#403 - 'Royal Saxon'

Where - 545 Church St, Richmond

Price - $24.00 ($16 Parma Night Wednesday)

Website - https://www.royalsaxon.com/

The Royal Saxon is one of those pubs that I’m just amazed that we haven’t reviewed yet. It’s a nice looking pub in a popular area with a parma on the menu, and as far as I can tell they’ve been around since at least 2013 and yet they have managed to fly under our radar for all this time (although it does seem like they had less of a pub gribe vibe and more of an Italian fine dining thing going in the early days, so a parma may not have been on the menu).

It was a fine-ish Melbourne Sunday when I got the hankering for a parma, so I checked our recent suggestion list and the Royal Saxon was sitting on the top… Why the hell not. So we loaded up into the car and headed out to see what they had to offer.

I can’t tell you much about the inside of the Saxon as the outdoor area was so inviting we spent very little time indoors, almost immediately curling around to the left and grabbing a table in the leafy shade of the beer garden.

My heart sank when I saw the “Mr Yum” logo on the QR code at our table. Had I inadvertantly brought us to yet another Australian Venue Company Pub?? Thankfully not, as far as I can tell (nothing against the AVC, we’ve just been visiting their pubs a lot lately and wanted to try something new), the Royal Saxon just happens to also use Mr Yum like the AVC pubs do.

The QR code loaded up the menu and we took a gander at our target for the day…

Sounds good to me! We ordered via the app, along with a side of flatbread with edamame hummus to kick things off. We had arrived just after noon and the Royal Saxon opens at 12 on Sunday’s so we pretty much had the place to ourselves, not to mention the service was super quick, so faster than you could say “Dinki-Di” our flatbreads and parmas emerged from the kitchen.

But I’ll get to those in a sec, because this is the part of the review where I talk about the beers that they have on tap. The influx of online menus this past year has made this part of my job super easy, as rather than having to remember what beers are on tap I can just open up Mr Yum again and check the tap list. Lets see… We’ve got Peroni, Bentspoke, Burnley Brewing, Carlton, Jetty Road, Ballistec, Coopers, Balter, Pirate Life, Four Pines, 3 Ravens, Green Beacon, Mountain Goat and Asahi along with some ciders and seltzers, not a bad selection by any stretch! I decided to be a slave to current trends and ordered the Moon Dog seltzler to accompany my Sunday parma. Oh yeah the parma! Lets talk about that.

On first bite I have to say that The Royal Saxon put up one of the crunchiest chicken schnitzels I’ve tried in recent memory, perhaps ever. I don’t know what they did with those crumbs, but every bite carried a crispy snap like you would not believe.

The chicken itself was pure white chicken breast, well cooked and flavoursome. Not the biggest schnitzel I’ve seen, but thick enough and not trying to hide anything. I already mentioned the speed of the service, but in this case quick parma = hot parma, as this one was served piping hot and fresh as can be.

The toppings were pretty good, but didn’t floor me like the world’s crunchiest schnitzel did. A very cheddar-heavy and generous cheese blend on top was grilled to requisite gooeyness with a light golden brown finish.

The virginia ham was appreciated but didn’t add a whole lot to the flavour profile of the dish, however the napoli sauce is where I feel things fell apart a little - it was plain, smooth napoli sauce, not a single chunk of tomato to be seen and seemed as if it had possibly come straight from a tin. It was fine, but a bit of a disappointment considering the rest of the elements of the parma were so strong (especially when you check out the Royal Saxon’s Instagram, a photo of the parma from about 4 weeks ago showing some sort of greenery amongst the cheese that seemed very intruiging) .

The chippies were good. Piping hot like the parma and served with a side of faithful ol’ tomato sauce for dipping (not requested, it just came like that). Plenty of them and served beside, not under the parma. Could have used a little more seasoning, but a minor quibble on what was overall a damn fine serve of chips.

At first glance the salad looked pretty boring, but on tucking in I found it was topped with a unique dressing with flavours that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Possibly mint? I’m not too sure, but it was tasty, enjoyable and elevated what looked like a pretty ordinary salad to something quite flavoursome.

I’m pretty happy paying $24 for the parma we received, It was constructed with quality ingredients and was overall a damn tasty feed. If you’re on the hunt for a bargain the Saxon is currently offering a $16 parma night on Wednesdays, definitely worth checking out if you’re in the area.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the Royal Saxon also has a full menu dedicated to treats for your dog, ranging from jerky to beef patties to “doggy stew”, perfect for the goodest boy or girl in your life.

Overall the Royal Saxon offers up a pretty tasty, well constructed parma that I greatly enjoyed, it may sound like a minor thing to focus on but the crunch to the crumbs was fantastic and almost worth the price of admission right there. The toppings were fine, but I think are missing that certain je ne sais quoi that would have made it phenomenal. Perhaps those missing green things were the key.

Worth a crack though! Great beer garden too.

Parma - 7.50

Chips - 8.00

Salad - 8.25

Value - 8.00

Total -  7.85

The search continues...

#402 - 'Station Hotel'

Where - 59 Napier St. Footscray

Price - $26

Website - https://thestationhotel.com.au/

In the interest of full disclosure lets ge this out of the way early - I love The Station and have for many years considered it the spot to get one of the best steaks Melbourne has to offer - However over the years one thing always bugged me about them… They never had a parma on the menu. Over the last 10 years I would check the menu every few months in the vain hope that this was the week they serve up a parma, even accosted them on Twitter about it pretty regularly, but with no result.

So of course when I stop reviewing parmas they add one to the menu.

Now it has been a hot minute since I’ve been to The Station, the last time I visited the space that is now the beer garden was a carpark - But despite the lack of convenient parking it is a welcome improvement, being a decent day we grabbed a table where we once parked the car and enjoyed a bit of the great outdoors.

As far as beer gardens go The Station’s is solid. Outdoor bar, plenty of permanent shade to keep it viable in lots of weather conditions and an epic double storey cubby house to keep the kids entertained.

We took a seat and scanned the QR code on the table - This is when I realised that the Station is now owned by the Australian Venue Company, the pub group that owned the subject of our last review, The Imperial, along with an increasing chunk of Melbourne’s pub scene.

What tipped me off that this was an AVC pub? The thumbnail image of the parma that their mobile menu uses is the same photo that the Impy parma used. Not just a similar photo, the exact same photo.

We ordered the food via the app (The novelty still hasn’t worn off on this, it feels so futuristic, like how The Jetsons would order a parma and beers) along with a side of mashed potato for shits and giggles. As far as beer goes the tap list is the same as the Imperial’s, so let me save some time and bust out the old CTRL+C, CTRL V - Furphy, James Squire, Heineken, Balter XPA, Carlton Draught, Brooklyn, Kosciuszko, Little Creatures, Panhead, White Rabbit and Hawkers available on tap at the time of writing.

Interesting to note that along with using the same photo as the Impy parma it seems like the general “template” for this parma is the same as well, and I was interested to see how the two would stack up against each other. Would one be a direct facsimilie of the other? I guess we’ll see.

We didn’t need to wait long to find about because about 15 minutes the parmas fell before us, and I’m not gonna sugar coat it, the result was disappointing.

The schnitzel was decent size, nice and thick, but it was served lukewarm at best and the chicken itself was dense and very dry. You can see from the cross section photo just how dry this bird was. I did appreciate the lemon wedge as a garnish, something you don’t see with a lot of parmas, however starting with a schnitzel like the one we were served as a base this parma was off to a pretty bad start.

Toppings were pretty good all around and did their best to prop up the schnitzel. The ham had a good flavour and was rather thick cut, the cheese would have been nicer had it been hotter. The napoli was flavoursome however somehow even sweeter than the Imperial’s napoli, which we already registered as quite sweet.

As far as potato loaded side dishes go the chips were served hot & fresh. The parma was served stacked directly on top of them, but I managed to save them before too much damage was done. Well salted, crunchy and an all round great chip. While it doesn’t affect the score the side of mashed potato that we picked out was outstanding - I’m pretty sure it contained more butter than it did potato, but no complaints from me. Highly recommended.

The coleslaw to the side was a definite step down in quality from its Impy counterpart. It was very dry and needed much more dressing to try and salvage it. The menu called it a “raw slaw” but after some Googling I can’t quite work out what puts the “raw” in the “raw slaw” (I’m also having trouble determining who put the bop in the bop shoo bop shoo bop, but thats a story for another time).

As far as value goes $26 was a bit pricey for what it was, I could be convinced it was worth the money had we received a fresh one, but as it stands I felt a little short changed. I can’t see any discount parma nights on the menu and the “50% off your whole bill happy hour” deal that was rolled out to all of the AVC pubs expired at the end of January, so at the time of writing it seems like full price is the only option.

All told The Station was a bit of a let down, maybe because we had just come off the Impy parma which is pretty much exactly the same thing but … better. The Station parma felt like the Wish.com version of the Impy parma - Similar in style but lower quality once you look beneath the surface.

I’ll … what is the opposite of a preface… postface? I’ll postface this review by saying that The Station was very busy when we visited, and its possible that this sub-par parma was just a glitch in the kitchen - All the elements of a good parma are there, but just needed to stick the landing a little better. I’ll try and not leave it years before my next visit to the Station and I’ll post an update should I check it out again soon.

And thats it for this week! I’ll try my hardest not to go to another AVC pub for our next review. Unless they trick me again.

Parma - 6.50

Chips - 8.00

Salad - 7.00

Value - 6.50

Total -  6.90

The search continues...

#401 - 'The Imperial Hotel'

Where - 2-8 Bourke St. Melbourne

Price - $26.00

Website - https://bourkestreetimperial.com/

There aren’t many pubs in Melbourne that we have more history with than The Imperial Hotel. We’ve reviewed their standard parma three times (in 2012, 2013 and 2017), we sampled their Christmas parma made from turkey breast and served with cranberry sauce, and most recently we leapt from the page to the screen with a video review of their pizza parma, a schnitzel hammered out thin then sliced and topped as if it were a pizza (which, as far as I can tell, didn’t last long as it appears to have been ditched from the menu all together).

I’m pleased to report that two of the four consecutive golden chook awards for Parma of the Year that we presented to them between 2012 to 2015 are still sitting over the front bar, something I always check for whenever I drop in for a visit.

We didn’t discover the Impy until our 112th review, and yet in my mind it feels like as long as there has been ParmaDaze there has been the Impy parma, and to me their parma has always had a signature look that they didn’t often stray from - A massive schnitzel flanked by two bowls, one full of thick cut steak chips and a second with a shaved parmesan laden garden salad. I could pick it out of a lineup every time.

This is what I think of when I think “Impy Parma”

So last week, while browsing Instagram I spotted Instagrammer Chicken_parma_official’s visit to The Imperial and something definitely didn’t look right. The caption said “Imperial Hotel” but gosh darnit that was not an Impy Parma in the photo.

I had to ask in the comments and it was confirmed shortly after … this was the new world order.

Gone were the steak fries. Gone were the seperate bowls. Gone was the garden salad that was more parmesan cheese than vegetables. This was not my Impy parma. The weekend was quickly approaching so I figured what better way to return from our little “Hiatus” than to revisit one of the pubs that put ParmaDaze on the map and see just what the heck was going on over there.

While the Impy has undergone a bit of a facelift in recent years, The rooftop bar up top being the main attraction in the summer months, and I’ve got to admit it is a beautiful spot for a cocktail up there, however downstairs is still my favourite spot to hang out with a pint and catch one of the international sports games that are always running on the TV’s down there.

We grabbed a seat in the bistro, and in this brave new world scanned the QR code on the table to access the menu, which can also be used to order your food & drinks directly to the table from your phone.

Target sighted! Also nice to note the addition of an eggplant option for all the vego’s out there. We placed our orders and eagerly awaited the arrival of the new look Impy parma.

As far as beers on tap go the front bar has Furphy, James Squire, Heineken, Balter XPA, Carlton Draught, Brooklyn, Kosciuszko, Little Creatures, Panhead, White Rabbit and Hawkers available on tap at the time of writing, with a handful of extra options in the fridge including White Claw Seltzer, if you’re at all into the new seltzer trend that is taking over the world at the moment.

About 10 minutes after placing our order our parmas arrived at the table…

Well the rumours are true - The Impy parma has had a facelift. I was scared, had they ruined one of the best parmas in Melbourne? I picked up my knife and fork with trembling hands and tucked in to find … A damn good schnitzel.

