Attempt #213 - 'The Gasometer Hotel'

[info]When? - 19th of February, 2015

Where? - 484 Smith St. Collingwood

Price? - $24

Website? - http://www.thegasometerhotel.com.au/

Reviewers – Fridge, Lee, Nikki, Stefo[/info]

I've passed the Gasometer a few times and its always intrigued me. I can't quite say why it was at the top of our list this week, it just was.

The Gaso has a bit of a history. After it opened originally as The Gasometer it became Father Flanagan's, an Irish pub (and you can tell, a lot of the aesthetic of the front bar screams "Irish Pub"). In around 2010 it became the Gasometer again but the menu took on a very "American" theme, a bit of a trendsetter as these days you can't swing a cat in Melbourne without hitting an American themed pub... Until about 2013, when they famously shut down due to being unable to pay the beer bill. But the Gaso is back! The menu still has a bit of an American bent, some Aussie pub staples have creeped their way back onto the menu, one of which is the parma...

The Gasometer has a great atmosphere, with open fireplaces, exposed brick, stone and wood (the building materials, not the beer ... although they do have the beer on tap) and a lot of little nooks and crannies to get lost in, not to mention a massive live music area out the back which was getting set up for a gig while we were there. If you're a regular reader you'll already know that this is how I like my pubs. We took a seat in the front dining area, checked the menu and ordered our birds.

Behind the bar there was an impressive range of taps. Other than the aforementioned Stone & Wood there were (at least) eight taps of different craft beers to sample (most from the Thunder Road Brewing Company lineup) - more than enough to keep a connoisseur happy for an evening.

At pretty much 30 minutes on the dot our parmas arrived from the kitchen...

Damn they looked good when they first dropped on the table, the barely-pounded chicken breast and abundance of shaved ham reminded me a lot of last year's Best New Parma winner, The Wolf & I. We quickly picked up our cutlery and tucked in. It was in the first mouthful that we all noticed what will be the most discussed point of this parma ... the flavour of the crumbs.

They had a tang. A tang that tasted like liquorice, and it wasn't subtle, not at all - every bite was a liquorice-ey smack to the face. After a bit of investigation, we found the culprit, This seed -

These seeds were all through the crumbs. I initially thought they were dried aniseed seeds, but after a bit of discussion on Reddit Melbourne it would seem that there are a lot of similar tasting seeds that look practically identical, the most likely suspects being -

... but whatever it was it completely overpowered the dish. The ham, the cheese, the napoli? All lost behind the punch of this seed. The first few bites I applauded them for trying something different, but by the halfway point I was well and truly over it. I give them points for trying something different, but I'm afraid this experiment has missed the mark entirely.

The chicken itself was phenomenal. Insanely thick and literally dripping with juice as you lifted it from the plate, while it didn't look huge on the plate its a deceptive one as I struggled to finish the whole thing.

The topping were also fantastic. There was so much shaved ham piled on top of the parma that it was almost as thick as the chicken - Unfortunately as I said, all the flavour was drowned out by the aniseed.

Just to see what it was like I peeled some of the ham, cheese and napoli off the chicken and tried them seperately. On its own the ham came to life, it carried a delicious smokey fresh-off-the-bone flavour that was just a delight. The napoli was slightly watery, but tasty and the cheese was grilled to perfection and added a lovely cheddar tang.

The chips were also pretty great. I was pleasantly surprised to receive proper chips as opposed to the "fries" advertised on the menu ( I was expecting Maccas chips). There was a hefty serving and they were well cooked, piping hot and perfectly seasoned (with bottles of tomato sauce available by the bar) - a delight.

The salad was also a bit of a unique experience - I don't think we've ever had bean shoots before. Consisting of lettuce, cucumber, sliced radish and bean shoots it was a fresh and crisp addition to the meal, Only lightly dressed but I don't think it needed anything more.

$24 is a little pricey in general, with but the quality of the chicken and abundance of toppings and sides I would be more than happy to pay that again. I couldn't see any parma night's advertised so I think the $24 will stick all week.

If it weren't for that damn seed in the crumbs I would be calling this parma an early favourite for Best New Parma of 2015 - However the liquorice punch absolutely murdered this dish. Saying that, I would still recommend checking it out, if you can overlook the aniseed flavour every other element of this parma was near perfect... definitely one to keep an eye on, and hopefully they come to their senses about that damn seed ... just look how thick this thing is -

[pros]

• Amazingly thick and juicy chicken breast
• Abundance of mouth-watering shaved ham
• Plenty of well seasoned and cooked chips
• Unique, fresh side salad

[/pros][cons]

• Aniseed-flavoured seed through the crumbs overpowered entire dish.

[/cons]

Parma - 7.13

Chips - 7.50

Salad - 6.75

Value - 6.75

Total - 7.05

The search continues...

Attempt #212 - 'Bridie O'Reilly's $4.50 parma special'

[info]When? - 11th of February, 2015

Where? 29 Sydney rd. Brunswick

Price? - $4.50 with drink purchase (Wednesday night special)

Website? - http://bridiesbrunswick.com.au/

Reviewers – Dale, Lee, Nikki[/info]

The day that Bridie's announced their $4.50 parma special was the day my inbox exploded. Not just my inbox, but I was inundated with messages on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram ... basically every form of social media we have (Bridies even sent me a flyer in the post about it after I wound up on their mailing list after their NYE party I found myself at this year).

Everyone seems to be talking about this thing. The Happiest Hour is abuzz, even Reddit Melbourne had an entire post full of heated discussion about the special.

It just seems too good to be true! What's the catch? We had to venture down and find out. Expectations were low. Very low. Surely for $4.50 it could not possibly be good ... right?

We arrived just before 7 to an already pretty packed pub. First up, completely ignore what it says about "No bookings necessary" on the above flyer, this place was already busy and got busier the longer we stayed - I'd say if you're going with a table of 4 or more it'd be wise to book, there were plenty of large "reserved" tables when we were there.

So the process is this - First up you need to order a drink to be eligible for the special. Any drink will do, I ordered a pint of draught for myself and a coke for Reviewer Nikki. We got our drinks and two "tickets" to take to the food service window and exchange for our order.

Now, things get a tad confusing here. On the Bridies latest Facebook post they mention that you now also need to sign up for the "Parma Club" to be eligible for the deal. It doesn't cost anything, just an online form. I did this before we left, only to not be questioned about signing up when I arrived, however when I ventured to the bar later I saw a girl with a clipboard signing people up on the spot. Looks like its a new system thats coming in - better to be safe than sorry, if you're venturing out I'd say signing up is a good idea.

We ordered our meals and returned to the table. I'd say we were sitting for no more than sixty seconds before the boomerang buzzer went off and we were called back to collect our meals - they pump these things out damn fast. I honestly thing this was the fastest order-to-arrival time we've ever seen.

There she is. No salad, but more on that later. The schnitzel was, as you'd expect, processed to high hell, basically an oversized frozen chicken nugget - and the crumbs were actually thicker than the chicken in most places.

You know what? If they just had owned it, served a small bit of chicken with conservative crumbs and said "hey, its $4.50, what do you expect?" I probably would have been more forgiving, but with the shocking excess of crumbs it really feels like they're trying to cover it up. Although I suppose they have no control over the crumbing as these were clearly not house made parmas.

There was clearly enough room on the plate to not stack the parma on top of the chips, we quickly rescued them so you could get a clearer view of what $4.50 buys -

The toppings actually weren't as terrible as the schnitzel. The lack of napoli was almost criminal but I was surprised to see that the parma actually included a slice of ham - that's normally the first thing to do when a parma decided to appeal to the budget crowd.

There was plenty of cheese for such a small parma and it remained un-rubbery the entire meal. Sure it all came out of a package, but I was pleasantly surprised - The toppings weren't great, but they were nowhere near as offensive as what I was expecting.

The pub chips were pretty standard, small serving of pub chips that were just begging for a little salt, there was a pretty comprehensive condiment bar by the food service area (tomato, BBQ, chilli, tobasco and HP sauces all available) yet I couldn't for the life of my find any salt & pepper shakers, which is what these fries desperately needed. But, for a tiny serving of unseasoned chips they were cooked rather competently.

Now, the salad - When I approached the food service window to place our order I was met with this sign...

So its an extra $2 to add a salad, which doesn't seem too bad, until you consider that $2 is 45 percent of the total purchase price of the parma - that seems a little excessive to me, especially when I could see the pre-made salad pots sitting to the left of the service window, unrefrigerated and looking quite small and sad - We saved our cash, all forwent getting a salad with our parmas and are invoking the "You don't win friends with salad" rule for this review.

