Delicious add-ons for your frozen custard. Photo: Kazuri Photography
What you will notice first at Ritzy Franklin is its extensive all-day menu, written on a splash of scarlet across the front glass doors. The top half of the menu boasts pizza, burgers, wraps, and sides. From there, the rest of the menu is all about frozen custard and other desserts.
Ritzy Franklin’s interior is spacious, with booth seating, timber features and subway tiles. A pristine Italian coffee machine dominates one counter. The main counter has all the frozen custard add- ons on tantalizing display, glass bowls full of colourful candies and chocolates.
Owners Dinesh and Ritu Agarwal opened this eatery four years ago. The name is a combination of Ritu’s nickname and the suburb of Franklin, where Ritzy is based. Dinesh says that he always knew that no matter what style of café or restaurant they would open, his passion for frozen custard meant that it would feature prominently on their menu.
Can there ever be too much dessert? Photo: Facebook.
“We are an all-in-one place,” he says. “A place where families can come and enjoy pizza, burgers and dessert with beer and wine. We cater for everyone.”
The menu’s 12“ pizza range include some of the standard classics, while offering some more exotic flavours such as ‘Tandoori Paneer’ and a spicy sounding ‘Devils’.
The chicken tandoori wrap. Photo: Kazuri Photography.
Amongst the burgers on offer are the Parmi burger with a cheesy Schnitzel, topped with both a tangy tomato sauce and burger sauce, and a popular veggie burger.
When it comes to the frozen custard, Ritu tells me that ‘death by chocolate’, ‘brownie supreme’ and ‘cookies and cream’ are the bestselling frozen custard options. The apple crumble frozen custard catches my eye; it sounds like a cosy option that would even be appealing in winter.
I order a tandoori wrap and Ritzy’s famous chips. The seasoned crinkle chips have a massive crunch with fluffy potato interior. Well-seasoned and dusted with herbed salt, they are fragrant and moreish.
The tandoori wrap is marinated grilled chicken, lettuce, thin slices of tomato, sliced onion, and cheese encased in a soft wrap. It is delightful to experience authentic tandoori flavours in in this quick and accessible way. Ritzy also make a tandoori chicken pizza.
Time for dessert. It would be unthinkable to leave without having frozen custard. Frozen custard is ice cream’s creamier cousin, velvety soft and slightly more dense.
I will happily eat almost anything, but food snobbery affects one small portion of my diet. Ice cream. Only two types of ice cream interest me: the kind that is chock full of different textures, big crunch mixed with some subtle crunch and salty elements thrown in. If the ice cream has caramelised nuts, praline bits, and crunchy cookie crumbs all at the same time, I am there. The other type of ice cream that leaves me weak at the knees is the kind that is packed full of peanut butter elements – again with a variety of textured add-ons and that addictive saltiness.
Here at Ritzy Franklin, while the butter pecan sounds so very appealing, I choose a frozen vanilla custard mixed with peanut butter fudge and plain old peanut butter. The result is a smooth, salty- sweet dessert, so deliciously peanut buttery. Next time I will add crushed cookies for an element of crunch.
Ice cream should be a feature on every all-day menu. Photo: Kazuri Photography.
Ritzy Franklin is located at 127/3 Clare Burton Crescent in Franklin. It is open from 2 pm to 11 pm on Mondays, and from 11 am to 11 pm every other day. Follow Ritzy Franklin on Facebook and Instagram to see their latest specials.
Loading ...
