Happy New Decade everyone! By now I’d imagine most of us are back at work after the holiday break (ugh). Here we are in 2020. 2020. ParmaDaze started in March of 2010 so we are only three months away from our 10 year anniversary. Insane.
But before we forge ahead into the new decade lets take a look back at the year that was 2019. An interesting and fun year! Fat Yak named the best parma in the country, we did a roundup of all of the frozen parmas on the market, the Ascot Lot hosted an entire festival dedicated to the chicken parma, Coles released a surprisingly not entirely shit Chicken Parma Pizza, and I strapped on the apron to recreate an American Chicken Parmesan recipe which, like the Coles Parma Pizza, also turned out surprisingly good.
Oh, and I had a nervous breakdown watching cooked parmas sit under heat lamps for 40 minutes before getting plates up and served at the Corner Hotel rooftop.
As far as numbered reviews go we chalked up 30 new attempts in 2019. I’m not gonna lie, there was a lot of mediocrity in there (not as bad as 2017, aka “the year of the stinkers”), but there were also some surprising standouts that I’d like to make sure get a mention before moving on to the big awards.
Now before we get started let me preface all of this by saying this is all personal opinion, a bit of fun and not to be taken too seriously - Everyone’s tastes are different and personal experiences at different places can fluctuate wildly. But these are the parmas we think deserve a mention from what we had in 2019 - If you’ve got a suggestion of somewhere you think is better feel free to suggest a parma here or use any of our other contact methods and we’ll do our best to visit it in 2020.
With that out of the way, on to the awards!
BEST PORTABLE PARMA
They did it. The crazy sons of bitches they actually did it.
Scientists have been working for decades on how to make a parma that you can eat standing up. They’ve put it in burgers, in wraps, in balls and in jaffles - But none have ever quite hit the mark. They’ve always been a little off from capturing the true essence of the parma.
Enter Jake’s Kitchen. an unassuming food truck we found at the Ascot Lot, and their chicken parma creation…
On a bed of crispy chips coated in “Jake’s special paprika seasoning” was a pre-sliced, super crispy chicken breast. slathered in gooey cheese and rich napoli sauce (I could do without the peas, tbh) they have created a sort of “Parma HSP” that really captured the essence of the parma without wrapping it in distracting hamburger buns or tortilla wraps.
They were the hit of the Parma Festival, with a queue over an hour long stretching the span of the food truck park. Absolutely insane. Definitely worth tracking them down for a visit.
BEST HOME DELIVERED PARMA
The Uber Eats explosion coupled with my increasing laziness as I continue my steady decline into being an old man meant we did more home delivered parmas than usual this year. Despite one too many cold and mis-delivered parmas being delivered utterly breaking me on the idea of Uber Eats delivered parmas all together, The parma from Eat Pizza in Glenroy stands out as the best we tried in 2020.
It wasn’t outstanding from a quality perspective. I mean, it was fine, however the big standout here is that entire meal pictured above (except for the beer) was only fifteen dollars. fifteen dollars for a metric crapload of food. The parma, chips and salad combined could easily feed two people. We normally do “biggest parma” and “best value parma” superlatives as well, but to be honest this home delivered parma from a pizza joint in Glenroy takes out those honours as well. Outstanding.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
There are two parmas we had this year that didn’t quite get a trophy, yet I wouldn’t feel right if they didn’t at least get a mention in the 2019 roundup, As they are both fantastic examples of a parma that you need to get out and try as soon as possible.
EASEY’S @ THE BOTTOM END
Its not traditional, It’s covered in powdered parmesan cheese, the napoli tastes like its half barbecue sauce, and you’d be a fool if you didn’t order it with a side of macaroni & cheese cubes. But I’ll be damned if the parma Easey’s put up at Collins Street’s The Bottom End wasn’t one of the most unique, interesting and flavoursome parmas of 2019.
The thick, ultra smoked ham. The caramelised, almost sweet texture on the crumbs, the thick high quality chicken schnitzel. It’s not a parma for everyone as it does a lot different, but I’d have this thing every day of the week. Try it asap.