The value is the big question isn't it! And its hard to argue that this parma is very easy on the wallet. My total bill for dinner at Bridies for two parmas, a pint of draught, a pot of draught and a pot of coke came out to just under $26 all up. That is less than what a single parma cost us last week.

The Salad Rule being invoked means that the value of the parma takes a hit - and can you put a price on giving away your personal information for incessant promotional info after the necessary sign up to the "parma club?". I'd probably only recommend this parma if you were on your last few bucks and really needed a parma fix, I'm looking at you, starving Uni students. Oh look, I just got a text message from Bridies. No, really...

Expecting a quality parma for $4.50 is like jumping into a lion's cage and being surprised when you're mauled by a lion. You're stupid to think the inevitable isn't going to happen - The $4.50 parma at Bridies however is like jumping into a lion's cage and finding that the lion administers a local anaesthetic before tearing you limb from limb. Sure, it sucks - but it's slightly not as bad as you were expecting.

[pros]

• It's only $4.50

[/pros][cons]

• Annoying sign-up process to "qualify" for the price
• Think of the most processed schnitzel you can imagine. Now double it.

[/cons]

Parma - 1.67

Chips - 1.67

Salad - "You don't win friends with salad" rule invoked.

Value - 7

Total - 3.40

The search continues...

Attempt #211 - 'Woolshed Pub'

[info]When? - 5th of February, 2015

Where? Shed 9,T18/161 Harbour Esplanade, Docklands

Price? - $26, with a $22 Tuesday parma night (see review)

Website? - http://www.woolshedpub.com

Reviewers – Fridge, Lee, Matt, Nikki, Tony[/info]

If you're ever walking out of a game of footy at Etihad stadium and think to yourself "I want to have a beer in a massive warehouse", then the Woolshed Pub is the spot for you. Situated around the back of the stadium, between Etihad and the water, lies the Woolshed Pub, and (despite being a massive warehouse) is actually a really well put together spot.

There's a lot of different vibes at The Woolshed. To one side there is an outdoor area that provides stunning views of the bay and Bolte Bridge, perfect for sippers on a summers evening. The opposing side also has tables - minus the view but with a more "beer garden-y" feel. Inside and to the left there is a cosy, very flash looking bistro and to the right is the main event - the wide open, high roofed spaces of the main pub floor. It'd have to be damn busy for this place to feel packed, plenty of room to move with an impressive bar in the middle of everything I just mentioned. All up I was very impressed with this pub's fitout, they've put a lot of work into it, and it shows.

But how was the food? Rather than head into the bistro we opted to grab a table in the main bar - It was a perfect night to eat on the water, but unfortunately that was taken by a private function the night we visited. We took our seats, scoped the menu...

... and placed our orders.

As for beverages to accompany our meal? There are a decent selection of taps -

And things get a little more creative when you head to the bottled stuff. Nothing out of this world (the craft beer enthusiasts may go a little wanting) but definitely a big enough selection to wet any whistle.

I bought a pint when I ordered the meal and about 3/4 of the way through our parmas arrived at the table -

When it first hit the table the schnitzel looked quite small, very small even, but once I cut into it I realised just how thick this beast was - well over an inch in some places, this was pure chicken breast, no processed crap here. The shape of the parmas varied greatly from plate to plate, but all staying relatively the same size.

Very conservatively crumbed in what looked like a in-house made crumb mixture with a lot of herbs and a strong lemon flavour (I'm guessing either lemongrass or straight lemon juice). In the end the schnitzel was still a tad to small for my liking (we'll get to that later), but much more filling than I expected when I first laid eyes on it.

The toppings were an interesting mix. The pancetta was absolutely fantastic (I hate to use this term, but it was the hero of the dish) If you like the salty punch of pancetta then you will love this parma.

The napoli was plentiful and tasty, and if there was more cheese on the parma it would have struck a perfect balance - Unfortunately cheese was the only thing this parma lacked, there was barely a dusting of cheese on top and it really hurt this meal, as I said it caused the napoli to dominate this dish far too strongly, and really highlighted a tomato pastey character that would have remained unnoticed had there been more cheese.

I've said it time and time again, I'm not a fan of fries with my parma. This prejudice was tackled recently when we discovered The Wolf and I, where I discovered that "Maccas chips" could actually be done well, and the Woolshed is another pub that is slowly turning around my opinion. Yes they were fries, but these fries were done well. Served piping hot, in a decent serving and very well salted (with tomato sauce supplied on request). Yes, they were just maccas fries, but these were just about as good as they get.

The salad was a divisive one. I like my salad drenched in dressing, others like their salads crisp and able to breathe. The salad at the Woolshed was definitely the former, so I loved it. Very basic garden salad of lettuce and onion, absolutely swimming in dressing. I liked it, others didn't ... it depends on your opinion (if you care about salads at all).

This is where things are gonna take a turn for the worse in this review. Value. I placed my order for 2 parmas (not both for me, buying for Reviewer Nikki as well) and a pint of Boags ... $63 - $26 each for the parmas. Thats a pricey meatball, especially following last week's extremely good value for money parmas. Like I said this parma was bigger than I expected, but nowhere near Twenty-six-dollars-big. I'm not a tightarse but for that price I expect a top 10 parma ... yes the pancetta was delicious, and that can get expensive, but this just wasn't worth the money.

Saying that, there is a $22 parma n' pot night on Tuesdays. This is a much more reasonable price and I'd be more than happy to pay that for what we got, hell I'd even recommend it if you're in the area on a Tuesday, but other than that its just not worth the ticket price.

The Woolshed was a tough parma to judge. A lot of things went wrong with this dish, yet it wound up being quite an enjoyable meal. I am on the fence as to whether I'd give it my "seal of approval" though. It's a tough one, I think I'm gonna stick to my earlier sentiment of "Yes, if its on a Tuesday" with a clause of "and make sure the weather is nice, because that's a great view as well" ... It doesn't quite roll off the tongue when it comes to sign-off lines, but it'll do.

[pros]

• Thick, juicy chicken breast
• Fries were good (for fries)
• Pancetta was full of flavour

[/pros][cons]

• Minimal cheese
• Expensive

[/cons]

Parma - 7.08

Chips - 5.90

Salad - 5.60

Value - 3.50

Total - 5.83

The search continues...

Attempt #210 - 'Harts Victoria Hotel'

[info]When? - 29th of January, 2015

Where? 43 Victoria St. Footscray

Price? - $19 for standard, $14 for half-parma, novelties vary (see review)

Website? - None that I could find, other than their Facebook Page

Reviewers – Cale, Fridge, Hayden, Kylie, Lee, Nikki, Shanan, Stefo, Tony[/info]

 ** EDIT - 18/2/15 - I'VE CONFIRMED THAT THE PARMA NIGHT SPECIAL IS A WEDNESDAY NIGHT THING, WITH THE SPECIALS BOARD ROTATING TO OTHER STUFF ON OTHER NIGHTS OF THE WEEK - HOW WE MANAGED TO GET PARMA SPECIALS ON THURSDAY IS A MYSTERY TO ME - MUST'VE BEEN A FLUKE! SO KEEP THAT IN MIND WHEN READING THE FOLLOWING REVIEW... ENJOY!

I'm still not sure what to call this pub. Their Facebook calls it Harts Hotel, Google maps calls it Victoria Hotel, Urbanspoon calls it Victoria Harts Hotel and their are signs up on the building itself that call it Harts, Victoria and "Harts Victoria Hotel" ... However when I called to book the table on Thursday afternoon the lady who answered the phone called it Harts Victoria Hotel, so that's what I'm sticking with (plus it sounds like "Hearts Victoria", and I also heart Victoria).

Walking into the Harts Vic is like stepping back in time. An extremely spacious public bar greeted us with all the staples of a pub I'd love to call home. Exposed brick, old school wood panelling, so-ugly-its-awesome patterned carpet. It feels like a country pub that hasn't changed in decades, yet its tucked away in the middle of Footscray.

Beer options are pretty basic, but enough to get the job done. If you're after anything much fancier than a Carlton Draught then you're in the wrong pub.

Once the crew arrived we moved through the public bar into the bistro, which was already bustling with patrons tucking in to some great looking meals ... I had a good feeling about this place.

We checked the menu...

Spied the specials board...

And placed our orders. A few at the table took advantage of the Aussie and Mexican specials, I stuck with the standard. Also worth noting that we were served bake-at-home bread rolls with tatura butter after we ordered - Have I mentioned in the past how much I love this? If not, I love this.

I wasn't sure what to expect when we ordered these parmas, I guess the fact that a half-serve parma was even on the menu was a clue that we were in for something mammoth.

After polishing off our rolls and a couple of cheeky games at the candy machine in the public bar, our parmas started to file out of the kitchen. Good lord.