It was thick, it was juicy, it was cooked to perfection. The Imperial parma may have had a bit of a rejig to more resemble something you would find at The Park or The Royston (both fantastic parmas in their own right), but I’ll be darned if it wasn’t still fantastic.

The crumbing wasn’t too thick and retained a solid crunch, and other than some slight flaking off the bottom of the chicken breast while I ate it’s honestly tough to find fault in the schnitzel the Imperial put up this time around.

Plenty of rich gooey cheese topped this parma off nicely, along with some shaved ham that didn’t pack a massive punch in terms of flavour, but I was appreciative of its inclusion.

As Chicken_parma_official noted in their Instagram post there was definitely a sweetness to the napoli sauce that some might find off putting. I didn’t hate it, I didn’t love it, but all things considered its a minor quibble amongst the otherwise stellar ingredients.

There was a sprinkle of spices across the top of the cheese which I tried to identify, as best as I could deduce it was a blend of cracked pepper, garlic salt & celery salt … although it could have just as easily been a pinch of Vegeta. Hard to say without invading the kitchen and breaking all sorts of social distancing rules.

This bit stings and probably the most controversial decision of the revamp of this parma - The chips have switched from thicc cut steak chips to a thinner, more McDonald’s style fry (not quite as thin as Maccas, but not a patch on what they used to be) This is one that firmly comes down to personal preference. I like steak fries, I know others prefer skinny fries. Gun to my head I would have preferred they stick with the original chip style - But these were fine too. Either way they were served hot & fresh, and we were still offered complimentary aioli and tomato sauce, an Impy staple.

If it were any other parma I would have said I preferred the coleslaw to the garden salad, It was flavoursome, rich and the little sprinkle of assorted seeds on top (while not doing much in terms of flavour) worked great for presentation. But the Imperial’s old garden salad was one of the few that I actively enjoyed. It was a fine slaw, great even. It worked great with the parma, was super tasty either eaten with a bit of parma on the fork or on its own. But do I prefer it over the old garden salad? … I don’t know. Apples and oranges.

I don’t mind paying a resonable price for good food. I greatly enjoyed this parma so to me $26 seems like solid value. If you are after a bargain The Imperial are running a promotion for the month of January 2021 - 50% off the total of your food & beverage bill if you order via mobile between 5-6pm every day of the week. As far as discounts go this one is a doozy and I’d definitely recommend grabbing a bargain this month if you can.

Part of me wants to kick up a fuss, flips some tables and chuck a world class tanty at the fact that the Impy parma I’ve known and loved for the past 8 years is gone - However what they’ve offered up in its place is a damn fine meal and (in my opinion) a worthy successor. Sure things are different, but a part of life is evolving with change. 2021 is different, ParmaDaze is different, the Impy parma is different - and I have high hopes for all three.

Parma - 9.00

Chips - 8.00

Salad - 8.25

Value - 8.00

Total -  8.45

The search continues...

#400 - 'Mrs. Parmas'

Where - 25 Little Bourke St. Melbourne

Price - $27.50 for a chicken parma (any variety), $30 for Veal, $24.50 for Eggplant

Website - http://www.mrsparmas.com.au

Reviewers - Adam Y, Carly, Daniel, Eden, Fridge, Kim, Lee, Maree, Matt, Nikki, Pat, Rob, Shanan, Stefo & Tony

Mrs Parmas was the pub that started it all. You all know the story by now but after a fire at The Prince of Wales in Ascot Vale, the home of the perfect parma, we kicked off our hunt to find a replacement weekly feed that would fill the POW parma sized hole in our hearts.

That was 400 reviews ago. 400 reviews and 10 years to the day since our first visit to Mrs. Parmas.

So what better way to celebrate our 400th review than by heading back to where it all began? Sure we did a revisit in 2012 but it has still been a good seven or eight years since I had set foot in Mrs. Parmas for a feed. Had things changed at all? It was time to find out. So, for the 400th time, we loaded up the parma bus and headed to Little Bourke Street.

Our question was answered pretty damn quickly - No. As far as the appearance of Mrs. Parmas goes it looks exactly as it did 10 years ago. Right down to the “Satay Parma”, which I believe was the parma on the specials board back then as it was this past weekend.

But there’s nothing wrong with that - They’ve got a winning formula at Mrs. Parmas. I said in our 2010 review that I appreciated the lack of pretension that Mrs. Parmas exhibited for a pub in the middle of the CBD and I stand by that. Its a great spot to relax, grab a beer and apparently kill time between acts 1 and 2 of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, as when we arrived the place was packed with throngs of people in Gryffindor and Slytherin scarves smashing parmas before heading back to finish the performance.

We grabbed a seat and checked the massive parma menu that loomed on the wall above…

Inflation has definitely hit Mrs. Parmas, chicken parma prices rising $4 since our last visit. I was very tempted by some of the novelty options on offer at Mrs. P’s, however to keep things on a level playing field I opted for the original, with some of the other group being a bit more adventurous and trying some of the other, fancier options.

As far as beers go its hard to fault Mrs. Parmas. Since opening their doors they’ve had a philosophy of being an all-Victorian beer bar, exclusively stocking only 100% Victorian microbrewery beer, and it definitely wasn’t a short list. on tap they had their own “Mrs’ P’s Lager”, Fury & Son, Stomping Ground, Kaiju, Fixation, Cavalier, 2 Brothers and pages more in either bottle or can. Can’t fault them here and, parmas aside, worth stopping in just for a beer.

20 or so minutes after ordering our parmas started filing out of the kitchen. It was a big turnout this week, with 15 people in our crew it look a bit of time for everyone’s food to arrive, so have to cut them a bit of slack as it was such a large order.

If you like continuity in your life then there’s no place better than Mrs. Parmas. It has been 10 years and their parmas look exactly the same today as they did in 2010.

Its a unique style that you don’t see very often. Rather than going for thickness (which, I will admit, scores well at ParmaDaze), Mrs. P’s is a flat schnitzel, opting for plate real estate over thickness, which definitely helps with an even cook as all of Mrs. Parmas schnitzels are pan fried rather than deep fried.

And they’re pretty tasty! the chicken breast was pure white and juicy, the crumbs were a little soggy but packed with herbs, really adding to the flavour profile of the dish.

The toppings were pretty solid as well. Solid coverage of cheese grilled to perfection, and a healthy serve of flavoursome ham that really nailed the flavours of a good parma.

As far as criticisms go I could have used a bit more napoli, and mine did come out a little on the cold side, but again I attribute that to trying to wrangle 15 parmas out of the kitchen at the same time.

I always say that novelty toppings on parmas are great as long as they can produce a solid standard parma, and Mrs. Parmas delivers just that. They don’t use the novelty toppings as a crutch to hide a poor schnitzel, they use a quality schnitzel and build on top of it. The result is a unique yet traditional parma that I’d happy have again any day of the week.

Now on to the sides, where things get … controversial.

If you are unaware Mrs. Parmas have a shared sides system. The parmas come out as pictured above, on a big plate, all alone. Then you are delivered your sides - A bowl of salad and a bowl of chips - However they aren’t your chips and salad - They are the communal chips and salad for the table.

And for 10 years the shared sides at Mrs. Parmas has been their biggest issue.

The sides are good! The chips are hot, liberally salted with chicken salt, crunchy on the outside and crisp on the inside - Honestly top notch chips, and the salad is everything you would want from a garden salad to break up your meal a little.

Rather than re-tread the same content, I’ll just copy a paragraph that I wrote when we visited in 2012

The whole act of sharing two bowls of chips between seven people is just awkward. Sure we’re all friends, but putting communal chips brings up all sorts of social questions - are fingers okay? What if I take too many and don’t leave enough for everyone else? who gets the last chip? can I put sauce on them?

To keep the obscure movie references going I felt like I was in a cruel “Cube“-like social experiment where one wrong move could get my face burned off with acid.

First of all, how good is Cube? Such a good movie and still holds up.

Secondly, the sentiment above still stands. I feel like the experience at Mrs. Parmas gets less enjoyable the more people you have in your party as the more people you have the more the shared sides system is exacerbated. We had 15 people in our party and we were served with three bowls of chips and three bowls of salad, and they were emptied within minutes, leaving some people in our group who didn’t act fast enough without anything.

Now, I have always been told that refills on chips and salad are free, last trip we didn’t say anything and waited to see if we were offered a refill … that refill never came. So this time around we actually asked for a refill of our chips.

And to Mrs. Parmas credit, they came, three (smaller) bowls of chips were delivered to the table - However it took them a good 15 minutes to arrive. The extra chips arrived after we had finished our parmas, after the staff had cleared our plates.

I’ll go deeper in this in the “Value” discussion below, but for $27.50 shared sides just seems like a bit of a rip off and after 3 reviews of Mrs. Parmas now it still doesn’t sit well with us.

And now for some thoughts from the others around the table …

“Parma was okay, Shared salad and chips no good.”

— Rob

“Shared sides is a downer. Company was great. Good times!”

— Shanan

“Chicken was good, might have been an alright meal if they didn’t make us share chips and salad. Rort for $27.50.”

— Daniel

“Parma was good but pretty pricey. Overall an expensive meal. ”

— Tony

“ Shit show, who the f@$k serves chips and salad between a table of 15 by 3 bowls of each to share.”

— Fridge

“I hate sharing ... especially food!”

— Stefo

“Parmageddon was extremely hot. I was looking forward to a spicy meal but “kick” what a kick I wouldn’t like to think what the “supergeddon” would be.”

— Adam Y

“A tasty parma, other than being a bit cold it was hard to fault. Shared sides still causing dramas 10 years later. ”

— Nikki

So … yeah, A lot of strong opinions on the shared sides.

Funnily enough while we were eating our meals a table of six sat down behind me and I overheard one of them say to the other “now, the parmas are good but they do something weird with the chips” - confirmation its not just us that thinks its an off-putting system.

The value score definitely took a hit because of it. I’d consider a $27.50 parma expensive at the best of times, but a $27.50 parma with shared sides? its a turn off that harms an otherwise great meal.

I think I could live with shared salads. Leaving salad on your plate is pretty common, not everyone eats it and in the interest of reducing food waste I reckon I could get behind a bowl of salad and personal chips … but c’mon. Chips are integral to the parma experience and forcing us to share is just cruel and unusual.

I really like Mrs. Parmas. I like the venue, I like the all Victorian tap list and I really enjoy the parmas they push out. They’re one of the only pubs in Melbourne that offer a gluten free parma and they have the option for eggplant parmas on all of their novelties so its easily one of the most enjoyable by everyone parma venues out there. It’s just a shame that every time we go we get bogged down in this shared sides debacle. At the very least this trip we confirmed that you can get a free refill if you request it, it may be like getting blood from a stone… but it is possible.

I’d say every parma fan needs to visit Mrs. Parmas at least once. They do some interesting stuff, and if you can get over the shared sides (as we clearly can’t) then they put out a solid feed.

Thanks for sticking with us for 400 reviews!!

Parma - 7.14

Chips - 3.82

Salad - 3.95

Value - 5.23

Total -  5.45

The search continues...

#399 - 'Macelleria'

Where - 21-31 Hall St. Moonee Ponds

Price - $22.90

Website - https://macelleria.com.au

Reviewers - Lee & Nikki

I first saw Macelleria on an Instagram post, advertising themselves as “The Butcher that cooks for you!”, and as much as I love a good parma there is always room in my world for a quality cut of steak.

An interesting concept, upon approaching the counter to place your order at Macelleria you are greeted with this lovely sight…

Pick your steak, pick your done-ness, pick your sauce, pick your sides, pick your beer. Delightful.

So when I heard that Macelleria also had a parma on the menu I was torn. Do I visit the steakhouse and get a steak or do I visit a steakhouse and get a parma? Chances are the parma is on the menu just to keep the steak haters who get dragged along happy - Could it really be any good?

But as much as I enjoy a good steak we are duty bound. We strapped on a blindfold so we wouldn’t be tempted by the glass case of steaks, blindly groped our way up to the counter and placed our order.

This week we tried the Moonee Ponds location, but there are also Macelleria’s in Richmond, Glen Waverly, Geelong and in Bondi & Newtown Sydney.

So this is how the parma is described on the menu -

That’s right. Schnitzel and eggplant. Definitely something we haven’t encountered before. Feels super traditional yet unique at the same time. As far as prosciutto goes I am a massive fan - I don’t think I’ve encountered a prosciutto parma I didn’t like.

I was definitely worried, this one could go either way.

