Franklins Bar & Eatery sits right on the corner of West St and Queen Street in Pukekohe, pouring seven days a week from midday until late. It's a proper local bar and kitchen — equally at home with a long lunch, after-work drinks or a celebration dinner — and tables can be locked in ahead of time through the online booking system.
The kitchen makes the most of its Pukekohe backyard: roasted cumin-spiced local root vegetables, hand-cut chunky Agria fries and Pukekohe vegetables sit alongside share plates like Korean Gochujang wings, wagyu & chorizo risotto balls, a salmon & tuna tostada and the loaded Franklins platter. Larger plates range from Estrella beer-battered fish n chips and slow-cooked BBQ pork ribs to 12-hour braised wagyu beef cheek with house-made parmesan gnocchi, plus pizzas served by the foot. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options are flagged throughout the menu, and every pizza can be made gluten free.
The drinks list is genuinely extensive: ten taps with a strong Fortune Favours contingent and beer towers for the table, nine housemade cocktails, a fourteen-deep gin garden with premium tonics and garnishes, and a From the Barrel whisky wall stretching from Ardbeg and Laphroaig through rare SMWS single casks to Japanese and New Zealand expressions. The wine list leans New Zealand, non-drinkers get their own cocktail list, and there's even a fine cigar selection at the bar.
On the corner of West St and Queen Street in Pukekohe, Franklins Bar & Eatery runs the double duty of serious bar and proper kitchen. Doors open at midday, seven days a week, and things carry on until late — making it as easy a fit for a long lunch as for a night that drifts from cocktails into single-cask whisky.
The room is sociable and unpretentious, and the menu is built around that: plenty for the middle of the table, generous larger plates, and pizzas served by the foot. Bookings can be made online for anyone who likes their table locked in before they arrive.
Franklins cooks with its backyard in mind. Roasted cumin-spiced Pukekohe root vegetables come with minted honey yoghurt and dukkha, the fries are hand-cut chunky Pukekohe Agria potatoes, and local vegetables appear as a side with aged balsamic and whipped feta. Around them sits a share-plates list that runs from crispy Korean Gochujang wings and wagyu beef & chorizo risotto balls to a salmon & tuna tostada dressed with wasabi caviar.
The Franklins platter is the full spread — cured meats, Food Snob cheeses, duck liver parfait, dips and relish, olives, pickles, stuffed pimento peppers and breads — while smaller plates cover calamari, fresh summer rolls, crispy cauliflower bites and a truffle-honey pear bruschetta with grilled brie.
Larger plates go proper bistro: pan-seared market fish with citrus dill butter, 12-hour braised wagyu beef cheek with house-made parmesan gnocchi, slow-cooked St Louis BBQ pork ribs, tiger prawn tagliatelle, lamb rump with Meaux mustard red wine jus, and the cut of the day with truffled creamed parmesan potato and brandy & green peppercorn sauce. The classic fish n chips is Estrella beer-battered, and burgers — Texan pulled pork, southern-fried chicken, crispy fish — plus a 12-hour braised Angus steak & cheese pie round things out.
Then come the pizzas by the foot: a classic Margherita, the all-cheese 'cheese amigos', the Mac attack loaded with wagyu mince, cheddar, pickles and Mac sauce, Prawn star with garlic tiger prawns and sriracha, Steakhouse, BBQ beef cheek and The Kentucky. Every one of them can be made gluten free.
The taps pour Tennent's, Export 33, Estrella Damm, Magners cider and a strong run of Wellington's Fortune Favours — pilsner, pale ale, two hazies and a 6% IPA — and full tables can order beer towers. Nine housemade cocktails cover the classics with a twist, from a Passionfruit Martini and Aperol Spritz to a Cherry Sour, Clover Club and Espresso Martini, while non-drinkers get their own list of virgin cocktails.
Gin drinkers have a dedicated 'gin garden' of fourteen bottles — Spain's Larios, Japan's Roku, Sipsmith and Tanqueray from England, Scotland's Hendrick's and New Zealand's own Little Biddy and Scapegrace — each matched with a premium tonic and garnish of your choosing. The From the Barrel whisky list then stretches across Scotland, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand and America: Ardbeg and Laphroaig, rare SMWS single-cask bottlings, Yamazaki and Hakushu, Pokeno, Maker's Mark and Woodford Reserve. A fine cigar selection is available at the bar.
Wine leans New Zealand — Cloudy Bay chardonnay and sauvignon blanc, Central Otago pinot gris, rose and pinot noir from Mt Difficulty, Peregrine and Rockburn, Hawke's Bay syrah — alongside French champagne and a port and dessert-wine finish.
Practicalities are simple. Franklins is open every day from 12pm until late at 1 Queen Street on the corner of West St; bookings can be made through the website, and the team can be reached by phone or email. The menu flags vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options throughout, so mixed-dietary groups are easy to cater for.
Whether the plan is wings and a beer tower with friends, a quiet midweek fish n chips, or a slow read of a whisky list that rewards the patient, Franklins Bar & Eatery has built its case on range — of plates, of pours and of reasons to keep coming back to the corner of West and Queen.