First up was the standard -

Second was the Mexican (Salami, jalapenos, salsa and guacamole)

and the Aussie (egg, bacon & BBQ sauce)

These things were huge. I was a little worried that a parma this big, at the price would have to be processed crap - but no, real, unprocessed chicken. The chicken wasn't overly thick, but at the sheer size of this meal it didn't need to be. The crumbs were herbed and not too thick - my only criticism would be that the crumbs were a little soggy, detracting from the rest of the dish - but thats a minor complaint.

The toppings were applied liberally. To be honest I was a little jealous that I didn't go with the Mexican or the Aussie as they both phenomenal (just look at those pictures up there) The three cheese blend used on mine was damn tasty, a perfect mix of creamy and crunchy. The napoli was a little lost in the shuffle but it was there .

One gripe I had was that it didn't come with ham, which normally I would be okay with, but the Aussie and Mexican parmas came with bacon and salami respectively and were both cheaper than the standard - I understand that they're on the specials board, but a slice of ham chucked my way would have finished this parma off perfectly.

Chips were pretty good. Chunky, well seasoned  and well cooked. If the parma wasn't so big that I was so full it hurt to move for hours afterwards then I'd say that the serving was a little small, but I honestly couldn't have eaten another bite if I tried.

The salad, like the parma, was massive. Garden salad stuffed with onion, carrot, cucumber and tomato. Everything was fresh and it accompanied the dish quite nicely, although I would have loved a little more dressing as it got a little dry in parts.

The value of this parma is off the charts, especially for the special's board parmas, $15 for the Aussie, $16 for the regular is just impossible to beat (and we got bake at home rolls as well!) - I would call that cheap for a standard sized parma, but that price for the behemoth we were served? Phenomenal. If you're not a big eater I'd recommend starting on the half-serve. They call it a half serve but I'm pretty sure its bigger than 75 percent of the parmas we have tried - for only $14 you can't go wrong.

Now I don't really have a spot for this, so I want to make special mention of the staff at Harts Victoria Hotel - In over 200 parma attempts I don't think we've ever had a friendlier group of people take care of us. They were warm, attentive, went above and beyond to make sure we were okay and more than happy to have a chat - A fantastic group of people running a fantastic pub.

I'll be back to the Harts Victoria Hotel, and you should check it out as well. It's a meal that any parma lover would enjoy at an old-school down to earth Aussie pub (a dying breed these days). I can't guarantee how long those novelty parmas will be on the specials board so better get down there quick before they're gone! You won't regret it.

[pros]

• Massive
• Amazing value
• Free bake at home rolls
• Amazingly friendly and welcoming staff

[/pros][cons]

• Crumbs were a bit soggy

[/cons]

Parma - 8.36

Chips - 6.61

Salad - 6.66

Value -  9.50

Total - 7.90

The search continues...

Attempt #209 - 'The Alehouse Project'

 

[info]When? - 22nd of January, 2015

Where? 98 - 100 Lygon St, Brunswick

Price? - $19

Website? - http://www.thealehouseproject.com.au/

Reviewers – Fridge, Lee, Nikki, Shanan, Stefo, Tony[/info]

Let me start out this review by saying that I love the Alehouse Project. When it comes to craft beer in Melbourne I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who does it better. Which is why, when I saw this post on Instagram last week -

I jumped on the chance to check it out, seemed like a perfectly fitting parma to kick off 2015.

If you're a fan of beer then you've no doubt already heard about the Alehouse Project, but in case you've been living under a rock, this is a pub with twelve taps of continuously rotating microbrewery beers. Every time you visit there's something new to try and I've yet to sample a beer I didn't like.

This week in particular the Young Henry "Stupid Sexy Flanders" cherry flanders ale was absolutely fantastic - couldn't recommend it more highly, absolutely delicious beer (and probably the best name for a beer I've ever heard).

Feels like I'm wearing nothin' at all... nothin' at all... nothin' at all!

A new discovery last night was the beer garden, way down the back, past the couches and tabletop arcade table, take a right and there is a quaint little spot in the sun, its cosy but comfy, perfect for a summer weekend arvo sesh.

Anyway - I digress. On to the parma.

We arrived, spied the menu...

and placed our orders. It was relatively early on a Thursday evening so the pub was pretty quiet, didn't take long at all for the food to arrive.

Then it did.

The schnitzel wasn't hard to see, thats for sure (more on that later). When it first fell to the table I thought "Uh oh, this is processed shit" But I was surprised to find real chicken under the relatively thin crumbs.

Unfortunately thats about everything positive I've got to say about this parma, and you don't know how much it pains me to write this review as I really like this pub - but it just wasn't good.

The chicken was dry, and there was a pretty noticeable black border around one side of my schnitz. Chicken size was inconsistent around the table, with the one pictured being one of the bigger ones.

There was so much nudity on display here I thought we had accidentally wandered into Schnitz n' Tits. Only 3 quarters of the chicken had toppings on it (thats being generous), and the toppings themselves just weren't good. The napoli was straight from a can, the cheese was like rubber and the ham ... actually the ham was okay, carried a decent flavour.

While it was real chicken underneath the toppings every element of the dish was completely tasteless. We took to loading it up with salt, pepper and tomato sauce in an attempt to bring it back to life, which helped a little, but shouldn't be necessary.

When the menu said "fries" I was expecting shoestring fries (aka. Maccas chips), So I was pleasantly surprised when a side of proper, thick cut chips accompanied my chicken. It was a relatively small serving and they were in desperate need of some salt, but they were decent. Maybe a little undercooked but not criminally so.

The "salad" was just some lettuce leaves tossed in oil, nothing to write home about but it was relatively enjoyable. Since our visit to The Wolf & I my eyes have been opened to the possibility of a good simple salad. Now the Alehouse was nowhere near the Wolf's standard, but I didn't dismiss it as quickly as I once would've.

In this day & age I class anything under $20 as pretty reasonably priced, this one came in at $19, which isn't bad, but when compared to what we actually received it is a bit steep. If this parma was $10 - $15 with a pot of craft beer thrown in I'd be more forgiving, but full price with no freebies for that? Not great.

I really did not enjoy writing the review this week. I love the Alehouse Project and urge you to check it out if you haven't yet.

At the time of writing this the parma has been on the menu for 9 days. It's still a baby, plenty of time for retooling.

If anyone from The Alehouse is reading this, first of all, I'm sorry. Secondly, you've got a good foundation with the chicken you're using. if you upgrade your napoli to something a little less tomato-pastey, make sure you cover the schnitzel in all of the toppings (cheese to the edge!) and season your chips before putting them on the plate then you're on the way to having something decent.

I'm more than happy to come back for a re-review if things improve. Until then, I'll just stick to the beers.

[pros]

• Amazing craft beer pub - possibly Melbourne's best.

[/pros][cons]

• Tomato paste napoli
• Gratuitous schnitzel nudity
• Burnt schnitzel
• Unseasoned chips

[/cons]

Parma - 4.25

Chips - 3.67

Salad - 3.50

Value - 4.25

Total - 3.98

The search continues...

 

Attempt #208 - 'The Carringbush Hotel'

[info]When? - 4th of December, 2014

Where? 228 Langridge St. Abbotsford

Price? - $20

Website? - http://thecarringbush.com.au/

Reviewers – Em, Grace, Lee, Matt, Nikki, Tony  [/info]

Well this is it! our last new review for 2014. There'll be another post in the coming weeks when we present the year's winners with their Golden Chook trophies, but as far as new pubs go this is it until sometime in January. I'll save the thankyous and other sappy stuff until the trophy presentation post, so until then ... to the pub!

Driving around Abbotsford is heaven for pub lovers, and in the realm of this website a bit of an untapped resource - Just driving to this week's parma I made a mental note to add at least 4 new pubs to the list of parmas to check out, but until then, last night we visited The Carringbush Hotel.

Tucked away in the backstreets of Abbotsford, the words "hidden gem" come to mind. This is a pub that just oozes character and old-world charm, It's a pub just the way I like it - cosy, quaint, with a solid craft beer list and lots of little nooks to get lost in for an afternoon.

There's a front bar for drinkin', a dining room for dining (worth noting that the parma is not available on the dining room menu) and a fusion of the two in-between, with tables for food from the bar menu, but without the fancy menu or tablecloths - which is where we pulled up a pew for the evening.

Oh, and if you like your beers in the sun there's also a quaint little courtyard - not too spacious, but enough to get a breath of fresh air with your pint.

We grabbed the menu and spied our target - an even $20 for the parma on a regular night, However its worth mentioning that on Tuesdays the parma, while still $20, comes with a free pint of Two Birds - Which is a great deal if I ever heard one.

We ordered our grub and kicked back with a beer. As I mentioned earlier the beer list is craft focussed, with more than enough to keep you entertained for an evening (The Two Birds Sunset Ale and Mountain Goat Steam Ale were going down particularly well last night).

