top like a little flag rather than spread out. There was a veritable lake of gravy – no mouse's tear here - and hark, I doth spy a carrot and a parsnip too. The pork was plentiful and tasty. Comfort food rarely comes so comforting.

And so we felt revived (the house red might have helped). A dour, damp day had been saved by a meal that hit all the right notes and in all the right places. I've been a customer of Franklins a long time. I'm so old I even went to their early incarnation in the back of their antique shop in Walworth Road over thirty years ago. This meal was one of the best I’ve had there. Heck, it was one of the best I've had in SE22.

Franklins, 157 Lordship Lane, London SE22 8HX

All meals paid for and identity not revealed before or after.