Victoria Street in Darlinghurst has some popular spots to eat, but one you may have seen sitting cute and quiet is Son of Frank.
As the hum of warm lighting hits you as you walk past Son of Frank, a very welcoming and inviting café spins from day into night. Out the back, you’ll find a courtyard dazzled by fairy lights and with summer just around the corner, they’ve added an aperitivo hour (4-6pm) with free canapés, $5 house beer, $5 house wine and $10 spritz cocktails.
The interior oozes contemporary with exposed brick, timber, green plants, and a few designs adorning the minimalistic walls. The menu has a slight Italian influence, but you’ll also find Aussie classics. On the breakfast and brunch menu are standouts like the Calabrese Scramble with a toasted croissant, chilli scrambled eggs, house-made ricotta, heirloom tomatoes and harissa ($26), and an Italian Brunch with mortadella, nduja, goats curd, house pickles, mixed bitter leaves and grissini ($18).
In some particularly exciting news, Son of Frank has now opened for dinner from Wednesday-Saturday. The dinner menu is a little more refined, continuing with an Italian influence and some Aussie favourites too. Don’t skip the fresh baked focaccia with caramelised onion puree ($6), as it was some of the best bread we’ve had.
The menu then dives into smaller dishes like delicious small grilled sardines with preserved lemon and nduja on toast ($10), pork terrine with burnt apple, vanilla and crostini ($19) and burrata with harissa, lemon zest and crackers ($12). The harissa wasn’t very strong in the burrata dish and tasted a bit more tomato-flavoured than expected.
There are pasta specials each week, with fixtures on the menu like our favourite, Frank’s carbonara with spaghetti, delicious mushroom cream, egg yolk to mix through and puffed wild rice on top ($26). Also, don’t look over the saffron gnocchetti with fermented pumpkin, spiced pepitas and fried garlic ($24). Both plates of pasta were perfectly al dente, however an added touch of salt wouldn’t go astray.
The rest of the menu features larger dishes, like the very tasty veal cotoletta with brown butter, capers and sage ($34), whole flathead with prosciutto and mushroom sauce ($38) and a very interesting sounding whipped polenta with lentils, brussel sprouts, roasted onion and puffed rice ($25). Of course, the desserts are Italian influenced too. We opted in for the tiramisu lamington with sour cherries ($18). It was generous and a tasty way to end the meal.
For cocktails, try The Top Shelf with limoncello, passionfruit, nonna’s sambuca and soda ($15) and the Rose Cheeks with Montenegro, rose vermouth and Campari ($17), which were both light, refreshing and perfect for the warmer evenings.
Son of Frank is picture-perfect for some quiet after work drinks or an ideal mid week city escape for some Italian-ish fare. Head in for breakfast, brunch, lunch, aperitivo hour or dinner – there’s something for everyone.