About 20 minutes later (not bad for 6 parmas) our meals arrived from the kitchen...

No bones about it, the schnitzel was damn good quality. Decent sized, pure white chicken breast with a consistent thickness. It was conservatively crumbed and cooked perfectly, retaining its juiciness and not at all stringy. As far as foundations for a good parma go, this one was on the money.

The toppings were a tad controversial, First up there is no ham, which some people consider a no-no, yet I'm willing to look past it if the parma lifts its game in other ways. The cheese was fantastic, flavoursome and cooked to perfection. Now on to the controversial bit - the napoli.

I guess the issue comes down to one thing - do you like capsicum? as this non-traditional nap has a bunch of capsicum in it, which can catch you off-guard if you aren't prepared for it. I, for one, liked it - I've got nothing against capsicum and thought it added a fresh, interesting flavour to the dish, however a couple of members on the review team weren't big on capsicum in general, and wasn't a fan of the unexpected sweetness that it added to the dish.

I wouldn't say get rid of the capsicum - It added a unique twist to the dish that even the naysayers said they got used to after the initial shock, but perhaps add something to the description on the menu so it isn't as much of a surprise.

The chips were impressive, massive serve of thick cut chips that remained piping hot and cooked to perfection, retaining a hearty crunch and soft, pillowy potato inside. My one complaint would be that they were a little under-seasoned, I didn't see any salt shakers around (although in the pub's defence, I didn't ask). They were good, a pot of sauce or aioli would've made them great.

The salad was another mixed bag the lettuce, cucumber, onion & tomato were all spot on, but I question the decision to add an ingredient we could best identify as fennel - it added an odd sweetness to the salad that I think detracted what was overall a well made and tasty side (although that's my opinion, some of the other reviewers at the table enjoyed it... we are an indecisive bunch).

For $20? Bargain. for $20 on Tuesday's with a free pint of Two Birds? Massive bargain, and would definitely be the day I'd go should I find myself in Abbotsford again. I would definitely go back to the Caro, it ticks a lot of boxes that I like to see in pubs that I frequent, The parma wasn't perfect (a slice of ham would be lovely) but it was a damn good, quality attempt, and definitely one you should be checking out should you get the chance.

And with that we close out ParmaDaze for 2014! Like I said at the start I'm saving the goodbyes for the trophy presentation post that will be up at some point in the next week or so (we're thinking about shifting it from our regular Thursday night so we can have a few celebratory bevvies afterward and not worry about work in the morning). But you'll hear from us soon enough...

[pros]

• Pure chicken breast schnitzel
• Plenty of tasty, well cooked chips
• Unique, fresh napoli (although may be considered a "con" for some diners)
• A backstreets gem, My favourite kind of pub

[/pros][cons]

• No ham
• Was personally not a fan of the fennel in the salad

[/cons]

Parma - 7.47

Chips - 7.17

Salad - 5.59

Value - 6.96

Total - 6.93

the search continues...

Attempt #207 - 'The Courthouse Hotel'

[info]When? - 27th of November, 2014

Where? 615 Sydney Rd, Brunswick

Price? - $15.50

Website? - http://www.courthousebrunswick.com.au/

Reviewers – Fridge, Kylie, Lee & Nikki, Shanan, Stefo [/info]

I had a long intro planned about how The Courthouse Hotel was the last pub on Sydney Road that we have yet to try. Just looking at our map you can pretty much spot Sydney Road from space, like the great wall of China

But then, on the trip up the street that there were at least two parmas (on top of the Courthouse) that we have yet to try - The First & Last hotel and The Moreland Hotel, So it will actually be a bit longer before we can officially say we have "clocked" Sydney Road.

In the trendy hustle & bustle of Brunswick it's easy to miss The Courthouse Hotel, it's an unassuming facade (which can look a little rough and uninviting, to be honest) but once you're inside it has a little bit of character - Not a whole lot, as it is most definitely a pokies and TAB venue, but try as they might a little bit of charm does squeak through.

Beer list is barebones. Draught, VB ... Really nothing more impressive than what you'd get at a game of footy, but enough to get you through a meal at least. If you push past the pokies, the TAB and through the Bistro you'll find a quaint little beer garden tucked out the back - this is where a lot of the aforementioned charm shines through. It's nothing major but definitely a comfy little spot to enjoy a quiet bevvie in the sun.

When the group arrived at 7 the bistro was a ghost town, another two people did come in for a meal while we ate but other than that it was dead. We checked the menu and spied our target on the $15.50 fixed price menu -

We placed our orders at the bar and headed back to our seats. about 20 minutes later the food started to arrive from the kitchen...

To be honest I wasn't expecting a whole lot from the Courthouse, so when the parma was actually made of real chicken I was impressed. It was a little small and not really that thick, but it was conservatively crumbed, well cooked and quite juicy.

The toppings were serviceable - nothing really standout but they all did their job. I haven't really any special comments as they lay firmly in the middle! The cheese was okay, the napoli was okay, the ham was okay. I know that makes for a boring read but I honestly have no praise or critisisms. It was all just ... neutral.

And the chips? They were, wait for it... Okay (the last time I'll use that word, I promise)

Standard pub chips, well cooked and a decent amount, However they were unseasoned (other than a partially unwanted seasoning which I'll get to in a moment) We were provided tomato sauce on request, which wasn't an issue for them.

The salad was actually pretty good (better than okay!) it was fresh, crisp and not tight on the ingredients. It was a standard garden salad with plenty of balsamic dressing. Unfortunately there was a lot of balsamic. Remember that unwanted seasoning I mentioned with the chips? Balsamic. Basically the bottom layer of the chips, the parma, and the salas was soaked in a pool of balsamic dressing. Now I like balsamic, I like a lot of balsamic in my salad - but my chips and parma soaking in it when it arrived at the table kind've marred the experience.

For $15.50? I'm pretty happy with the meal. If I can get away with a meal and a beer for under $20 I'm a happy camper. Its not the best parma I've ever had by a long shot, but if I were locked inside the Courthouse Hotel I wouldn't be against having another parma. If you go down on a Monday night there is a special...

Which is an even better deal (especially with the free pot!).

If the courthouse hotel was the only pub in a country town I would recommend giving it a go - However being on Sydney Road there are so many better options that I'm having trouble giving it the full seal of approval. Like I said, If I were locked in the Courthouse Hotel and had no option but to eat there and not go somewhere else, then I wouldn't be too upset about having to eat the parma again. It's middle of the road, not terrible, actually much better than I was expecting, but still not amazing. Worth a crack on a Monday night

[pros]

• Decent meal for the price, would be better on Monday
• Tasty salad

[/pros][cons]

• Salad dressing invaded all the other elements

[/cons]

Parma - 5.50

Chips - 5.50

Salad - 5.25

Value - 6.50

Total - 5.65

The search continues...

Attempt #206 - 'The Pancake Parlour'

This isn't a picture of the Pancake Parlour we visited, but I'll be damned if I can find a pic of the one we went to online

When? - 20th of November, 2014

Where? All over the place, but we went the one at Highpoint Shopping Centre in Maribyrnong

Price? - $27.90

Website? - http://www.pancakeparlour.com/

Reviewers – Lee & Nikki

You all know the Pancake Parlour, right? I don't need to explain about the ambiance of the restaurant? (and they're all the same, Monkeys and nude ladies flipping pancakes on the walls, and somewhere around there'll be a giant chess set). Well a couple months ago I noticed a tweet that the parma at the Pancake Parlour, which for a long time had been relegated to the dreaded "specials board", had been upgraded to prime, permanent menu status...

I checked the menu on the website and found the description...

A parma served on a pancake? That intrigued me, It never occurred to me that such a thing might work, but at the same time the combination of chicken and waffles is damn delicious, how far off could a parma-on-a-pancake be?

We arrived at the Pancake Parlour last night and took our seat in the booth, I picked up the menu to confirm the parma was there and noticed something I hadn't before... no mention of chips on the menu. It was already pricey at $27.90 ... surely there'd have to be chips. Then I saw this to the side...

 Ugh, No chips.

I wasn't paying over $30 for a parma with chips. Not happening, so we ordered the parma as it is on the menu, no extras.

To Pancake Parlour's credit the service was fantastic, we ordered our meals at about 7 o'clock at they were on the table before 7:10. Although why they still use that archaic "receipt on your table that gets updated by hand as you order new stuff" system baffles me.

Anyways, on to the parma

There was steam still rising off the parma as it hit the table, without the cheese on top it was just a sea of red with a big white hole on the plate where the chips should be - but we'll get to the toppings & sides in a moment.