The tap list is pretty sparse, but as this is more of a restaurant than a pub they can be forgiven I guess. Kombi Lane Lager, Peroni, Asahi Super Dry and Mountain Goat Steam Ale. There are some more options available in stubbies/cans but nothing overly craft focussed.

After a 15 minute wait I spied our parmas coming out of the kitchen…

First things first - Macelleria needs to invest in bigger plates. Sure a plate overflowing with stuff makes for a good looking photo, but it also makes eating the damn thing a bit of an exercise. Luckily we were supplied with some hefty steak knives to help facilitate, which we used to tuck straight in to the parma in front of us.

The schnitzel buried under the mountain of toppings was actually surprisingly good! A little bit on the small side however that’s where my criticisms of it pretty much end. Super crunchy (an impressive feat given the sheer mass of stuff on top). Flavoursome, well cooked and good quality chicken. A solid foundation all around.

When I saw the menu I was worried about the eggplant. I’m not the biggest eggplant fan at the best of times and in my mind I felt like it would serve no purpose other than just getting in the way - and I was wrong in that assumption.

I didn’t love the eggplant, but I didn’t dislike it. It definitely helped to bulk out the small-ish schnitzel to a meal I had trouble finishing in one sitting, and it even added an almost sun-dried tomato feel to the flavour profile. I won’t be protesting that every other parma in Melbourne add a slice of eggplant any time soon, but I was unoffended by its inclusion here.

The other toppings were spot on. The prosciutto lent the parma its signature salty bite and the napoli worked well mixing with the eggplant. The mozzarella was well melted and the splash of parmesan on top added a dash of extra flavour.

The big serving of chips was well seasoned and pretty tasty, however with such a small plate I couldn’t really manoeuvre the parma around so I could get to them quick enough before turning mostly cold. The ones I could access at the start of the meal were fantastic, though

Definitely a generous serving of salad on this parma. Italian influences shine through again with the inclusion of olives throughout, which were a nice surprise if you like olives. If you don’t like olives I guess they would be less than well received. Other than that there were cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, onion slivers and lettuce leaves. Overall a tasty salad and a fine accompaniment to the parma.

“Delicious, crunchy schnitzel and it was great to have a parma that wasn’t tight with the napoli in what feels like months. I thought the eggplant would bother me, but it turned out to be a nice addition. Worth trying!”

— Nikki

$22.90 is a pretty damn good price for the parma we received. We’ve had parmas much more expensive this year with much less on the plate. I wouldn’t complain about having to pay this again. No parma nights on the books as far as I can see.

There is a lot going on with the Macelleria parma. For a parma that I thought would be an afterthought on a steakhouse menu I was shocked at the amount of effort that was put in to make this an interesting dish. The traditional flavours might not be for everyone, but if you’re a bit adventurous (and can avoid the temptation to order yourself a thick, juicy steak) you won’t be disappointed.

Parma - 7.75

Chips - 6.00

Salad - 6.75

Value - 7.50

Total -  7.15

The search continues...

#398 - 'Republic Tavern'

Where - 250 Cooper St. Epping

Price - $26

Website - https://republictavern.com.au

Reviewers - Lee & Nikki

When I first heard about Republic Tavern my initial thought was “Epping … Where is Epping again?”

Then after a quick trip on Google maps I realised its actually not that far, and a trip to Epping might be a great idea for something different, and I can renew my Costco membership while I’m there because who doesn’t need a 5 kilo pack of cream cheese.

So on Thursday we loaded into the car and headed out to the Republic Tavern.

We parked in the carpark for the Mantra hotel, which looms over the pub (it’s actually a nice looking hotel) and headed inside - The first thing that hit me was the sheer size of the place - Absolutely huge with multiple seating options, a pool table and even a little beer garden out the side.

We grabbed a seat and checked the menu -

Now as you may have guessed Republic Tavern is a brewery as well as a pub, offering up a full selection of brews from both the Beer Republic line of beers, as well as a full range of non Beer Republic beers, which I thought was nice. A lot of brewpubs lock you into one brand of beer, so it was nice to have the option to stray from the flagship a little.

Too many beers to mention by name, but just know that there is a top notch craft beer selection on offer. The Passionfruit Twist and Raspberry Sour were both fantastic.

About 15 minutes after ordering (it was pretty quick) our parmas arrived…

The schnitzel was top quality. A little overcooked and the advertised “parmesan crumb” wasn’t really detectable, they just tasted like standard crumbs to me - But otherwise this was a quality schnitzel.

Pure white chicken breast, juicy enough and although the crumbs weren’t particularly parmesan-y they had a solid crunch. A fine foundation for a parma.

The toppings were a bit of a mixed bag. Plenty of cheese, well grilled and gooey along with some smoked ham, I just wish a bit more flavour shone through. It was all good, but it just didn’t have any kick.

The biggest downfall of the toppings was the napoli - There just wasn’t any. I investigated under the cheese & ham and there were some remnants of tomato paste but we couldn’t really taste it at all amongst the massive serve of cheese atop the dish.

But overall a good dish, quality ingredients and (mostly) expertly assembled, just look at that cross section up there, isn’t that a nice looking cross section?

I’m not normally one who enjoys shoestring fries, but the chips offered up at Republic were nothing short of outstanding. Yes, they fall into the standard trappings of shoestrings (ie. they go cold in minutes), but other than that they were well seasoned, there were plenty of them and the aioli that was served with the chips for dippage was an almost exact replica of McDonalds Big Mac sauce. Absolutely delicious.

The salad was also pretty good. Heaps of it, plenty of stuff going on inside (especially if you are a cherry tomato fan) and tossed in a heavy pour of dressing. The leaves felt a little bit wilted but not insanely so, all up a quality side to the parma.

“Good chicken, good toppings, great chips. Could have been a fantastic parma had they not been so tight with the napoli!”

— Nikki

$26 is a bit on the pricey side for what we received but I’m not too distressed. If I had to price it I’d say it was a $22-$23 parma (the schnitzel was a bit small all things considered). I can’t see any parma nights on the books but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one on the way for this relatively new spot.

The Republic Tavern is a few tweaks away from being fantastic, just crank up the “parmesan crust” advertised to be in the crumbs and switch up the napoli to something chunkier and they are well on their way to a top tier feed. Keep the Big Mac sauce with the chips though - that is a winner.

Republic is a good spot, a little bit far out for me to visit with any regularity (other than stopping in for a quick pint after a trip to Costco), but definitely a worthwhile watering hole for those out that way. Give it a crack if you are in the area.

Parma - 7.00

Chips - 8.50

Salad - 7.00

Value - 7.00

Total -  7.30

The search continues...

Crossing the Road #10 - 'Godfather's'

Where - 200-202 Buckley St. Essendon

Price - Standard parma - $20.90, novelty toppings - $22.90

Website - None that I can find, but they do have a Facebook page

Back in my day this end of Buckley Street had one restaurant and one restaurant alone - Goofy’s Pizza. They were dirty, they were oily, but they were open ‘till like 3am and I’ll be damned if telling the cab driver to stop off for a quick Goofy’s on the way home wasn’t an integral part of the Prince of Wales Friday night experience.

Now luckily Goofy’s still stands, but now they have a bit of competition. The ill fated but delicious Dude Food Man moved in across the road for a while, I noticed last night that there’s a place called “Indian Tukka” that, while a little culturally confused, seems to be pretty good and two or three doors up from Goofy’s themselves is tonights target. Godfather’s Pizzeria.

I remember Godfather’s as a pretty prolific pizza chain when I was a kid. There were never any within delivery range to me so I don’t really remember their pizza however I do remember them being “around” a lot in the late 90’s early 00’s before kind’ve disappearing? I may be wrong but until I was recommended Godfather’s for review a couple of weeks ago I had kind’ve forgotten they existed all together.

If you cast your memory back to the last time we did a Crossing the Road, you’ll remember that in a fit of disappointment at the parma delivery systems offered by Menulog and Uber Eats I kind’ve denounced the whole idea of home delivered parmas, and to be honest I wasn’t planning on doing another one for a long time, so when I heard about Godfather’s actually looking relatively decent I decided we would try a new tactic this time around. Rather than leave the fate of our parmas in the hands of a random Uber driver we would place the take away order, then go and pick it up from the store ourselves. A little bit more effort, but hopefully then we can treat our dinner with care before we get it home.

In a very retro feeling move I called them as we got in the car and placed our order. Now Godfather’s offers quite a range of novelty options …

Feeling a bit spicy this week I went for the “Hot n Tasty Parma” (although the Sujuk parma sounded mighty tempting) while Reviewer Nikki opted for something a little bit simpler with the Aussie Parma.

When I called through the order we were told the parmas would be 15 minutes, it took us about 12 minutes to get there and I had to wait 3 minutes once arriving before the parmas were ready, so their 15 minute estimate was pretty spot on.

We grabbed the parmas, hurried to the car and rushed them home, taking about another 12 minutes to get home with the parmas warm on my lap.

We got home and quickly unpacked our parcel on the coffee table.

Now in a normal “Crossing the Road” I would take the time to plate up the parmas for some good glamour shots, however this week our focus was about getting those parmas into our bellies while they were still piping hot and un-tainted by the delivery process, so rather than faff about we did what had to be done and tucked straight in.

I think we did pretty well! Other than the chips being a tad soggy the parmas were still nice and hot when we cracked open the foil containers and tucked in.

The schnitzel was super crispy - Other than the crumbs being slightly thicker than what I would like on a good parma the thicker crumbs lended themselves to a strong crunch with each bite, and I think actually helped retain the freshness in a parma that had to travel. The chicken was big enough, a little dry but not overly so. Pure chicken breast, nice and thick - Definitely tasty and as far as take away parmas go one of the better schnitzels we have had.

As far as the toppings go I can only speak for the Hot n Tasty parma, but I will say that the title of the dish is not false advertising as this parma was both Hot “n” Tasty. They weren’t at all tight with the salami or the jalapeños, plenty to go around throughout the entire meal. Not a parma for the feint of heart either as they definitely brought the heat.

Reviewer Nikki seemed satisfied with her Aussie, other than the egg being slightly smooshed during transport (nobody to blame but myself on that one) it definitely hit the spot.

As I said earlier the chips were a little soggy after transport, but looking past that there was quite a hefty serving. That is one thing I’ll give take away parmas over pub parmas - More often than not they’ll cram that foil tray with chips, many more than you’d get at a pub feed. They were well cooked, well seasoned and flavourful.

Are salads from pizza joints ever any good? I mean, this one wasn’t bad by any means, but after marinating in the hefty pour of dressing for a good 20 minutes by the time I got to it the leaves were hardly at their freshest. It was fine, but nothing to write home about - definitely would have been better fresh.

I’d happily shell out another $22.90 for this parma on a lazy night. I can’t see any official parma nights advertised on their facebook site, but as they only opened in November last year I wouldn't rule out something going on the books soon!

As the photo I snapped of the interior above shows there are tables and chairs available at Godfather’s so the option to eat in is there if you want it, and to be honest I don’t think that would be a bad option. As much as I talk up the ease of picking up a parma on the way past there’s no way what we had last night could top eating it fresh in house.

That being said, if you live close to a Godfather’s, can’t be bothered cooking dinner and feel like grabbing a cheeky parma on the way home from work you could do a lot worse than what they have on offer. The novelty toppings kept things interesting on what was a quality foundation to the dish.

I’m still mad at home delivered parmas and doubt I’ll be firing up the Uber Eats app to grab one any time soon, but I think making the effort to pick it up myself then enjoy it on the comfort of my couch is a good compromise, and something I would definitely try again.

The search continues...

#397 - 'The Cornerstone'

Where - 1 Crockford Street, Port Melbourne

Price - $24

Website - https://www.thecornerstonepub.com.au

Reviewers - Lee & Nikki

This review is gonna start with an embarrassing admission. I’m not gonna sugar coat it, I’m not gonna dace around it. Deep breath. Here we go…

I watch The Bachelor.

To clarify, I don’t watch The Bachelorette, that would be ridiculous. However when Matt Agnew flashed those astrophysicist pearly whites of his in July last year I was enthralled. I could not tear my eyes from the TV, and when I sat in an emotional heap at the end of each episode I would need a few minutes to regain my composure, and some nights a second TV show would follow the Bachelor. A show made in Melbourne, starring Lucy Lawless as a spritely detective trying to balance the pressures of both solving horrific murders and being a mordern woman in 2019. The show was (is? I don’t think it has been cancelled yet) called “My Life is Murder”, and while not as enthralling as The Bachelor, sometimes I’d get roped into the plot and I caught a few episodes.

