Casual Dining
WINNER
With a background in tour management for bands and entertainment, James Foster has seen plenty of the world and immersed himself in a host of different cultures. This has allowed him to bring snippets of his experiences back to Frankie J’s – and play a major role in the establishment becoming a fan favourite in Devonport. The Best Casual Dining category was among the hottest contested at the 2023 awards, with a total of 58 nominations. But despite the stiff competition, Frankie J’s came out on top to become the toast of the North West coast. “We are a small city up in the north of the state that you know, once again, I guess punches above its weight, there are some great operators up here and it is good to be recognised,” says Foster, who runs the small bar and pizzeria alongside his wife Eve. “Our focus primarily has been on the bar side of things, so it was good to get recognised for the food and the dining experience. We’ve got a pretty special chef from Italy who
annoys the sh*t out of us from time to time, but we love him and obviously people love what he does. “I think that’s the first part of it. The second part of it is we like to have fun here. I encourage all our staff
to have fun with patrons and themselves and I think that atmosphere rubs off on people. It’s an open kitchen here as well, so people can sit up and talk to the chef while he’s throwing pizza dough at you and all that sort of
stuff.
“It’s just a fun place to hang out and that’s what we’re trying to do. We’re all about the entertainment and having fun.”
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