To be completely honest - The schnitzel itself was pretty damn good. It was a little small for the price ("for the price" is three words you are going to be hearing a whole lot in this review, prepare yourself) but it was pure white chicken breast. Very lightly dusted with crumbs, piping hot and juicy as all hell. It had decent thickness without going overboard - To be honest, other than the size I don't think I have any criticisms for the schnitz. Quite tasty.

As I'm sure you can see from the photos The Pancake Parlour has opted for the unconventional practice of layering the sauce on top of the cheese, or "SHCN" as we call it, although with the pancake at the bottom it has evolved to "PSHCN" - a completely new beast. We've come across the "napoli on top" thing a fewtimes before but never with a whole lot of success - The cheese never seems to get a fair shake when drowned underneath all that nap. Saying all that - this was probably the best SHCN we've had - It's still not my preferred topping layering order, but I wasn't too upset about it. The napoli did kind've overwhelm all of the other toppings, but it was fresh and tasty none the less.

Now for the pancake. I was not sure what I was going to think about the pancake, but to be honest I didn't mind it - I'm not going to be bringing a zip-lock bag full of flapjacks to future parma attempts or anything, but it didn't really detract from the experience at all. Flavour-wise it was virtually undetectable, the only thing it contributed was a slightly different texture on the occasional bite. Take it or leave it, I wouldn't be bothered either way

Despite a massive, gaping white hole on the plate there were no chips served with this parma. As I mentioned before there is the option to order a side of cottage fries for an extra $5.90, but I wasn't shelling out that when I'd already coughed up $27.90 for the parma. We've only come across the "no chips" thing once before, back when we did the Shaw Davey Slum, and the precedent was set in that review (and as voted by the readers) that any pub that serves a parma without chips included gets a zero in the score category for the chips. So thats what PP is getting, zero for chips

The salad was suffering from an issue we've encountered before, something I am officially dubbing "Palmerston Syndrome" as we first discovered it at The Palmerston Hotel. The salad was good, in theory, plenty of lettuce, celery, capsicum and radishes, it was crisp, albeit a little underdressed, but the major problem was that everything was diced into tiny little chunks that just made it a chore to eat. If I have to use my fork as a spoon to eat my salad its no longer a salad - It's bruschetta topping.

The value on this parma is in the toilet. Theres no sugar coating it, it's just far too expensive for what you get. If it came with a side of fries included in the price then maybe I could deal with it, but when the parma was quite small, the salad was so/so and there were no chips on the plate unless I shelled out another $5.90 It's not nowhere near worth the cost. It was a quiet night last night so there was just myself and Reviewer Nikki at the review - I had a pint of coke and Nikki drank water, we got two parmas and nothing else yet our final bill came out to well over $60. I'm no tightass but for what we received that is ridiculous. This isn't The Fat Duck, its The Pancake Parlour.

I went into the Pancake Parlour with very low expectations and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the parma. If money is no object and you don't have an issue shelling out $33.80 for a chicken parma with chips then by all means give it a crack - the parma-on-a-pancake thing is worth experiencing at least once, However unless they either drop the price drastically or chuck on a side of cottage fries I doubt I'll be heading back to the Pancake Parlour for a parma.

Pros

• Fantastic quality schintzel

Cons

• No chips
• Far too expensive for what you get
• Salad diced into inconvenient chunks

Parma - 6.75

Chips - 0

Salad - 3.50

Value - 3

Total - 4.00

The search continues...

Attempt #205 - 'Hotel Spencer'

[info]When? - 13th of November, 2014

Where? Hotel Spencer, 475a Spencer St. West Melbourne

Price? - $16

Website? - http://www.hotelspencer.com.au/

Reviewers – Fridge, Lee, Nikki, Stefo [/info]

Early this week we were planning on hitting up the Pancake Parlour to try the "parma on a pancake" thing that has appeared on their menu. I've got mixed feelings about this, but more on that next week. I was hanging out on the /r/melbourne subreddit of Reddit when the topic of parmas came up and a few suggestions came in - to be honest I'm a bit scared about what the Pancake Parlour is going to serve, so when user Zozozozozoz offered up the recommendation of the Hotel Spencer I jumped at the opportunity to postpone our trip to the Parlour for a week!

I didn't really know much about the Spencer, I think I might had a few drunken pints there after a gig at nearby Festival Hall, but that was ages ago and the pub has undergone a massive transformation since then, re-opening less than a year ago with a brand new look.

Arriving shortly before 7 we managed to just squeeze in on Happy Hour, offering $5 pints of cider, beer and some other drink specials - a great way to start off the night.

The pub was practically empty, Which I was shocked at due to its location and drink prices - We took a seat in the front bar, checked out the menu ...

And placed our orders. As far as beers go the Spencer seems to be putting some support behind craft beers, offering up a tasting paddle for those so inclined. After my $5 pint of Spencer Draught I moved onto the Two Birds Sunset Ale - a delicious drop.

While we waited I wandered around the pub, which is still a functioning backpackers. The dining room was impressive but I can't help but feel like this pub is screaming for a beer garden. I know there isn't much they can do, if they don't have the space they don't have the space. There were a couple of tables & chairs out the front that would make for great people watching - however I feel like they aren't utilising the space to its full potential. Get some umbrellas and solid wood furniture out on the street and you're looking at a fantastic spot for some Sunday sippers.

Our parmas came out relatively quickly, probably due to how quiet the pub was...

When I first saw the schnitzel I thought to myself "crap, this is gonna be processed" - Imagine my surprise when I cut into a juicy, white, real chicken breast! It was a little small but it served its purpose well, wasn't overcooked or overcrumbed... Not blowing my socks off, but a solid way to start the meal.

The toppings were a mixed bag - The mozarella was tasty, but could've used a few more minutes under the grill. The ham was appreciated and added some flavour, however there was virtually no napoli underneath it. It was a tasty parma but I would have killed for a bit more tomato, even resorting to dipping me parma into the supplied sauce pot a couple of times.

The chips were a delight. Hand cut the way hand cut chips are supposed to be, they reminded me of my dad frying up sliced spuds on the barbie when I was a kid. Well seasoned with a sauce pot on all the plates without needing to be requested - definitely the down-to-earth highlight of the meal.

Everyone said the same thing about the salad - We just wanted more. It was fresh, crisp and coated in a deliciously sweet dressing that reminded me of balsamic with notes of honey. However this delicious dressing was served on a couple of lettuce leaves. Nothing more. I know the old saying is "alway leave your audience wanting more" but this was ridiculous.

At $16 I'm putting this one into the "value parma" category - sure it wasn't great, but its price is low enough to forgive some sins. I heard on the grapevine that the Spencer offers a $12 parma Monday - However I can't find any information on the internet to confirm this, If so that's a damn good deal.

We finished off the meal in an unusual way by indulging in a dessert - the chocolate fondant just sounded too delicious to pass up -

I want to call the Hotel Spencer a "hidden gem", but its hardly hidden - it's on friggin' Spencer Street! But it should be busier for a Thursday night. The beers were delicious, the atmosphere was great, the staff were fantastic (attentive and friendly!) and the parma ... its not going to win any awards, it has its issues but overall its pretty good - for the price its definitely worth checking out if you're in the area.

[pros]

• Great value
• delicious home-style chips

[/pros][cons]

• Parma was a little small
• Needed more napoli

[/cons]

Parma - 6.75

Chips - 7.25

Salad - 4.75

Value - 7.25

Total - 6.55

The search continues...

Attempt #204 - 'The Golden Gate Hotel'

[info]When? - 6th of November, 2014

Where? The Golden Gate Hotel, 238 Clarendon St. South Melbourne

Price? - $24

Website? - http://goldengatehotel.com.au/

Reviewers – Emma, Lee, Matt, Nikki & Tony  [/info]

The Open Door Pub Co. is a name not many people will have heard of, yet if you read Parma Daze at any sort of regular interval then the names of the pubs in their harem will definitely sound familiar. Some of the best parmas we have had have come out of the ODPC, The Imperial, The Exchange, The Duke, The College Lawn & The Portland Hotel to name just a few - They have a fantastic pedigree when it comes to the parma and the top end of our ladder is littered with examples of that - so when I'm really craving a good bird on any given week, a quick look at the ODPC's stable is usually all I need.

Unfortunately there are a finite amount of pubs owned by the group, and not all of them serve a parma - Of the ODPC's flock of 18 pubs we only have a handful left to try - So I try to ration them out, as once we've done them all there's nowhere else to go ... But this week, coming fresh of a fun long weekend and really hating having to go back to work, I bit the bullet and queued up one of the remaining ODPC pubs - The Golden Gate Hotel.

I think I say this in every 3rd review on this site, but the Golden Gate is one of those pubs that I never really noticed before. There's a stationary store across the road that I got wedding invitations from a couple of years ago which I was at seemingly every weekend for a couple of months, yet stopping into the Golden Gate for a bevvie never seemed to enter my mind (and trust me, when planning a wedding many beers are needed).