Now bear with me here, but in the show Lucy Lawless had a restaurant/pub she would visit a lot. She was friendly with the owner, she would discuss cases with Bernard Curry (who I had a theory was actually dead the entire time, but that didn’t actually pan out) and just generally hang out in this pub. Being someone who has visited a lot of Melbourne pubs it bugged the hell of me that I just couldn’t place where it was shot. It did look very “Port Melbourne” but for the longest time I could not place just where in Melbourne the My Life is Murder pub existed.

Then I was suggested the Cornerstone, I checked some photos and new instantly that we had found the MLIM pub, and there was no doubt that a parma there was top priority.

The pub is not exactly as it appears in the show, apparently since production the Cornerstone has added a row of plus booths by the window. A nice touch and definitely adds to the overall pub vibe of the place. It’s a spacious, open and well lit establishment with a great view of a bustling little Port Melbourne community out the window.

We grabbed a table, checked the menu and was greeted by one of the most delicious descriptions of a parma I’ve read in the longest time…

Doesn’t that just sound delicious?

We placed our order at the bar and grabbed some beers to go alongside. Not a bad selection at the Cornerstone, I posted the tap list below which doesn’t seem to be entirely up to date as I grabbed a pint of Blue Moon to accompany my parma, but everything else on tap seems to have been on the board…

The parmas arrived at our table about 15-20 minutes after ordering and at first glance it looked like we were on to a winner…

The schnitzel was absolutely outstanding, apart from being ever so slightly overcooked and a little dry, it was thick and plump, hand crumbed with strong garlic flavours throughout. To be honest eating the little edge chunks that didn’t have a lot of toppings on them reminded me a lot of tucking in to my second favourite chicken dish - Chicken Kiev.

An outstanding foundation to a parma and a very strong start to the dish.

The toppings were a bit of a mixed bag but mostly positive. Plenty of cheese grilled to a delicious golden brown (like I said, maybe a little bit too grilled, but that’s a minor quibble) and the Virginia ham was strong and flavoursome.

The napoli, while fresh and home made as claimed in the menu description, was in pretty short supply. Another spoonful or two and this parma would be in the upper echelons. It would have added an extra burst of flavour and even helped with the slight dryness of the chicken. It was still damn good, but it could have been outstanding.

After we de-parma’ed the chips we found a pretty generous serving hiding under the schnitzel. Like the parma a little overcooked but otherwise very tasty - Dusted with a seasoning reminiscent of BBQ crisps, very similar to the chips we had last year at Melba Social in Kensingon. Very tasty.

The salad was a dense little pile of leaves an onion slices. Very well dressed, and I think I detected a heavy helping of parsley throughout? Either way it was quite tasty and a great foil to the strong flavours of the parma. A fine side for a fine meal.

“Loved the schnitzel and chips, just could have used a little more napoli on mine and it would have been amazing. ”

— Nikki

I’ve got no issues shelling out $24 for the Cornerstone parma. Some minor complaints aside this was a delicious feed with top notch ingredients, if you are still on the fence Tuesday is $20 Parma & Pot night - A great value deal that would be hard to fault.

I enjoyed this parma immensely, the food was fantastic and the atmosphere of the pub is perfect for a modern backstreets local. So whether you love a good parma or are just a massive Xena: The Warrior Princess fan, the Cornerstone is definitely worth checking out.

Parma - 7.75

Chips - 8.50

Salad - 8.00

Value - 7.00

Total -  7.80

The search continues...

#396 - 'Penny Young'

Where - 22 Young St. Moonee Ponds

Price - $26

Website - http://pennyyoung.com.au/

Reviewers - Lee, Nikki & Stefo

And we’re back! Prepare for me to blow your mind-hole because we have officially started our tenth year of ParmaDaze. Review #1 - Mrs. Parmas was uploaded in March of 2010, which gives me two months to work out some sort of anniversary celebration (along with our four hundredth parma review in a few weeks time. We are just racking up the milestones in 2020!)

Anyway! New year, new parma and I wanted to kick off festivities with a pub I was very excited about.

Full disclosure - I love Penny Young. I have been a regular since they opened the bar and it has been one of my favourite spots in the area ever since. Starting as a craft beer bottle shop, Penny Young opened an attached beer hall in early 2018. The menu was very simple when they launched, limited to a selection of (delicious) wood fired pizzas - However when I heard over the break that they had recently added a parma to the menu I made it top priority to visit in the new year.

Penny Young started is life as a beer garden attached to a bottle shop - Now the Bottle Shop has moved a few doors down to a bigger fitout and left the beer garden attached to an empty storefront - I imagine the storefront is going to be absorbed Akira style into the beer hall, making it more of an indoor/outdoor setup, - But that remains to be seen.

We grabbed a table in the dining area and checked the menu for our first parma review of 2020…

We placed our orders at the bar, grabbed some pints of Boatrocker Sunshine & Rainbows Session sour (delicious, by the way) and headed back to our table.

As far as beers go you’re in luck because Penny Young has one of, if not the most impressive tap lists in the Northern suburbs. 18 taps of constantly rotating beers ensure that you never have to have the same beer twice, unless it is delicious, which most of them are. Too many beers to go into detail here, but check their Now Tapped page for a relatively up to date listing.

About 15 minutes after placing the order our parmas arrived at the table…

It looked good! At first glance the cheese could have been grilled a bit more and the schnitzel itself was a bit small, a look that was exacerbated by the oversized plate on which it was sitting, but size isn't everything and I would take a tasty smaller parma over a tasteless behemoth any day of the week.

We grabbed our cutlery and tucked in, the schnitzel was thick enough with a restrained coating of crumbs - However this is where we hit our biggest criticism of the Penny Young parma - The schnitzel was dry. so dry.

Not only was it dry but it was also barely hot. Bordering more on warm than anything else, I’ve got no facts to back this up but it felt as if the schnitzels were pre cooked only to be topped on demand, because the toppings were a completely different story…

… They were delightful! The cheese was steaming hot and melty. The pancetta in place of traditional ham was a welcome addition and added both flavour and a much appreciated crunch to the top of the dish. The napoli sauce was nothing special, looking suspiciously like it had come straight from a can, but it was hot, flavoursome and in this case I wouldn’t consider it a negative when paired with the other toppings on the parma. Such a shame the schnitzel underneath it was in the state it was.

Chips, like the toppings, were served piping hot and fresh. A large serve of steak cut beer battered chips, well seasoned and served almost completely out from underneath the parma. If they had’ve come with a dipping sauce they would be nearing perfection.

The garden salad, like the chips, was also generously served. Plenty of lettuce, tomato, onion and cucumber. If I had one gripe is that it was a little soggy from soaking in the dressing, but otherwise this was a top notch salad.

“I enjoyed the meal overall. The sides were tasty and the toppings flavorsome. The schnitzel sadly was not up to scratch. It was dry and only barely warm (perhaps precooked and reheated?). A quality schnitzel would have made this a top notch Parma!”

— Stefo

“Loved the chips, salad and toppings (the pancetta was an unexpected surprise!) However the schnitzel under it all was quite dry and served warm instead of hot. Could have been great but just fell short!”

— Nikki

In my mind this is a $22-$24 parma. $25 would be pushing it and the $26 they’re charging seems a little steep, not outrageously so, but rolling it back a dollar or two seems like a much better value proposition. Overall I enjoyed the dish but other than the pancetta I can’t claim that top notch ingredients were used all around, and it wasn’t the biggest of dishes. No parma nights on the books at this stage as far as I’m aware.

The Penny Young parma was one tweak away from kicking off our 2020 with a bang. The chips, the salad, the toppings, the pancetta, the beers on tap - All winners, yet they let us down on something as foundational as the schnitzel everything hinges on.

I’m hoping it was just an isolated incident and I get reports of different experiences once this review goes live. I’d even recommend it still worth checking out Penny Young as the meal as a whole was still quite enjoyable all told. Despite the issues I would happily go back … and I intend to.

Parma - 5.70

Chips - 8.33

Salad - 8.17

Value - 7.00

Total -  6.98

The search continues...

#395 - 'Blues Bar & Grill @ Rydges on Swanston'

Where - 701 Swanston St. Carlton

Price - $25.00

Website - www.rydges.com/

Reviewers - Lee & Nikki

I think this marks a first for ParmaDaze as it’s the first time that we have reviewed a hotel. Not a hotel in the way that the Birmingham Hotel is a Hotel, but a proper hotel. With beds and showers and stuff.

Rydges fell onto our radar when our good friends The Happiest Hour tweeted this…

It’s cut off by the Twitter photo box, but Rydges are offering a happy hour of Furphy pints for $6 from 4:30-7:30 every day. Now I’m not the biggest fan of Furphy, but $6 pints are a fantastic deal. I went onto the Rydges website, found a menu and confirmed that they do indeed serve a parma.

Now there is another, personal reason why my interest was piqued by the Rydges on Swanston parma - back in 2012 Reviewer Nikki and myself got married there. Ceremony on the rooftop, reception in the function room and pre-wedding beers in the very bar we were returning too for a parma review, so as well as heading out for a Thursday feed this review served as a bit of a trip down memory lane.

Now here’s the interesting bit - There was no parma at Rydges when we got married there. Definitely not, as if they did our 120 guests would not have had alternating drops of pork belly or salmon filet but parmas all around. But that has only served to highlight some changes to the Rydges on Swanston menu that I’ll get to shortly.

We arrived at the lobby bar. If you’ve ever been to a hotel lobby bar you’ll know what to expect. It’s a hotel bar, it’s adequate. I grabbed a cheap pint of Furphy and looked around, other than the stools running along the window and some tables out on the outdoor deck there wasn’t much available in the way of dining space. It was decked out more as a bar and lounge than anywhere you would tuck into a parma, however I went for a walk and noticed that the once fine dining restaurant in the next room was now unmanned. Seat yourself with a sign asking to “order at the bar”. Okay, I guess this is where they are running the pub meals now! We grabbed a booth and checked the menu

Easy done, we placed our order at the bar as requested.

It was a weird vibe. Ordering a pub feed in the bones of what was once a lovely restaurant. It sounds harsh but it gave me the vibe that Rydges had sort of given up when it came to their dining options. If they had table service it might have felt a bit more “normal” but having to walk to the next room to order at the bar felt like they were one step short of giving me a buzzer to go collect our meals from the kitchen window.

As far as beers on tap go options were pretty limited. Furphy, James Squire 150 Lashes and … another beer that I can’t remember. To be honest they had me at $6 pints of Furphy.

About 20 minutes after ordering the parmas arrived at the table.

Now let me preface the following by saying that the parma itself was the worst thing on the plate, so there is a lot of positivity coming, we just have to push through this bit to get to it.

The Rydges parma makes me sad because I can see potential for it to be great. The chicken schnitzel was big, crazy thick and quality chicken breast. But it was cold … and dry. The crumbing was mostly fine but got quite thick in places. There’s a world where this parma was served to us piping hot and I am singing its praises, but unfortunately it missed the mark for me this week. Its not like it was inedible or anything, It was perfectly edible … just a missed opportunity for something great.

The top of the parma was quite oily, I believe the oil had separated out of the cheese a little. But the cheese was gooey and flavoursome. The napoli was unremarkable but fine, and there was at least a slice of ham, although it didn’t add a whole lot to the flavour of the parma.

All up it has the potential to be a great parma, but a couple of issues in the kitchen lowered it from “great” to just “okay”.

Okay now this is where things get better because the sides for the Rydges parma were absolutely outstanding. The hefty serve of beer battered chips were well salted and even arrived with a pot of tomato sauce for chip do-page without prompting. Unlike the parma they were served piping hot and fresh. A fine side to the dish.

If we had not just come off a perfect 10 salad last weekend I’d say this was the best salad we’ve had all year. A massive bowl, engulfing the plate. Packed high with fresh lettuce, onion, capsicum, cucumber, grated carrot and drenched in balsamic dressing. Absolutely delicious and everything I want in a garden salad

“The chips and salad were great but the parma was a bit of a let down. A bit cold and dry. ”

— Nikki

Value is a tough one to judge this week. Its hard to fault the quality of ingredients used by Rydges for their parma, but at the same time I don’t think I got $25 worth of enjoyment out of a so/so parma and some fantastic sides. On Thursdays Rydges offer a $15 lunch parma - That sounds like a much better value proposition to me. Maybe worth a try at that price otherwise I wouldn’t be rushing out to try it.

