Kevin Moloney, former Chief Judge, Golden Plate Awards, Tarrangower Times

As any previous restaurateur in Maldon will tell you, getting the balance right is one of the toughest challenges for success. And the balance must weigh equally to both the local market and the tourist trade which Maldon enjoys. Get that right and you’re halfway home.

We’ve seen restaurants come and go and when The Spotted Cow closed and then after a brief affair with Table et Terroir, we were left bereft.

Maldon needed a restaurant, and everyone agreed. So anticipation built when news broke that a new food offer was to open in the same building as its antecedents.

The grapevine told us it would be Italian. We also learned the restaurant would be called Franco’s, so we started Googling to check the pedigree of the new kid on our food block. All looked good and in the weeks before opening, anticipation went up a notch.

But we can be a critical bunch here in Maldon and only a meal or two at Franco’s can tell the story. And some may say, as far as Maldon’s restaurant scene is concerned, it’s the greatest story ever told. Franco’s not only understands the complexity of the market, they have produced an all-encompassing offer that is totally appropriate.

The chef is Franco, so the eponymous restaurant is aptly named. A Scot, Franco is a gifted chef and specialises in contemporary Italian food. He has created a menu under his own tag – ‘Britalian’ (love it), and the dishes presented are honest, interesting, generous and well-priced. The food isn’t too fancy-schmancy so as to alienate clientele, but it’s also at a level to sate a discerning palate. So far, what’s not to love? As we know, the primary reason we go to restaurants is to eat, so the food, pure and simple, must be good. If the food’s not good, you won’t get the locals back. But Francos have nailed it!

But there’s more to a restaurant than just the food. Franco’s has atmosphere and life, in part due to the warmth which Karen, Franco’s wife, generates as supremo at front of house. Nailed it again.

There’s a lot to like about Franco’s. We now have a restaurant of quality that has enough gravitas to be the vanguard that could herald a more expansive restaurant scene in Maldon.

Viva Britalia.

This article appeared in the Tarrangower Times, 19 May 2023.