The place is very nicely fit out, skilfully renovated with a clean, modern feel while still remaining cosy (it was far to hot to have it running, but there was a lovely looking fireplace in the dining area). I counted twelve taps running different beers, nothing too fancy (Boags, the James Squires, Little creatures, Heineken, Asahii - you know the drill), but easy enough to find something to wet your whistle.

After a refreshing pint in the front bar waiting for the group to arrive we retreated to the near-empty dining room, there were a couple of tables of couples whose hats clearly revealed they had come from the spring carnival, but overall the table booking seemed unnecessary as there were plenty of empty seats.

We got our menus and spied the target -

I've scoured the internet for mention of any sort of parma night at the Golden Gate and have come up empty handed, They do, however offer a $10 steak all day-every day and a "any drink $5" Happy Hour from 4 - 6pm every day.

We placed our orders and waited for the parmas to arrive - which they did, about 25 minutes afterward ...

The schnitzel? Fantastic. Almost impossible to fault. It was massive, the crumbs were crispy and carried an amazing crunch and the chicken breast was pure white - one of the whitest chicken breasts I think I've ever seen. It was thick, unbelievably juicy and steaming hot when served - and remained that way the entire meal.

I will note that when we were waiting in the front bar I saw a couple of parmas come out of the kitchen and they were served with the chips and salad in separate bowls alongside the parma - which was not the case with what we received, I'm not sure if it was because we were in the dining room or they simply ran out of big plates, but it's worth a mention.

The toppings were another triumph, other than some slight nudity around the edges I really have nothing to criticise. The saltiness of the prosciutto worked beautifully with the unique flavour of the cheddar (a cheese we don't often come across on a parma, which worked beautifully). The napoli was plentiful, fresh and chunky.

I'm racking my brain to find something I didn't like about this parma but I'm honestly having trouble coming up with anything - I guess if you aren't a fan of prosciutto it might not be for you, as that is somewhat of an acquired taste - But definitely give it a go if you're on the fence.

The chips received mixed reviews - depending on your stance on shoestring fries or "Maccas chips", as we call them, your opinion may also differ - but I've never been a fan. They were well seasoned and dusted with herbs. The menu touts that they are served "skin-on", I'm not sure why this is promoted as a feature as I can't really see anything the skins add to the dish, other than saving some prep-time peeling potatoes in the kitchen I can't really see the advantage. I wasn't a huge fan, if you hadn't guessed, but other reviewers around the table seemed to enjoy them, so I guess it falls to personal opinion. They do, however, get points for serving the parma with an individual sauce pot, completely unrequested.

The salad was a let down, plain and simple. A massive pile of watercress and onion, drizzled in some oil. It tasted like grass and just felt like an afterthought lumped on the plate, a definite low point to an outstanding parma.

This parma chimes in at $24, which seemed reasonable for the dish I received. I'd have no qualms with coming back to the Golden Gate for another parma and can easily recommend you also give it a go.

Well it looks like the Open Door Pub Co. have done it again. Not their best effort, but definitely a great crack - the prosciutto and cheddar was a unique combination that worked stunningly well. If we just rated the parma itself this would be playing in the big leagues, unfortunately it was betrayed by some so/so chips and lackluster salad - But don't let the sides hinder your enjoyment of an otherwise stellar bird.

[pros]

• Amazing quality schnitzel
• Prosciutto and cheddar combo worked wonders

[/pros][cons]

• Maccas chips
• Bland, afterthought salad

[/cons]

Parma - 8.86

Chips - 6.90

Salad - 4.80

Value - 7.68

Total - 7.42

The search continues...

Attempt #203 - 'The Taylors Lakes Hotel'

[info]When? - 30th of October, 2014

Where? The Taylors Lakes Hotel, 7 Melton Highway Taylors Lakes

Price? - All over the shop depending where you sit, we went the $16 parma n pot in the Sports Bar

Website? - http://www.taylorslakeshotel.com.au/

Reviewers – Lee & Nikki  [/info]

Back when I had just turned 18 The Taylors Lakes Hotel became our go-to for grand final day. I'm not sure why, as it was kind've out of the way, but one year we watched the game there and it kind've became a tradition. For the next 4 years at least it wasn't even discussed where we should go, it was just always assumed we were going to the Taylors, and it was always a fantastic day.

Then something happened and we kind've just stopped. Not sure why, but for some reason or another Grand Final Day at the Taylors just stopped being a thing, and I kind've forgot about it until recently, when I started hearing whispers that they were doing some decent parma deals. Nostalgia kicked in, I thought about all the great times we had at that pub and said "what the hell", lets see what the old girl has got to offer.

Now the Taylors Lakes Hotel is a big complex. With a bistro, cafe, pokies bar, drive through bottle shop, hotel, sports bar and TAB it can be a little confusing. There is a parma available in the bistro - but for this review we stayed exclusively in the sports bar, and although they may be similar this review won't reflect whats available in the bistro.

Walking into the sports bar was like hopping into a time machine. It had been a good eight years since I had set foot into the sports bar at the Taylors, but it was as if nothing had changed. Pool tables to the right along with totally rigged claw machine, TAB to the left and bar straight ahead - The big screen TV that had seemed so massive all those years ago seems a little smaller in comparison with modern technology, but its still a great spot. We grabbed a table and settled in, feeling like I was home again.

Now I mentioned the different parma in the Bistro, but there's also an option in the menu - When I ordered my parma I was asked if I wanted the "Parma and pot deal" or not, I double checked the menu and aside from the $18.50 parma on the menu they have this deal running all the time -

Sounded good to me, so we placed our orders, picked up our free pots and boomerang (that thing that buzzes and beeps when your food is ready to be picked up) and waited for our dinner to be ready

For those that are into their racing legendary race caller Ted Ryan was in house at the Taylors the night we were there, raffling off free beers and giving tips for Melbourne Cup next week. Very entertaining, and created a great, fun atmosphere in the bar.

Before our parmas arrived we started off the night with a pregame of bruschetta pizza ($7.50)

It was quite tasty, I'm not normally big on bruschetta (raw tomato doesn't really do it for me) but I must say this was quite good. An enjoyable way to start off the meal.

Just as we polished off the pizzas our boomerang buzzed a second time - The parmas were ready...

Going into this meal I had pretty low expectations. For $16 with a pot I was expecting a processed, heart shaped piece of cardboard that was more crumbs than fake chicken.

Imagine my surprise when I cut the schnitz to reveal real chicken! not overcrumbed at all, thick and actually quite juicy. It wasn't the best quality chicken but for the price I wasn't complaining, and I was just happy to have real chicken and not an oversized mcnugget.

The toppings weren't great, but not terrible either. The mozzarella cheese was a bit rubbery and the ham didn't carry a lot of flavour (although it was a massive slice, doubled over on the chicken) The napoli was where it kind've fell over though - As I'm pretty sure they just spooned straight tomato paste onto this parma. It was so thick and heavy that it just overpowered the whole dish.

The chips were fantastic. Beer battered and well cooked, with quite a sizeable serving. They weren't seasoned off the bat, but there was a sauce/condiment bar right beside where I picked up the food with every sauce you could imagine along with salt & pepper shakers. A damn enjoyable side that complimented the parma quite well.

When I ordered the parmas I was asked if I wanted it with chips & veggies or chips and mash... I inquired "what about a salad?" at which point I was directed at a salad bar across the room. I put the order through with chips and veggies, not something we often get.

The veggies were okay, A little over-steamed and everything tasted as if it had been boiled in butter - but butter is delicious, and if you aren't worried about heart failure they were actually quite tasty.

The salad bar was pretty simple - a big pot of garden salad that was replenished a few times while we were sitting. Everything was fresh, I didn't see any salad dressing in the sauce bar though (although I may have missed it) so it was a little dry.  The star of the night, though, was next to the salad pot - a big warming basket of bake at home rolls. I'm a sucker for a bake at home roll, so a bottomless basket of them? Winning.

Now I'm sure the Taylors Lakes Hotel doesn't want you abusing their kindness and stacking your plate with bake at home rolls, but its nice to know the option is available - and the bloke who hit the salad bar before me stacked his plate up with at least nine of the things.

For $16 with a pot, salad bar and bottomless bake at home rolls? Thats a pretty good deal. Its not a top-of-the-line parma but if you aren't expecting perfection this is a damn good feed at a reasonable price.

I had a great time at the Taylors Lakes Hotel last night. I went in with low expectations and they were more than surpassed. The pub has a fun vibe, the entree was solid and for the price I'm not complaining too much about the parma - Sure it wasn't perfect, the weakest part of the dish probably was the parma itself - but the supporting cast rallied and made this one to check out. I wouldn't go out of my way to try it, but if you find yourself in the area and feel like a cheap feed and a couple of pints its worth checking out.