If you get really sleepy after you eat a parma and need to lie down on a hotel room bed immediately after consumption then you could definitely do worse than Rydges. Hotels these days usually share the menu downstairs with their room service options so getting this parma delivered to your hotel room wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. A couple of tweaks and it could be great however our experience faltered where it mattered most so I struggle to recommend it. Maybe try it if you are staying in the hotel, otherwise I wouldn’t travel too far to try it.

Parma - 5.50

Chips - 7.75

Salad - 8.25

Value - 6.75

Total -  6.75

The search continues...

#394 - 'The Notting Hill Hotel'

Where - 260-262 Ferntree Gully Rd. Notting Hill

Price - $26.50

Website - www.nottinghillhotel.com.au

Reviewers - Lee & Nikki

Don’t you hate that person that is annoyingly organised with their Christmas shopping? You’ll be out at the shops at 11pm on Christmas Eve battling the throngs for that last set of Galar region Pokémon cards that your Nephew just has to have - But there’s always that one smug prick sitting there spouting “Well I got my Christmas shopping done in November so I didn’t have to deal with that hassle”.

Screw that guy.

Anyway I was at Chadstone last weekend finishing up my Christmas shopping for the year when I got a hankering for a parma. We don’t get out that side of town too often, so I figured it’d be a perfect time to sample one of the pubs that we wouldn’t normally tackle on a Thursday night. I did a quick Google for pubs in the area and when the Notting Hill Hotel popped up I immediately recognised it as one that has been sitting on our recommended list for a while. Rather than dive deeper into further research before heading over I decided we’d just wing it. Pop on over to the Nott and see what all the fuss was about.

I’m not sure what I expected when arriving at the Nott but I didn’t expect this. The Eastern suburbs must be keeping this one a secret because the Nott is flippin’ awesome. A classic, old school pub at the front gives way to a TAB, a pizzeria, a steakhouse, a taproom, bottle shop and an impressively huge beer garden out the back, complete with big screen TV’s and outdoor pool tables. I wasn’t expecting such a cool spot to be stuck (seemingly) in the middle of nowhere. Then it hit me … Monash University is just up the street. This is a Uni pub, and a damn fine uni pub at that.

It was a lovely day so we grabbed a table in the beer garden and checked the menu -

After which I went into the taproom and placed our order, taking note of the salad bar, which I will definitely get to a bit later.

On tap they had Bad Shepherd, Panhead, James Squire, Kosciuszko, Little Creatures, White Rabbit, Brooklyn, Furphy, Guinness, Heineken, Carlton, Hahn & 5 Seeds Cider, with Hop Nation, Dainton, Balter, Stone & Wood, Mountain Goat, Feral, Kaiju and more in the fridge - Something for everyone.

Our buzzer buzzed and we collected the parmas, stopping off at the salad bar on the way back (soon…soon).

The chicken schnitzel was fantastic quality. Pure white, juicy chicken breast. Just have a look at the cross section photo below and you will see what I mean. The crumbs were perfectly crunchy, slightly thick for me but not insanely so. Reviewer Nikki had no crumbs on the bottom of her schnitzel at all, but these are minor complaints - Overall it was a great schnitzel and a solid foundation for a parma.

Side note - I have noticed that if a pub offers a schnitzel on the menu, just a plain schnitzel with a lemon wedge and coleslaw, that is a fantastic sign that they are putting effort into the schnitzel they are using for their parmas and you are, more often than not, gonna get a good one. Just an observation!

Toppings were good, but not without some minor quibbles. Great cheese coverage, cooked to golden brown, and the fresh parsley shavings on top made for a damn photogenic parma, which is great for me.

There was a slice of ham but it wasn’t very flavoursome, I had to dig through the cheese and check if it was there. Nothing wrong with it at all, but something a bit smokier would have really been great.

The napoli was fresh, chunky and flavoursome if a little watery, but again, minor complaints of an otherwise top quality dish.

The chips were probably the weakest element of the plate. They weren’t bad, but they weren’t that special. A big enough serving they could have used a bit more seasoning. I’m sounding a bit harsh on them. They were fine, I just haven’t got much to say about them overall.

Okay. So. The salad. On the menu, next to the title for the “Mains” section are the words “Help yourself to salad garnish”. On ordering our parmas we were presented with a small bowl each that I’m sure you already saw pictured above. What does this mean? well next to the ordering window at the Nott is this…

A full on salad bar. Now we arrived just as the pub opened so we got to the salad bar when it was virtually untouched, but goddamn what a sight. I don’t think we’ve ever given a perfect score for salad, but to be honest I cannot fault it. We always maintain that we judge our parmas against the original Prince of Wales Hotel parma, which came with garden salad, pasta salad and potato salad - Well the Nott offers those three as well as coleslaw. That has got to be a perfect 10 right? I don’t know how it couldn’t be.

“Nice crunchy schnitzel and salad bar was a lovely surprise! Could have used more napoli but otherwise delicious. Love the beer garden”

— Nikki

The Nott offers a $21 parma, pot & free trivia night on Wednesdays, which sounds like a fantastic value proposition to me. I’d imagine this is a busy one so probably best to call in a booking if you’re thinking of heading down. As for the full priced parma I’ve got no issues paying another $26.50 for what we received, it might be a little pricey, but I don’t mind paying for quality (and theoretical unlimited salad)

Coming into summer is the perfect time to drop into the Nott and checking out what they have on offer as their beer garden is nothing short of spectacular, and I’m honestly jealous that this pub isn’t closer to my side of town so I could call it my local. I don’t think it’ll disappoint, definitely worth a visit.

Parma - 7.75

Chips - 6.80

Salad - 10

Value - 7.5

Total -  7.96

The search continues...

#393 - 'The Limerick Arms'

Where - 364 Clarendon Street. South Melbourne

Price - Around $24-$26, depending on the variety of parma

Website - www.limerickarms.com.au

Reviewers - Lee & Nikki

I am honestly amazed at how long the Limerick Arms has flown under our radar.

I remember when we reviewed Honey back in 2014. Looking across the road at the Limerick and thinking to myself “That place looks good, I should check to see if they do a parma”, and then promptly forgetting it existed for the next 5 years. Until last week, when I got an email suggesting that we should go and check it out.

As soon as I read the email I remembered it was a place I thought we ought try, so I gathered the crew and last night we headed to Clarendon Street for a few parmas at the Limerick Arms.

A deceptively old school exterior hides a surprisingly modern pub within the Limerick. Modern, yet retaining old world charms such as coat hooks running along the bar. Whether you were there for a casual drink, a business meeting, watching the cricket (there are a lot of TV’s) or a dinner with family the Limerick seems to cater to all needs.

When we arrived at about 6:30 on Thursday the Limerick was absolutely packed. Possibly unexpectedly so, as the (very friendly) staff seemed to be struggling a little under the rush of customers.

We managed to grab a table and checked our menu for the evening…

As the menu on the Limerick’s website doesn’t seem to work I was glad to see that they even had one parma on the menu, let alone a whole subsection. I was feeling a little fancy this week so I went with the Rodriguez parma while reviewer Nikki kept things grounded and stuck with the traditional Limerick parma.

The Limerick has a lot of taps, and a tap list up on the wall which made me hopeful for a solid craft beer list - However on closer inspection the beers on tap were Furphy, Kociuszko, Hahn, Heineken, Asahi, Panhead, Little Creatures, Byron Bay, Two Suns, White Rabbit, Guinness and James Squire Cider … All the Lion beers with a couple of wildcards thrown in. Not the worst selection I’ve seen, but I definitely hoped for something a little more adventurous.

About half an hour after ordering our parmas arrived from the kitchen…

The Limerick

The Rodriguez

The first thing that struck me about the Limerick parma was the size of the schnitzel - We haven’t had a big’n like this for quite some time. Stretching from one end of the plate from the other. My schnitzel was slightly overcooked but Reviewer Nikki’s fared better. We tucked in to find real chicken, slightly dry but overall decent quality. I would have been better if it was served hotter, as the schnitzel felt a few degrees over warm when it hit the table.

The crumbing was crispy and maintained its crunch throughout. The toppings on the Rodriguez parma were stacked high - No shortage of sour cream, jalapenos or guacamole, and I was even surprised to find they had included ham as well - Normally the first thing to go when trying to normalise the cost of a novelty parma.

The napoli was probably the weakest element of the Rodriguez. It was lost amongst the other elements and (like the chicken) quite dry. I can’t help but feel that a spicy salsa would be a better fit for a mexi-parma such as this - Something for the guac and mountain of sour cream to play off.

Reports from Reviewer Nikki about the Limerick parma came back mostly positive. She had similar complaints to me about the dryness of both the chicken and the napoli, however she was impressed with the thickness of the ham slice. Overall happy but with some complaints.

The “spicy slaw” definitely lived up to its name. A mustard-heavy slaw that I really enjoyed to the point that I was a bit annoyed with my myself that I ordered the Rodriguez parma as mustard and guacamole don’t really go together. I can see it not being for everyone as it is very heavy on the mustard, but as a bit of a mustard fiend it was exactly what I was looking for in a slaw.

Chips were fine even though my first thought when my plate hit the table was “where are the rest of them?” It was a small serve but they were well cooked and seasoned. If the parma was smaller I’d have more to complain about but I couldn’t finish all of the food on my plate as it is so they get a pass this time.

“A bit overcooked and dry, but otherwise a big parma that I couldn’t come close to finishing. Not bad!”

— Nikki

On Wednesdays at the Limerick there is a Parma Day & Trivia night, with parmas starting from $16 (with the novelties getting more expensive from there) along with Funky Bunch running trivia (maybe - their facebook page hasn’t been updated in a couple of months). This is a massive parma so if you are looking for a cheap, massive, innofensive feed then Wednesday is your day.

I like the vibe of the Limerick, it seems like a fun pub and I’d like to head back again when things aren’t as hectic. The parma was hit and miss … but more hits than misses. A lot of my complaints (overcooked, dry, served less-than-hot) are faults with preperation and not the ingredients they are putting into the dish, which may not be an issue when they are less slammed.

I’d say definitely worth a shot if you’re a local, but I wouldn’t travel too far for it.

Parma - 6.50

Chips - 6.50

Salad - 8.00

Value - 7.00

Total -  6.90

The search continues...

#392 - 'The Essendon Hotel'

Where - 914-918 Mount Alexander Road, Essendon

Price - $24, $15 on Tuesdays & Wednesdays

Website - www.theessendonhotel.com

Reviewers - Lee

I had a different plan for this week. Flying solo I was going to head into the city for a second look at the Melbourne Central Lion, however on Monday I caught an article in the Leader spruiking that the old O’Sullivans Irish Pub has been given the once over and will be re-opening on Thursday as The Essendon Hotel.

I looked around online and couldn’t find a menu yet, so my plan was to pop my head into the Essendon Hotel on opening night, maybe grab a pint and check out the new digs, before jumping on a train at Essendon Station and heading into the city.

Thursday rolled around and I did exactly that, however my plans to take the train derailed (hehe) when I got to the Essendon Hotel and checked their menu…

I’m happy to see a parma, but in what world does the almighty parma get second billing to the risotto.

So I was presented with a choice. Either brave the 35 degree heat outside, wait at the train station for who knows how long, squeeze onto a train with a bunch of folks who think deodorant is an optional accessory to find a quick parma only to hop straight back on the train and go through the whole ordeal again, or, I could stay exactly where I was, order another pint and try the parma at the Essendon Hotel.

I’ll give you three guesses what I went with.

When O’Sullivan’s closed and the building became Asian Fusion bar/restaurant “Ginger Annie” they barely took the Irish flags off the wall before re-opening. It was a minimal effort turnaround to get the doors back open and other than a refresh of the menu it was essentially the same pub, Which is why I was happy to see that they have actually put in some effort with the Essendon Hotel. The renovations look amazing, the pub now exuding a strong Garden State vibe. I ordered a second pint and my parma in the bar and took a seat in the bistro seating area out the back.

The vibe on the night was very festive. The Essendon Hotel opened for the first time at 4pm and I arrived just after 5 to find a very busy, salubrious pub. Free finger food was circulating and the whole venue had a great party vibe going that I can hope they can maintain once the hype dies down.

As far as tap lists go the Essendon Hotel didn’t blow me away. There’s an in-house Draught, Furphy, Kirin, Little Creatures Pale, Panhead XPA, Brooklyn Lager, Iron Jack and Little Creatures Cider with a larger selection available in the fridge (check their website for the full list). There is enough, however it would be nice to see one or two more craftier options on tap.

