At a traditional Italian restaurant you generally get what you want, and Signor Franco doesn’t disappoint – warm terracotta walls, Verdi in the background and plenty of Mediterranean knick-knacks to compensate for a view of the pub opposite.
What you don’t expect are moody waiters and jaw-dropping prices.
While sipping our aperitifs - my spicy tomato juice was good, though Mrs Hicks thought her champagne a little like prosecco – we waited for our anti-pasti, in my case tender, fresh squid and a piquant salsa verde and for Mrs Hicks a rather bland bresaola and parmesan.
No matter, because the 1999 Barolo though not cheap at £44 was soft, smooth and supple and a new waiter cheered the atmosphere.
Mrs Hicks fell for the maitre’d’s description of the barbecue-spiced baby chicken for her main course, but like a holiday romeo, he was all talk, for the chicken arrived looking inelegant and tasting bland. My sirloin steak was cooked to order but smothered under a Barolo sauce that owed more to cornflour than the grape. Fortunately, the sweet potatoes, courgettes, peppers and spinach in garlic all worked well.
Dessert was mixed – fruit and ice-cream were exactly right but the orange and grand marnier platter was a tad sickly.
We had a pleasant evening but for a whopping £167, even allowing for the wine, we wanted a bit more.
Major Hicks
Signor Franco, 5a High Street, Tunbridge Wells, 01892 549199, www.signorfrancorestaurant.com
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