I might even be back next grand final day.

[pros]

• Salad bar with bake at home rolls
• Only $16 with a pot
• Real chicken for a value parma

[/pros][cons]

• Tomato paste does not equal napoli
• flavourless/packaged toppings.

[/cons]

Parma - 5.75

Chips - 6.80

Salad - 6.00

Value - 8.75

Total - 6.61

The search continues...

Attempt #202 - 'The Doutta Galla Hotel: Redux'

[info]When? - 23rd of October, 2014

Where? The Doutta Galla Hotel, 339 Racecourse Rd, Flemington

Price? - Menu price $23.90, Wednesday pot & parma deal.

Website? http://www.douttagallahotel.com/

Reviewers – Fridge, Lee, Nikki, Stefo  [/info]

When we first started ParmaDaze it took a few weeks for us to find our feet. When we did Mrs. Parmas I hadn't even thought about making it into a website, when we did The Palmerston everyone was too hung over from St. Pats day to even turn up, even The Leveson was a little shaky on its feet - It wasn't until week four, when we did The Doutta Galla Hotel, that I was confident this idea would become a thing.

With fourteen reviewers at the table it remains as one of the biggest turnouts we've had to a parma night. Good times were had, many beers were consumed, we even enjoyed a few post-parma games of pool - It was a great night, however (and I'm not gonna sugarcoat it) the parma sucked. You can read about the original attempt here, but the short version was this - processed, heart shaped schnitzel, nudity that would make your nan blush and processed, rubber cheese. It was cheap and nasty, with an emphasis on the nasty and a few reviewers even stopped at McDonalds on the way home from the parma so they could get some decent food into them.

I had written off The Doot until just recently, when whispers started coming in that they had improved. A Tweet or Facebook post here and there over the course of a few weeks, then last week it snowballed with multiple emails coming in telling us we had to give it another shot. I was torn, we haven't had the best of luck with redo's in the past, but I'm nothing if not a people pleaser, so we loaded up the parma bus and headed over to the Doutta Galla Hotel.

I've always liked the atmosphere of the Doot, probably because it reminds me so much of the late, great Prince of Wales Hotel, but its always had a laid back, inviting vibe that tickles me in all the right places. Couches if you want them, pool tables if you want them, plenty of TV if you want them and tables out the front & down the side street if you feel like a beer in the sun, Things might change a little when it switches into "nighclub mode" but I can't say I've ever had a bad time at the Doot.

I ordered a pint of Carlton on arrival and the bartender gave me a spiel, selling me a pint of Australia Draught instead for $8 a pint - My first time trying the Australia Draught, gotta say it hit the spot nicely.

We took a seat at our table and took a gander at the menu -

Parma sighted. Last time we visited was on a Wednesday night, and on Wednesday's the doot does a $12 parma & pot deal, which still stands after over 4 years without a price rise. We placed our order (with a side of gravy for chip dipping, which there was surprisingly no charge for), and returned to our tables.

Before too long the parmas spilled forth from the kitchen.

Apologies for this photo, the next one is much better, then the cross section is crap again. I blame the lighting and in no way does responsibility fall on my skills as a photographer.

Wow! Compared to last time round this is a massive improvement. Gone is the processed, heart shaped schnitzel and in its place is a massive piece of real chicken breast. Conservatively crumbed and thick as buggery, this parma bottled in the heat, staying steamy till the last bite. Gone is the abundance of nudity that plagued the old parma as it was extremely well topped and cooked to a perfect golden brown.

My one criticism of the schnitzel would be that the chicken was a little dense for my liking, if that makes any sense, but overall this shnitz was an outstanding step up from the last attempt.

See? Told you this was a better photo.

Topping were also solid - Plenty of cheese, a quality mozzarella and tasty blend that carried great flavour. The napoli was tinned, but not noticeably so and much better than the non-existent napoli of last time. The ham was in abundance and very flavoursome, really making its presence in the dish known.

The chips were also pretty good, beer battered and well seasoned. A little overcooked but the side of gravy definitely helped to overlook their faults - I would recommend getting the gravy should you venture to the Doot, it didn't cost us anything to add it so its worth chucking in. It wasn't a small serve of chips, but I did find myself wanting more after I was done.

The salad was okay, but didn't blow me away. Perfectly serviceable garden salad with lettuce, onion, carrot a cherry tomato and creamy dressing. Nothing to write home about, but the ingredients were fresh & well put togehter.

I'd be happy to pay $23.90 again for this parma, and I would be very interested to see if the quality remains the same on $12 parma & pot night - Because if it does this would have to be one of the best value parma nights in the area. If you check it out on a Wednesday let me know (email, twitter, facey, the usual, links are up the top right) if its the same or if they swap it out for the cheap stuff - I would be very disappointed if they do, but if not I'd say cancel your plans for next Wednesday and go check it out.

The Doot doesn't serve up the best parma I've ever had, but it was definitely the biggest improvement we have seen between original review and redo. A fantastic effort and a damn tasty parma - If you're in the area I can recommend stopping in to check it out, you'd be hard pressed to walk away disappointed from this one.

[pros]

• Free gravy on request
• Amazing improvement from first review
• Parma remained piping hot throughout

[/pros][cons]

• Chicken was quite dense (I dont know how else to explain it, but you'll see!)
• Chips a little overcooked
• "Meh" Salad

[/cons]

Parma - 7.88

Chips - 6.50

Salad - 5.38

Value - 6.75

Total - 6.88

The search continues...

Attempt #201 'The Wolf & I'

When? - 9th of October, 2014

Where? The Wolf & I, 152 Chapel St. Windsor

Price? - Menu price $24, but there are a lot of specials

Website? http://thewolfandiwindsor.com.au/

Reviewers – Lee, Nikki, Stefo, Tony

Coming out of the post parma #200 stupor, I was keen to back the weekend up with something of quality - it'd be a shame to back up such an epic weekend with a disappointing, processed, turd of a parma - So this week I did some research! Asked the interwebs for suggestions, delved into my archives of emails and one name continued to pop up - The Wolf & I in Windsor, For a pub that has only been open for just on 2 years (a baby in Melbourne pub standards) word seemed to have spread like wildfire.

Some pictures online looked pretty good, although they can be misleading, so I set the date and last night we headed down to check it out.

Just a warning - as we discovered last night, trying to get a carpark on Chapel Street at 7pm on a Thursday seems to require some sort of divine intervention, as we had to park miles away, but the atmosphere on Chapel is always entertaining - so the walk was a breeze.

We arrived at the Wolf & I to find (not unexpectedly) a very busy front bar. We rushed through to the bistro at the back rather quickly so I didn't get to really soak up the atmosphere of the front area - but from a cursory glance it looked pretty good. Absolutely loved the tables printed with aerial photos of Melbourne like a real-world Google Maps. Definitely worth a good 10 minutes of distraction - You've gotta love an entertaining table.

We took our seats in the bistro out the back, checked the menu and spied our target...

We were set - but as an unexpected bonus the very helpful waitress made us aware of the night's special -

Lock. it. in. Eddie.

It's also worth noting that The Wolf & I also offers $15 burgers and parmas from 12 - 3 Monday to Friday ... You'd almost have to go out of your way to pay full price for this bird.

We ordered, discussed the news of the day, and about 10 - 15 minutes later our parmas arrived from the kitchen.

First up I apologise for the sub-par photos this week, they do not do this parma justice at all and I will endeavour to get back to the Wolf & I soon and take some better photos. Watch this space.

The schnitzel was outstanding - I thought it looked a little small when it first hit the table but I didn't realise that the full chicken breast it was crafted from had barely been hammered before crumbing - if at all, leaving an enormous, kiev-thickness parma in front of me (seriously, check out the cross section below, it was at least an inch thick for the majority). The thickness resulted in a juicy, pure white chicken breast that retained its heat for the entire time I was eating it. Crumbing was minimal and crunchy, all in all an outstanding foundation to the dish.

The toppings were superb, and I'm going to jump straight to the absolute superstar - The ham.

I could smell it as soon as the plate hit the table, the minute that smokey aroma hit my nostrils I knew it was going to be a good parma. The ham was freshly shaved off the bone, just like christmas dinner, was liberally applied (they weren't tight with it at all) and absolutely delicious.

The napoli and cheese, while perfectly fine in their own right, took a back seat with the toppings as the ham took center stage. On the subject of the other toppings, the cheese was perfectly cooked, I believe it was straight mozzarella, but it could have been a blend, and the napoli served its purpose well - although if I had to criticise I'd say I would have liked a tiny bit more of the red stuff.