It has been 9 years since we last visited this building, and although they aren’t technically related, let’s take a look at the 2010 O’Sullivan’s parma before moving on to the 2019 Essendon Hotel parma…

O’Sullivan’s parma - 2010

The Essendon Hotel parma - 2019

Lets start with the schnitzel. First things first it was massive, absolutely engulfing the plate and the chips below. The large size did not give way to a thin schnitzel however, the pure white chicken breast maintaining a uniform thickness throughout. Perfectly cooked and super juicy. The crumbing was thin and well applied, giving the parma a very crispy crunch. A solid foundation to the dish.

The toppings are where things started to falter a little. Heaps of cheese on top (which is good!) however I think they leant a bit heavy on the tasty cheese in the blend as it didn’t brown up very well, lending to a cheese that was more oily than it was gooey.

Napoli sauce was on point, fresh and home made with a couple of bay leaves thrown in for that extra rustic feel. A good sauce that was possibly a little light? With the massive amount of cheese I could have used a little more napoli to balance it out a little.

No ham on this parma, and I think a bit would have helped to be honest, would love to see at least the option for ham in the future.

Chips were quality, once I freed them from underneath the massive parma it was a solid serve, well seasoned and crispy. Not a whole lot to complain about here but a dipping sauce would have been a nice touch.

I am still very pro-coleslaw when it comes to parmas and the offering at the Essendon Hotel is no exception. It was a basic ‘slaw but it did its job well, either pairing perfectly with a bit of the parma or as a palate cleanser as you worked through the massive serve.

$24 is a pretty standard parma price these days and for the size of what I received I’d happily pay it again. I struggled to finish this parma and walked away absolutely stuffed. The front page of the menu advertises a $15 parma night on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so that is definitely the night to head over to the Essendon Hotel if you are on the fence about this one.

It’s hard to be too critical of the Essendon Hotel’s parma as they had literally opened their doors for the first time an hour before I ordered the parma, meaning mine was possibly the first parma ever to come out of their kitchen. The Essendon Hotel’s parma is good quality, maybe a tweak or two away from greatness but they are on the right track. I’ll be dropping in again shortly no doubt, I will keep an eye on the parma to see if it changes at all, and will update with what I find.

As a local I am delighted to see some effort has been put into the renovations, this kind’ve pub is something that the area has sorely needed, and if you live nearby it is definitely worth a crack.

Parma - 7.20

Chips - 7.50

Salad - 6.50

Value - 7.00

Total -  7.08

The search continues...

#391 - 'Town Hall Hotel'

Where - 33 Errol St. North Melbourne

Price - $22

Website - http://townhallhotelnorthmelbourne.com.au/

Reviewers - Lee & Nikki

Ahhh the Town Hall Hotel. Many nights of my misspent youth I could be found propped within the walls of this pub in the wee hours of the morning. Our last visit to the Town Hall was back in 2011, and to be honest in my mind I always thought it scored pretty well - Yet in browsing some of our older reviews recently I noticed that it only scored a measly 5.91, Yet if you read the accompanying review I have nothing but positive things to say about it.

It was definitely an anomaly, either I was overwhelmingly positive for a relatively crappy parma or the Town Hall had been mis-scored all those years ago and actually deserved a higher final score. Either way it had to be rectified, so last night we headed back to Errol Street and the Town Hall Hotel.

If Mick Jagger were a pub, he would be the Town Hall Hotel. The place just bleeds old school cool. You could spend a few hours just sipping on beers and appreciating the immeasurable cacophony of memorabilia decorating the walls.

When we arrived the front bar was already packed, so we moved through to the dining room, managed to score a table and checked the menu…

It is worth noting that the menu on the Town Hall’s website needs an update, as the parma is currently retailing for $22

One thing I always forget about the Town Hall is that beyond the dining room there is a fantastic beer garden hidden away, From the front of the pub you would never expect it, however if you push your way past the hungry diners there is an oasis out the back just waiting for a pleasant Sunday afternoon sesh.

In looking for a photo of the exterior of the Town Hall for this review I came across this painting, apparently drawn in 1972 -

Now it may just be me, But I think a firehouse red pub such as that looks friggin’ badass. Talk about eye catching. I reckon a return to the original red shown above would be absolutely amazing. #makethetownhallredagain!

There is a more extensive tap list in the front bar than compared to the dining room bar, however the dining room at the very least had Stone & Wood and Carlton Draught on tap as well as a few other options. Bigger selection up the front, but I was happy with what the dining room had on offer!

As is tradition with pubs we have visited in the past, first we will look at the 2011 Town Hall parma before moving on to the one we had last night -

Town Hall Hotel Parma - 2011

Town Hall Hotel Parma - 2019

First things first, the schnitzel has almost doubled in size compared to this parmas 2011 counterpart. I know a common complaint about parmas is that they are placed on top of the chips but when a parma engulfs the plate such as this one does I don’t know what else they can do!

Pure, fresh chicken breast with homestyle crumbs and cooked to perfection. It actually smelled like the home-made parmas Mum used to make. The chicken was thick and juicy with some size and shape variance amongst the parmas at the table, this was a true blue house made affair for sure.

My personal opinion, but I reckon that’s one of the most delicious looking cross section pics I’ve taken in some time

Now the toppings are where the Town Hall’s parma really shines, and there’s one element that stands out above the rest - the bacon.

Make no mistake. This is a bacon lovers parma. Underneath the healthy coverage of cheese are lashings of rich, smokey bacon, a flavour that permeates the entire dish.

Hold on. I have just remembered why this parma scored so poorly in 2011. We had a couple of bacon haters at the table that absolutely killed the average with their low scores. How could you hate bacon? What a bunch of weirdos.

Anyway. As I said there was a fantastic coverage of cheese. It maybe could have spent an extra minute under the grill to brown it off a little more, but that is a quibble so minor its barely worth mentioning. The napoli sauce was fresh and chunky, although with the smokey bacon flavours being so strong the flavour of the sauce got a bit lost in the shuffle.

You may have to take my word for it that underneath that sizeable schnitzel a decent serving of chips was waiting. After a few bites of parma I managed to re-shuffle the plate so everyone could get some air and the chips were saved from their soggy fate. And they were good! Crispy, well seasoned, and the pot of tomato sauce pictured above arrived on all parmas as standard, with zero prompting from us. Delightful.

The salad reminded me a lot of the salad from the multi-golden chook winning Imperial Hotel, an onion-heavy rocket leaf salad with a healthy serve of freshly grated parmesan cheese, and the Town Hall took it a step further by adding some slivers of fresh pear into the mix. It was refreshing, flavoursome and points for originality.

“The smokey bacon absolutely made this one for me. quality chicken, heaps of cheese. Could have used a bit more napoli but otherwise an outstanding parma!”

— Nikki

When we first tried the Town Hall parma back in 2011 it cost us $18, it has been 8 years since then and although the price has jumped up an extra $4 the schnitzel has almost doubled in size, so to be honest I have zero issues absorbing the price hike. In 2019 paying just $22 for a delicious parma that you will struggle to finish seems pretty cheap to me. No issues at all paying it again. I had a look around online and can’t find any listing of a cheap parma night at the Town Hall, but I may be wrong - Let me know if they have one I’m not aware of!

The 2019 Town Hall parma is the 2011 Town Hall parma cranked up to 11. It shouldn’t have scored a lowly 5.91 back then and in the time since then they have done nothing but improved upon it.

It was an outrage that this parma hasn’t graced our top 10 since 2011, but we have righted a wrong finally given the Town Hall the score it deserves. Definitely check this one out.

If you like bacon.

If you don’t like bacon you might wanna give it a miss.

But still go to the pub.

It’s a cool pub.

The end.

Parma - 9.25

Chips - 7.25

Salad - 7.30

Value - 8.00

Total -  8.21

The search continues...

#390 - 'The Charles Weston Hotel'

Where - 27 Weston St. Brunswick

Price - $12 reg, $17 Large on Thursdays, $19 reg, $25 large other times.

Website - https://charlesweston.com.au

Reviewers - Dylan, Fridge, Grace, Lee, Pat, Kim & Tony Q

I said it back when we first reviewed them in 2016 and I’ll say it again. I love the Charles Weston. And although Brewcult briefly stole the title then rode off into the sunset, it stands as my favourite pub in the Sydney Road strip.

When we first tried the parma night at the Weston it was just that - A parma night exclusive. The parma was still a relatively new thing to their kitchen and while it was available on parma night it had yet to make its way to the printed menu. It rated well (total score of 7.24) but I was curious to see how three years of development had affected the Charles Weston parma (and to be honest, any excuse to revisit the Weston is fine by me)

As far as decor goes I don’t think a single thing has changed since our last review three years ago, so I’ll reiterate what I said then -

It has a great backstreets local charm coupled with multiple open fireplaces, friendly staff, live music, board games and a solid craft beer list, I'm not ashamed to say that I've spent many a Satuday and Sunday arvo wasting away the hours playing Jenga by the fireplace.

Along with the fireplaces, board games and beers the Weston also boasts a surprisingly spacious beer garden out the side, a full sized ping pong table indoors and a very cosy, dimly lit dining room out the back

You know what? I tell a lie. Something has changed - They have a foosball table now as well.

We sat down and checked the menu - It was great to see the parma had finally made it to print -

However it was once again Thursday when we visited the Weston, and lucky for us their $12 parma night remains. Our first trip we had the option of Hawaiian, Mexican or Classic. This time around the menu has expanded to Classic, Breakfast, Nachos or Eggplant - All available in a regular size for $12 or an “upsized” parma for $17. Of course I opted for the upsized version.

As far as beers on tap go the Weston has something for everyone. The board on our visit sporting a selection from Coburg Brewing Co, Venom, Hargreaves Hill, Balter, Hawkers, Napoleone Cider and Mornington Peninsula Brewery. My heart belongs to Balter and I stayed on those for most of the night, but it was nice to see a good range of beers on offer.

About 20 minutes after ordering our meals arrived from the kitchen. As is tradition with pubs we have already reviewed once, lets take a look at the parma from our first visit compared to the new one…

Charles Weston Parma - 2016

Charles Weston Parma - 2019

Quite a difference! First things first I definitely recommend going for the upsize as the schnitzel had almost doubled in size from its smaller counterpart. The chicken (which was entirely engulfed in toppings, not a nude patch of schnitzel to be found) was surprisingly thick - A little dry for my liking, but not a huge complaint. The crumbing was thin, slightly soggy but still enjoyable. Overall a quality foundation to the parma (especially on discount parma night).

I have already mentioned the liberal application of cheese, which was grilled to a perfect golden brown, and I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the Charles Weston has upgraded their pork from ham to prosciutto - Now prosciutto on parmas can be a bit divisive, however I am a big fan of the salty snap prosciutto provides.

The napoli was fresh and chunky, but, like in 2016, was a little bit lost amongst the other elements of the dish.

I was very pleased to see that the Weston has upgraded from shoestring fries to proper chips. Had these had copped a little bit more seasoning before they were plated they would have been fantastic. But as they were they were fresh, but a little bit lacking. Some dipping sauce would be nice.

The salad is one element of the Charles Weston parma that I think was done better back in 2016, this was a contentious point back in our last review however in my old age I have grown to much prefer coleslaw over a garden salad. As far as garden salads go it was fine, however I feel a side of coleslaw like it had when we first reviewed it was a much better accompaniment to the dish … but that’s just me.

“For $12 on a parma night it was worth every penny. Great quality chicken and sides”

— Tony

“Good value for the price and the size. Crumbing underneath was a little soggy, was the only let down. Good parma overall.”

— Fridge

For $12 or $17 (depending on the size you get) on a Thursday I’d have to say that this is one of the best value parma night’s in the Brunswick area. The upsized parma was a struggle to get through, and that’s just for the Classic, the novelty topping options were loaded even higher.

Every other night the pricing is still relatively good. It is smaller but a parma under $20 on a non-parma night menu is a rare sight these days, so I’d say this is one worth checking out parma night or not.

If you hadn’t worked it out already I am a little biased to the Weston just because I enjoy the pub so much. But putting my bias aside I genuinely enjoyed my parma there. Thursday parma nights are rare to begin with, they are more often than not relegated to the quieter Monday or Tuesday nights, and the Weston’s parma night offers up a high quality feed at a bargain basement price with a solid range of beers on offer. Definitely one worth checking out.

