Shoutout to blog Foodscrazy for the photo - I hope you don’t mind that I nicked it! couldn’t find a better post-renovation pic.
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When? - 3rd of May, 2013
Where? - The Plough Hotel, 333 Barkly St. Footscray
Price? - $25
Website? - http://www.ploughhotel.com.au/
Reviewers – Cale, Fridge, Janet, Lee, Matt, Michael, Nikki, Stefo[/info]
Footscray is an area we have somewhat neglected. Not sure why. I don’t think its due to lack of options, however it just doesn’t seem to get suggested to us all that often. Don’t get me wrong - I have been pestering The Station via twitter to put a parma on their menu since I first tried their amazing menu… but to no avail.
So when I heard the long-neglected Plough had recently had a revamp it was on the top of my list. It won the vote by a clear margin, and last night we loaded up the parma bus, passed the famed “Footscrayzy” sign and headed to The Plough Hotel.
Arriving at The Plough the first thing that struck me was the renovations, the place looks absolutely gorgeous. Polished wood floors, minimalist design, an all round class act and expertly executed revamp breathing new life into the old girl. If I had one complaint is that the new design is all tables, there isn’t really a spot where you can stand around and chat or lean against the bar, as the place has a much more restaurant-y vibe than that of a pub.
We took our seats in one of the oversized booths and perused the menu
The urge to pre-game and get some entree’s were strong, as the menu is mighty tantalising, however we stayed the course and went with just the parma - it’s been a long slump of mediocrity lately, and we needed to focus our stomachs 100% on the task at hand.
We placed our orders and anxiously awaited the arrival of our food. By the time we had ordered our meals the place was packed, so it was a slightly longer wait than I was hoping for (the majority of a pint went down while waiting) but that’s understandable for such a busy place.
Took a trip to the bar to get a fresh pint of Steam Ale and returned to find the parmas had been delivered (don’t you just love when that happens?)
Things looked good, We picked up our cutlery and tucked in…
The chicken quality was phenomenal, thick, perfectly cooked and so juicy. The crumbing was paper thin but rather soggy. The gypsy ham added a (subtle) but great flavour to the dish and the cheese was perfectly melted with just the right amount of browning. But the absolute star of the parma was the chunky tomato salsa.
Now, when the Plough says “chunky” they sure mean “chunky” with hunks of melt-in-your-mouth roast tomato and make-your-breath-stink-for-hours (but in a good way) onion. The chunky salsa gave the dish such a rustic feel and really brought the dish to life. Delish.
I loves me some beer battered chips, and these were pretty damn good. .. With a couple of exceptions;
Firstly, they were under the parma. Now this is the most common complaint about chips in the world of parmas and I usually try not to mention it, as after 140 parmas its just something you come to terms with - However this parma was served on quite a large plate, with a heap of extra space. They could have very easily fit the chips, salad and parma on the plate without leaving half of my beer battered beauties a soggy mess.
Secondly, after a few chips it became quite obvious that they were fried in the same oil that they use to cook the fish & chips, as they had a quite sublte yet quite distinct fishy taste too them that, once noticed, was pretty distracting.
A lot of complaints for what were essentially a delicious serve of chips I know, but it had to be mentioned.
The salad. It’s no secret to regular readers of Parma Daze that I hate rocket salad… (If I wanted to eat grass I’d go and chew on the nature strip) and unfortunately this salad was all rocket.
There were some interesting ingredients, in addition to a few slivers of capsicum and radish we discovered what appeared pomegranate seeds - an inspired choice for a salad. I just wish wish wish they hadn’t used rocket, The bitterness of that devil weed just killed it for me.
$25 is pretty pricey for a parma, however when you’re using ingredients of this quality it is to be expected. I’d be happy to pay that again, purely for the parma itself, and I’ll definitely be back to The Plough to give the rest of the menu a try.
All in all this was an outstanding parma, some damn good chips and a disappointing salad. Definitely give it a go, if only for the amazing chunky salsa and top notch bird.
Parma - 8.13
Chips - 7.31
Salad - 5.50
Value - 5.94
Total - 7.00
The search continues…