ROBERT BURNS HOTEL
Boy we are really banging the “non traditional” drum this year, but the bone-in prosciutto, tomato and buffalo mozzarella parma from the Robbie Burns stands out as one of the best we had in 2019. Kind’ve the polar opposite of the Easey’s parma, which was like if McDonalds made a parma but good, the Robbie Burns parma feels like something that would come straight out of Nonna’s kitchen in the middle of Italy. It’s non traditional by way of being super traditional, if that makes any sense at all.
Not to mention the sides. I rate the Robbie Burns creamy mash as the best mashed potato I’ve had in my life, and I even got on board with the shoestring fries.
Now, being 150 metres from our 2019 Golden Chook winner you will definitely have a decision to make if you’re in the area, but they are such wildly different experiences I think there is still room for both to exist in such close vicinity. Worth a visit.
WEIRDEST PARMA
In a year of unique parmas crowning one as the “weirdest” definitely seems like putting a hat on a hat, but it wouldn’t be a 2019 wrap up without talking about this…
The chicken parma ice cream from Mr. Whippy, their offering at the Ascot Lot’s Parma-Rama festival.
I mean … What is there to say? It was soft serve ice cream covered in crushed chicken crimpy shapes. I stand by my theory that a mix of chicken, cheese & bacon and pizza shapes would have really captured that parma vibe over just chicken crimpy. C’mon guys. Put a bit of thought into your chicken parma ice cream, gosh.
BEST NEW PARMA
Alright! Its time to hand out some hardware. For newcomers the Best New Parma is the first of two awards we give out every year. Simply put the Best New Parma award goes to the best parma we ate in 2019. The highest scoring new addition to the list in the last 12 months, it was tight this year - I thought one of the two honourable mentions above would take out this award for the longest time, however they were pipped at the post by this year’s winner - North Melbourne’s Town Hall Hotel.
We first tried the Town Hall back in back in 2011, but we went with a few bacon haters in the group (I swear I didn’t know at the time, we have since ceased all contact) that dragged the score down significantly. So this year we gave it a second look and I’ll be damned if the rich, thick cut, smokey bacon on top of the Town Hall’s parma doesn’t launch it into the upper echelons of parmadom. Much like the Easey’s parma it is a bit of a divisive one, if you don’t like bacon this might not be the parma for you - However we thought it was absolutely outstanding.
I bet you thought the Mona Lisa was on display at the Louvre. Nope. North Melbourne.
In the interest of full disclosure we revisited yesterday to present the Town Hall the award and have a parma while we were at it and it was a little light on the rich, chunky napoli we enjoyed in October, I wouldn’t mind seeing a bit more of that going ahead, but it was still a damn tasty dish and worthy of the honours. It’s also a super cool, old school rock & roll pub that’s worth the visit just for the experience. Give it a crack.
PARMA OF THE YEAR
Is it even a surprise at this point? They’ve taken out the award the last three consecutive years and this year even Fat Yak backed up our decision by dubbing them Australia’s Best Parma.
For the fourth year in a row, massive congratulations to The Birmingham Hotel.
In February of 2019 I had a bit of a crisis. After presenting the Birmy with their 3rd Golden Chook got a little bit of press coverage a lot of negative comments filtered through claiming it was no longer as good as it once was.
My concern drove us to revisit the Birmy just to make sure the claims weren’t true and I’ve got to say I think it’s as good as ever. I know a lot of people are weirded out by the parma being served on a wooden board, but to be honest it doesn’t bother me all that much. For now the Birmy parma remains unbeaten in our eyes, and with this fourth consecutive Golden Chook they are now equal with The Imperial Hotel, who held the title from 2012 - 2015.
So congrats to the Birmy once again! Keep doing what you’re doing, and if you’re reading this and have yet to try a Birmy parma then head over asap and see what all the fuss is about … and if you’re a big eater stop by the Robbie Burns on the way out for a different, yet still amazing example of a parma.
And with that we wrap up 2019. Thanks for staying with us for yet another year. As I mentioned at the jump 2020 marks the 10 year anniversary of ParmaDaze. We’ve got some big things in the works so stay tuned for some announcements in the coming months.
Until then we are back on the search for the perfect parma! Stay tuned for new reviews coming every Friday as per usual, drop into the ParmaDaze Discord if you want to chat (I’m always there) or use the submission & contact buttons above if there’s a parma you’d like us to try!
Cheers, and the search continues…