Parma - 7.67

Chips - 6.63

Salad - 6.00

Value - 9.00

Total -  7.39

The search continues...

#389 - 'Burger Kitchen'

Where - 4 Margaret Street, Moonee Ponds

Price - $21 for classic, + $1.50 for novelties

Website - https://www.burgerkitchen.com.au/

Reviewers - Adam T, Lee & Nikki

Not gonna lie, we came across this week’s review purely due to a fuck up on my part.

Here’s how it happened. A few months back we were recommended the burger place “Pattysmiths” in Flemington. Right across from Flemington Station I had heard that they were doing a parma burger for a limited time.

Except when I decided to check it out I couldn’t quite remember the name, but I remembered it was a burger joint and it was across the road from one of the train stations along the Craigieburn line.

Unfortunately for me (and fortunately for them) that across the road from a couple of stops down the line, Moonee Ponds Station, is a burger place that also specialises in smash burgers, just like Pattysmiths. Almost the exact same distance from station to restaurant.

I’m in my mid 30’s now, and like a baby boomer trying to work the self service kiosk at McDonalds I confuse easily. So last night we visited Burger Kitchen thinking it was the Burger place that was recommended to me a few months ago.

Burger Kitchen is a small little store. Its cosy and has a strong take-away vibe yet they manage to squeeze a surprising number of dine-in tables in their little traingle shaped slice of the building.

For a place named “Burger Kitchen” their menu is surprisingly robust, offering (as well as burgers) a range of Philly cheesesteaks, Bistro Meals (mostly steaks) and, you guessed it, chicken parmas…

Now I know what you’re thinking…

The menu grab they have on their website is surprisngly low resolution, so taking a section of that makes it even smaller. Before you run and get your magnifying glass, I’ll just tell you - They have a Classic for $21, along with the novelty options of Aussie, Mexican, Greek, Hawaiian, and Peri Peri for an extra $1.50. I opted for the Mexican, reviewer Adam the Peri Peri and Reviewer Nikki kept it boring and went with the traditional.

I was surprised to find that Burger Kitchen has a couple of beers on tap for those choosing to dine in. Not a huge selection, this is primarily a take-away joint after all, but the option of Carlton Draught and 4 Pines was on tap ($7.50 for a pint of draught - bargain) as well as a row of other alcoholic delights on the top shelf of the Coke fridge.

We placed our order at the counter, grabbed a couple of pints, kicked back and waited for our parmas to arrive, and about 15 minutes later they did exactly that.

The Traditional

The Peri Peri

The Mexican

I’m gonna be entirely honest - I didn’t have the higest of hopes for the Burger Kitchen parma, but what we received blew me away.

The schnitzel was huge, pan fried and retained and excellent crunch. It was well cooked, and flavoursome. One criticism is that the crumbing was thicker than I would normally like, and it definitely didn’t need to be given the size of the schnitzel, but overall this was a quality foundation for the dish.

As far as novelty parmas go the toppings were outstanding - both the Mexican and the Peri Peri were topped with lavish amounts of shredded chorizo and jalapenos (the only difference between the two being the addition of Peri Peri sauce).

Reviewer Nikki was not as pleased with her traditional, not being a big fan of capsicum there was a strong capsicum flavour throughout the napoli sauce that she didn’t care for. I’d say if you visit Burger Kitchen then the novelty toppings are definitely worth the additional $1.50 charge.

Chips were delightful. fresh, crisp and dusted with an almost barbecue chip flavoured seasoning similar to the one we found at Melba Social. Very pleased.

The salad was a bit of an afterthought. A small stack of garden salad could use a fair bit of work. It was fine, but mostly flavourless - The cucumber slices were nice and crisp though.

“ I really enjoyed this one, the Parma was quality, made from real chicken, solid crumb coating & great size. Great toppings, you can’t go wrong with chorizo and jalapenos and the peri peri sauce just topped it off beautifully.
Chips were seasoned well, nice crunch and just the right amount. The salad was a little on the simple side, just your plain run of the mill garden variety, not bad but not great either.
I had mine with a $7.50 pint of draught. Overall, I was very satisfied, I’m a big eater and struggled to finish, I did, but it was an effort. I’m definitely going to go back again!”

— Adam T

“Quality schnitzel, nice and big and I barely put a dent in it! Not a huge fan of the capsicum through the napoli but otherwise fine - The chips were tasty! ”

— Nikki

Under $25 for a parma this big is a solid deal in my book, and if that’s still too rich for your blood they offer a $14 Parma Wednesday as well as a $16 Parma & Pot Saturday, so you are really spoilt for choice when it comes to cheap feeds at Burger Kitchen.

I was surprisingly pleased with our trip to Burger Kitchen (I’d call it BK but I’m pretty sure there’s another relatively popular international burger chain that may take umbridge with that) - It has gotten me curious to try their burgers and philly cheesesteaks. I don’t normally do this but I’d recommend you go with one of the novelty toppings as that chorizo was delicious, and if you can’t be fucked going out to eat you’ve got the option for take-away, and if you can’t be fucked putting in any effort at all they’re also listed on Uber Eats.

Worth a trip if you’re in the area!

Parma - 8.17

Chips - 7.30

Salad - 4.33

Value - 7.83

Total -  7.16

The search continues...

#388 - 'The Gamekeepers Secret Country Inn'

Where - 1555 Melton Highway, Rockbank

Price - $25.90

Website - https://www.gamekeepers.com.au

Reviewers - Lee & Nikki

If you’ve spent any time driving from Melbourne to Melton you’d surely know about “The Windmill”, a function centre on the Melton Highway which has a large, colonial style windmill as its centrepiece.

If you can draw your eyes away from the majesty that is the windmill for even a moment, you might notice that next door to the windmill is a pub, a pub that is the target of our review tonight - the Gamekeepers Secret Inn, or Gamekeepers Secret Country Inn, the signage is inconsistent - Although any signage at all seems a bit counter-intuitive to an establishment that you seemingly want to keep “secret” … but I digress.

Having driven past the ‘keepers hundreds of times I have always wondered what it was like inside, by the looks of their facebook page they seem to be pretty active, with regular live music and food special nights - Yet as far as pubs go it seems to be in an awkward spot, even though the suburban sprawl is edging closer and closer the stretch of the Melton Highway the keepers lies on seems to still be firmly in the middle of nowhere.

So imagine my surprise when we arrived on Thursday night to an almost full carpark. The pub is huge, so there was no issue finding a table, however rocking up at about 6:30 on a Thursday night the pub was already abuzz with activity.

The keepers definitely takes the “Gamekeepers” part of their name seriously. Everywhere you look there is a stuffed animal of some sort. Mounted game trophies and taxidermied ducks as far as the eye can see along with various hunting paraphernalia lining the walls. The gamekeepers has the definite vibe of a country pub, yet surprisingly close to Melbourne.

We took a seat and checked the menu…

I expanded the above photo from just the parma purely because I can’t remember the last time I saw a Chicken Kiev on a standard pub menu. I love a good Kiev almost as much as I love a parma and seeing one on the printed, every day, not-specials-board menu is a rarity these days, so I wanted to capture it here for posterity and to remind myself to head back to the Gamekeepers very soon to give their Kiev a proper crack.

The menu at the ‘keepers seems to have a signature item. Above the entrees and mains and everything else there is a sort of “cob” menu, offering up a “warm cob loaf” with your choice of butter, garlic butter or olive oil & balsamic, along with the option of a garlic & cheese cob or a garlic cheese and bacon cob if you’re feeling particularly naughty.

Only two of us at review this week but my curiosity got the best of me and I had to try at least some sort of cob. We went with a half cob with garlic butter ($5), and trust me I was glad we only got the half because when the below massive loaf of bread got delivered to the table I was in shock.

As promised it was warm & crispy and the supplied garlic butter was delicious. It was like a construct-your-own garlic bread hobby kit at the table. Massive, delicious and worth the $5 (we couldn’t get through it between the two of us, you’ll see what remained in the background of most of the photos of the parma) I highly recommend starting out your trip to the ‘keepers with a cob.

As far as beers at the keepers go there’s nothing too fancy, but honestly it was a more varied range than I was expecting. On tap they had Yenda Pale, Magners, Carlton, Carlton Dry, Furphy and Guinness with Little Creatures, Beez Nees and a few American imports available by the stubby.

I had to stop myself from shovelling cob into my face as our parmas arrived shortly after…

First things first this parma arrived from the kitchen steaming hot. I had to let it sit for a second as it was absolutely boiling. The chicken was real, insanely juicy chicken breast. Cooked to perfection and well crumbed. The two schnitzels varied wildly in shape, a good sign that they are making/crumbing these things in house. Thickness varied a little but overall this was a thick, juicy schnitzel - A fantastic base for the toppings above.

The toppings, however, weren’t as high in quality as the schnitzel. They were fine, there was nothing particularly wrong with them, however the lack of ham and a relatively boring napoli sauce left it feeling a little bland. With a bit of salt, pepper and some cheeky garlic butter left over from the cob we managed to infuse some life into it, but I felt like this is a parma that needs something special to bring it home. The cheese blend was flavoursome, very cheddar heavy and reminiscent of the Prince of Wales parma days, but still not quite enough for this to be a standout for me.

Don’t get me wrong, this was still a super enjoyable parma, but I feel with a tweak or two it could be great.

The chips were a bit of a let down. Standard pub chips, unseasoned and a bit undercooked. They were okay but needed quite a bit of work, Also with such a long plate there’s no need to stack the parma on top of them at all. The chips were probably the weakest part of the dish.

The garden salad was fresh and crisp with a balsamic bite. Nothing too fancy but they got the basics right. A fine side dish to the parma.

“Loved how fresh and piping hot the parma was served! Chips need work but otherwise a solid feed”

— Nikki

As far as value goes I think $25.90 is a little expensive for what we got but I was mostly happy with what we paid. I don’t mind chucking in an extra buck or two to support country pubs. As far as I can tell there are no special parma nights on the books at the ‘keepers, but its still worth trying either way.

The ‘keepers parma is a parma with a lot of potential. They’ve got the basics on point, it just needs a little bit of flair to bring it home. A slice of smoked ham would do this dish wonders, hell even a parma night with a couple of novelty options once a week would work wonders for them. Overall an enjoyable feed with a super friendly country pub vibe a stones through from the CBD - Definitely worth checking out (and be sure to try the cob).

Parma - 7.75

Chips - 4.50

Salad - 6.65

Value - 7.00

Total -  6.73

The search continues...

#387 - 'The Sporting Globe'

Where - 690 Mount Alexander Rd, Moonee Ponds (with other locations all over)

Price - $23.90 for the standard MVP parmas, $27.50 for the “loaded” parmas

Website - http://www.sportingglobe.com.au/

Reviewers – Grace, Lee, Nikki & Tony

We have quite a history with the Sporting Globe, Our first visit was in 2013, with a follow up visit (to the Watergardens location) in 2015 and a special look when the dude from Masterchef designed some parmas for them in 2016. They have had more repeat business than any pub we’ve reviewed at ParmaDaze - And yet they keep doing interesting things, varying up the parma menu often enough that I feel like its worth taking a week out of a year to duck in and see what new parma-themed delights they have come up with.

Before we continue yes I know we have been doing a lot of revisits lately. The problem is that after 9 years of reviewing pubs there just aren’t that many options left unvisited! , I’m trying to keep it to our particularly old reviews and not giving anything too recent a redo. Our rule of thumb used to be 12 months before we’d look at a pub again … I’m starting to think we need to bump that out to 5 years before its considered as we have quite a backlog built up. Anyway. Some fresh stuff will be coming in a couple of weeks, I promise!

I’m not gonna spend a lot of time on the decor of the Globe, because 1) We’ve covered it three times already and 2) With 13 Mother-Flippin’ locations around Victoria surely you’ve seen one by now and know what the deal is. It’s a sports bar with red chairs and a hell of a lot of TVs.

Let it not go unmentioned that the AFL Footy finals are also kicking off this week, the night of this review taking place of the first match of the finals between Essendon and West Coast. Being the biggest Essendon-adjacent sports bar in the area the Globe was absolutely heaving when we arrived for parma review. We lucked out on a table, grabbed a menu and checked what was on offer this week …

The standard parma menu hasn’t changed much since 2013 with the exception of “our new Buffalo parma” just being called the “Buffalo” parma. But the following page is where the action was this week -

It was pointed out to me when chatting about the menu on the ParmaDaze Discord Chat That none of the Loaded parmas use Napoli sauce. Actually Only the MVP parma has the option of napoli. A surprising move but I was ready to give napoli a miss this week! We went to the bar and placed our orders for the evening. One Buffalo, one Hawaiian, one Hickory Smoked BBQ and I landed on the Mac n’ Cheese creation.

The Sporting Globe has never been a pub to blow you away with their craft beer selection. Heineken, Draft, Great Northern, Furphy, 150 Lashes, Little Creatures, 4 Pines and their house beer “Little Bull” mark the options on tap with a few more options in the bottles in the fridge. Nothing outstanding but you should be able to find something to keep your whistle wet.

About 20 minutes after ordering (and still an hour from the footy starting - Bloody Perth time zones!) our parmas arrived at the table

“Loaded” is definitely the correct term for these parmas. Absolutely stacked with toppings. I grabbed the cutery and tucked in to find that even beneath the stack of ranch dressing, bacon and mac & cheese that there still remained a surprisingly thick schnitzel underneath. The chicken was well cooked and juicy - the crumbs were quite soggy but to be honest I’m not sure how you would avoid that given the sheer amount of stuff piled on top of the schnitzel.

A solid foundation to the dish, but to be honest these parmas are all about the toppings.

Okay. So. First up the “Mac & Cheese Bites” listed on the menu was more of a Mac & Cheese pancake covering the entire top of the schnitzel. That’s not a criticism, its just a hell of a lot of mac & cheese. The hickory sauce on both this parma and the BBQ parma is super flavoursome and even carries the subtle bite of the Sporting Globe’s trademark buffalo sauce. They weren’t tight at all on the bacon, it was crisp and flavoursome.

If I were to order this parma again, however, I’d ask for it without the ranch sauce on top. Ranch is such a strong flavour that I felt like it was both competing with and overpowering the other flavours of the parma. Bacon, mac & cheese and BBQ sauce all compliment each other perfectly, but the ranch didn’t really go with that and definitely distracted me from the other flavours of the dish.

Sporting Globe chips are consistently good. Beer battered, well seasoned and crunchy. I honestly don’t have anything else to say about them other than that they hit the spot.

I always liked the salad at the Globe but this week (and I may be imagining things) but it felt a little bit smaller than it used to be, like they’ve shrunk down the side of the salad bowl. It was enjoyable but I was done in two bites.

“Loved the bite of buffalo flavours through the hickory sauce. Not as full on as the buffalo parma but still enjoyable!”

— Nikki (Hickory Smoked BBQ Parma)

“Overall a great meal, If you like their buffalo bites this parma is like a giant version of them with ham”

— Tony (Buffalo parma)

$27.50 is pretty damn expensive for a parma, even a “loaded” one. You definitely won’t walk away from this meal hungry - I failed to clear my plate, it is a formidable meal. Yet if $27.50 is too much for you the Globe offers $14.90 MVP parmas and $17.50 Loaded parmas on Wednesdays. A $10 reduction is a decent bargain so if you’re on the fence that is definitely the night to check them out.

I’ve always considered the Sporting Globe the McDonalds Quarter Pounder of the parma scene. No matter where you are in the world you know what you are getting when you order a Quarter Pounder. It is consistently quality with no surprises - And I think the Sporting Globe’s parmas are like that. Consistently good, not surprising but not disappointing. Sure the loaded toppings add a bit of variety but when you order a parma at the Globe you don’t have to worry that it’s not gonna be satisfying. Plus its a great place to watch the footy.

Parma - 7.17

Chips -  7.33

Salad - 6.17

Value - 7.33

Total -  7.03

The search continues...

#386 - 'The Royal Hotel'

Where - 873 Mt. Alexander Rd, Essendon

Price - $25

Website - https://www.royalhotelessendon.com.au

Reviewers – Lee, Nikki, Shanan & Ivy

Full disclosure - We had not planned to visit the Royal last night.

All week we had intended to visit a nearby restaurant that we had heard was slinging a killer parma, however when I called to book a table yesterday afternoon I found out that the parma had (sadly) been taken off the menu, and we had to switch to a backup location - The next closest spot was the Royal Hotel.

Now I know the Royal doesn’t have the greatest reputation, but it has been over eight years since we first dropped in for a review, so I figured a revisit was definitely due.

Sadly, the “Parma, Pot & Punt” deal of 2011 was no more (and I say “sadly” without a hint of sarcasm, that was one of the most unique parma night specials we have ever come across). We did the public bar the first time so I figured we might as well switch it up this week and grab a table in the bistro.

I was shocked at how busy The Royal was. 7pm on a Thursday night and we were struggling to get a table, as the place was pumping. We found a spot and checked the menu…

Fun fact - When the Royal first reopened back in the late 90’s it was as an AYCES all you can eat smorgasboard. My sister worked there both as wait staff and in the kids play area as a clown painting faces on the kids. I heard some true horror stories about the shit that went on with their food that turned me off buffet restaurants for a very long time…

Anyway, on to the beers!

While waiting for the rest of the group to arrive I had a chance to peruse the tap list in the front bar. All the usual suspects were there - Carlton, Furphy, 150 Lashes etc - I was surprised to find that they also had Stone & Wood on tap. A bit of a sidebar but I was at Skyways Airport West (another ALH pub) recently and they were also celebrating the addition of Stone & Wood to their lineup - Could it be that ALH has struck a deal with Stone & Wood? If true that might make their pubs that little bit more tolerable.

We started the meal with some cheesy garlic bread as an entree that was actually damn delicious, super garlicy and the reason my coworkers are keeping their conversations with me short today - But its hard to fuck up cheesy garlic bread, so the true test would be the parma that arrived 10 minutes later..

The Royal Hotel, 2011

The Royal Hotel, 2019

The first thing that struck me was the sheer amount of chips of the plate when the parma hit the table. Truly a gargantuan serving, but we’ll get to those in a minute.

The schnitzel was covered in so much cheese that I couldn’t see any chicken. Most of the parmas at the table were browned nicely but mine was the least photogenic of the bunch. We tucked in.

Once I found the schnitzel I discovered it was pretty good - Real chicken breast for a start. It was a little bit over-crumbed but not criminally so, there was so much topping on top that all semblance of crunch was gone from the crumbs. But the chicken was juicy and thick enough… I didn’t have high hopes for the Royal’s parma but this was actually a relatively decent base for the dish.

There were a lot of toppings on this parma. Cheese and napoli in spades. However it all tasted rather pre-made. The napoli tasted like straight up jarred pasta sauce. There was a slice of ham but it didn’t carry a whole lot of flavour. The cheese blend was surprisingly good - I like a cheddar-heavy blend to my parmas, it reminds me of the old Prince of Wales parma cheese blend, and the Royal’s cheese was definitely on that track.

As I mentioned before there were a lot of chips with our parma, and they were actually pretty good! They were your basic beer battered plank chips but they were served hot, well seasoned and there was a metric crapload of them. What more could you want? (actually a dipping sauce would have been lovely).

I didn’t enjoy my salad, purely because they forgot to put any dressing on it. Dry leaves, dry carrot, dry tomato, dry onion (and I found a single olive under my parma that I can only assume was supposed to be part of the salad) The other reviewers around the table however didn’t have their dressing forgotten and reported back pretty positively on it! A mistake no doubt, but still a bit annoying.

“Chips were good, a lot of toppings on the parma - almost too much. Cheesy garlic bread was great though!”

— Nikki

I think $25 for the parma we received is a bit on the pricey side to be honest. I’d call this a $20 parma, $22 max. I can’t see any specific “parma nights” advertised anymore, however Wednesday night is “$10 off all main meals” night, so surely the parma falls into that category.

The parma at the Royal is definitely better than I was expecting, but going in my expectations weren’t very high. It’s definitely one of the nicer meals I’ve had from an ALH pub, but its still an ALH pub. It has improved since 2011 and served its purpose as a last minute backup when our other plans fell through, but I won’t be quick to hurry back.

Parma - 6.50

Chips - 8.00

Salad - 6.00

Value - 6.5

Total -  6.70

The search continues...

#385 - 'The Prince Alfred Rooftop & Bar'

Where - 191 Grattan St. Carlton

Price - $24

Website - https://www.princealfred.com

Reviewers – Lee

Cast your mind back to March of 2018. The country was reeling from Steve Smith’s suspension in the ball tampering scandal, Qantas launched its first direct flight between Australia and London and Carlton’s Prince Alfred Hotel had just re-opened after extensive renovations.

We headed down as soon as we heard the doors were open, The place looked fantastic - I won’t re-hash everything about our first impressions of the new pub, you can read about them here.

But the long and short of it is that this is the parma we were served …

Yeah. Not so great.

It goes down in history as the first time a pub has insisted we take a refund for the parma that was delivered.

But they were new, new pubs have teething problems so I had always planned to go back to PA’s and give them another go once things had calmed down and they had found their feet.

Then a couple of weeks ago I saw this post on their Instagram feed…

Oh damn. That actually looks pretty good! The coleslaw looks more traditional, they’ve done away with the ugly smear of unknown sauce on the plate and best of all they’ve finished it off with a healthy topping of prosciutto! A little overdue but I guess its time to head back to Carlton, so last night that is exactly what we did.

Flying solo I stopped into the PA at about 6pm on Thursday. The place was much quieter than our first visit and it was great to see a much calmer vibe to the place. Everyone seemed less rushed, it was a much more casual, low pressure experience.

I grabbed the menu, eyed the target…

And placed an order at the bar.

Tap list is still respectable. A few varieties of 4 Pines, some Goose Island, Furphy and the Copper Carlton draught tanks all available. The 4 Pines Summer Ale is what I opted for in the end and to be honest it went down very well.

After about 15 minutes the parma arrived from the kitchen…

We will get to the most glaring omission in a moment, but first the schnitzel.

First positive is that they have ditched the sticky sauce the schnitzel was basted in first time around that ended up blackening it to the point of being burnt. It was real chicken breast, unfortunately the chicken itself was quite dry, I had to make liberal use of the lovely coleslaw to the side to help balance it out.

Now to the toppings. Where the hell is my prosciutto.

I thought I was taking crazy pills to the point where I got out my phone and checked the PA instagram account again to make sure I hadn’t accidentally gone to the wrong Prince Alfred. Nope. I peeled back the cheese in hopes it was hiding under there … nope. I double checked the menu on the table in case they had changed it up since the Instagram photo was taken, yet it was there in black and white. “prosciutto”. Where was my prosciutto.

I can only assume that they had run out? It looks like there was a private function winding up in the downstairs area so maybe they had a run on parmas, this shit happens, but to send my parma out without mention that a key selling point (a selling point that I paid for, by the way) is missing is just not on.

“Hey mate, I’m so sorry but we’re out of prosciutto for the parmas. I can knock a couple of bucks off the price or throw in a free pot to make up for it?”

That’s all they needed. Instead I got a very basic parma for $24. disappointing.

The napoli was fine, albeit a bit light. The cheese had good stretch and was well browned, but to be honest everything was soured by the lack of prosciutto.

In theory the chips were fine, however once I lifted the parma off them I realised just how small the serving was. Maybe 10 chips in total on the plate, They were hot and crispy and the staff member who dropped off the parma offered to grab some tomato sauce if I wanted it, which is always appreciated. Could have used a little seasoning too, but just as I was starting to enjoy them I was done. Not nearly enough chips

The “cabbage and fennel salad” was just plain coleslaw, I couldn’t detect any fennel at all so that is another promised element that didn’t appear on the plate … Lucky for PA I’m actually not a big fan of fennel, so the lack of it actually turned out to be a positive rather than a negative. What I ended up with was a basic but creamy coleslaw that (as I mentioned earlier) did well to balance out the dryness of the schnitzel. A quality side.

When it comes down to it I paid full price ($24) for a pretty basic parma. Had everything that had been promised on the menu been on the plate I would probably be singing its praises for the use of quality ingredients … But as it currently stands I feel pretty short changed. There is a $17 parma night on Tuesdays.

The parma at the Prince Alfred is definitely better than our first visit - If it had’ve come with the promised prosciutto it probably would have been an okay parma, but the lack of such a key ingredient without any explanation as to why was a bitter disappointment. I really like the Prince Alfred - The Location, the staff, the renovations, the general vibe of the pub are all fantastic (I had a jäger bomb there on my wedding day ffs). I want to give them a positive review but I just don’t know how many more chances I can give them.

Strike two.

Parma - 4.00

Chips - 4.50

Salad - 6.00

Value - 3.00

Total -  4.30

The search continues...