I'm gonna say this up front, and if you read this website often you probably already know, but I'm not a fan of shoestring fries with a parma. Or in general. They go cold far too quickly and are a pain in the ass to eat in general - No matter if you put them in a mini fry basket or separate bowl (as the Wolf & I did) they'll always be maccas chips in my eyes.

That being said, The Wolf & I did maccas chips well - Big serving, in aforementioned separate bowl, they could have been seasoned a bit more, but there was salt & pepper on the table that made short work of that - We asked the waitress for some tomato sauce and she came back with both sauce and garlic aioli - massive bonus there!

Leafy green garden salad on the side kept it simple but proved a lovely accompaniment to the dish. Separate bowl kept everything crisp and fresh, the cucumber carried a crunch and it was liberally coated with a delicious balsamic dressing - proof that you don't have to do a lot with a salad for it to be enjoyable.

As I said we picked up this parma on their Thursday night special for $20 flat with a free pint of Boags or glass of wine, Outstanding value there if you can get it, but to be honest I'd be completely happy paying full price for this parma - you pay for quality and the regular price of $24 is completely reasonable for what you get, visiting on either a Thursday night or Lunch Monday to Friday (15 bucks, no pint though) only sweetens the deal.

I had suspicions that The Wolf & I would be good, but I never expected it to be this good. If the sides had've been only slightly better they'd be in contention for top spot. Absolutely outstanding parma and easily the best we have come across this year (so far, at least). So power off your PC, close your laptop, press the little button at the top right of your phone, whatever you have to do to turn off the screen and get your ass to The Wolf & I as soon as possible - You won't regret it.

Pros

• Plentiful ham shaved off the bone
• Pure, unbelievably thick chicken breast
• Simple yet effective salad
• Garlic aioli & tomato sauce on request

Cons

• Shoestring fries went cold quickly

Parma - 9.17

Chips - 6.30

Salad - 7.50

Value - 9.07

Total - 8.24

The search continues...

Attempt #200 - 'The Shamrock Hotel'

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

When? - 4th of October, 2014

Where? The Shamrock Hotel, 579 High St, Echuca

Price? - Fluctuates depending on topping choice, Most between $23 and $26

Website? http://www.shamrockhotel.com.au/

Reviewers – Adam, Al, Cale, Emma, Grace, Janet, Kylie, Lee, Nikki, Ness, Shanan, Stefo, Tony

I'm gonna try and make this intro as quick as possible, just because I know you're probably not interested in it at all and just want to find out how the parma is, but here goes -

Back in 2012 when we hit our hundredth parma review I was in absolute awe. In awe that our little website had been going for one hundred parma reviews. I was filled with appreciation for everyone that helped make my stupid little project possible. The mates who come out every week to support the site and fork over their hard earned cash to parma night, with every possibility it will be an absolute stinker and a waste of money, If it weren't for them even a hundred parmas was a dream.

Secondly was the appreciation for you guys, the readers, I check the analytics for this site quite often and seeing the ticker go up every time a new review is posted just makes my day - Without your support we never would've made it as far as we have.

That was how I felt at 100 parmas, so take those feelings and double them. I'm trying to keep the sappyness of this intro as low as possible, but I honestly can't believe how lucky I am that all you folks keep coming back every week, and I thank you all for it.

Phew! Alright, now that thats out of the way, lets get to some parmas!

Saturday morning we loaded up the parma bus (and by "Parma Bus" I mean 5 separate cars in a convoy, obviously) and hit the road, Champing at the bit to get to Echuca - However at the 1 hour mark I was getting a little hungry - and to be honest a beer or two wouldn't go astray either, so we stopped at a lovely looking pub on the Northern Highway, The Tooborac Hotel

Where has this pub been all my life?

The Tooborac Hotel is one of those pubs that makes you consider buying property in the country just to be closer to it. A down to earth country pub with ample outdoor seating room, an amazing beer garden (complete with live music stage) out the back, solid pub grub and the Pièce de résistance - their own brewery.

How's the serenity...

We pulled up a pew out in the beer garden (the weather for the weekend was turning out to be absolutely stunning) grabbed a beer and checked the menu. Now I knew I was having a parma that very night, and I didn't really want to double up, but one particular item on the menu did grab my eye...

Thats right, you're looking at a Chicken Parma Pizza.

I've heard rumors of a parma pizza going around in the past, but this was my first, and what a place to pop my parma pizza cherry than in this gorgeous location.

How was it? Delicious, and I loved the addition of a side salad to make it that little more parma like - one suggestion? Go the whole hog and serve it with a bowl of chips as well, really sell the idea that you're getting a parma, just on a pizza base.

After seeing how good the food at the Tooborac was I was a little dismayed that I didn't at least get to check out the parma, luckily reviewer Tony had no qualms about doubling up on parmas in a day, so I got to at least get a look at what the Tooborac has to offer -

Topped with shredded ham, bacon and caramelised onions it definitely looked like a tasty treat - I snuck a bite and confirmed, it definitely had potential. I'm looking for excuses to come back to this pub so I'll definitely say we're gonna come back for a proper review, its only an hour out of Melbourne so definitely do-able for a day trip!

The staff at the Tooborac were also fantastic, super friendly service with a smile, the owners were even happy to give us an impromptu behind the scenes tour of the brewery so we could take a peek at where their fantastic beers came from! (while we were there I tried most of the selection, I must say their limited edition porter was damn tasty).

After three or so pints we bid a fond farewell to the Tooborac and hit the road once more (always be responsible and have designated drivers kids, much to the annoyance of those behind the wheel only the passengers indulged in the oh-so-delicious Tooborac beers).

About an hour and a half later we rolled into Echuca and checked into our motel. Our booking wasn't until 7pm but those beers at the halfway point had tickled my drinking bone so we decided to hit the pub a little early.

We arrived at around 4:30 and snagged a table in the massive beer garden out the back. I'll say it from the get go - I loved the Shamrock, it had a fantastic country pub vibe that, despite being called "The Shamrock", wasn't too heavy handed on the "faux Irish" vibe that some pubs can fall victim to *cough*bridieoreilley's*cough*.

As I mentioned, the back of the Shamrock opens up to a very impressive beer garden space with an abundance of tables, projector screen, outdoor bar (that wasn't open at the time, but it was there) and a spot where there should be a pool table, but it was conspicuously missing the weekend we were there. It was around 4:30 when we first pulled up a pew at the Shamrock and our table booking wasn't until 7pm, but to be frank I was glad we had some extra time - as the menu at the Shamrock is a sight to behold...

The double-sided A3 page of options was overwhelming, 101 options to choose from (including several desert options, but we'll get to those later). We got the menus at 4:30 and it honestly took right up until we ordered for everyone to make a decision, just when you think you see one that sounds good another one will catch your eye that looks better.

Now the menu on the Shamrock website seems slightly out of date, the prices are a little higher in real life and the website menu mentions a selection of options for type of schnitzel before picking your topping - which doesn't seem to be an option any more, but to get an idea of the amazing selection of parmas available, take a look at this -

Now, when a range of novelty parmas such as this comes up, as tempting as it is to stray, I try and stay pure and go with the traditional, as if you can't do a traditional right what is the point of piling it with a bunch of other nonsense? I told all the other reviewers they could order whatever they choose, but I stuck with the traditional pub parma. As it had turned out to be such a gorgeous evening we forwent our reserved table outside and (with the permission of the staff, of course) decided to stay outside and enjoy our meals in the beer garden.

We all placed our orders and took our seats. Now if you're planning on visiting the Shamrock I have to say that bookings are essential - I ducked back in to get a pint shortly after 7 and the place was absolutely chock-full, the queue to order a parma was out of the bistro, down the hall and past the front bar ... almost out of the door of the pub! So be prepared to have a booking or get there bloody early.

After about 15 minutes our parmas began to trickle out of the kitchen - There were 13 of us in the group, so completely understandable that they all didn't arrive at the same time.

Now there are gonna be a lot of photos, We didn't get to capture all of the ones ordered, but we got a few. The sun had gone down at this point so apologies for the artificial lighting ... Here we go.

The Traditional pub parma -

Cross section of the Traditional -

The Meat Axe (Ham, bacon, salami, chorizo, bolognaise, sausage, napoli, cheese, & BBQ sauce)

Cross section of the Meat Axe -

The Merry X-Mas (Turkey, ham, cranberry sauce & cheese)

The Sicilian (Hot salami, chilli napoli, kalamata olives, sun dried tomatoes, red onion, roasted capsicum, mozzarella)

The Texas T (Bacon, BBQ Sauce, Jack Cheese & onion Rings) -

The Southern Blues (ham, BBQ sauce, yam mash, jack cheese & onion rings) -

Tuna Mornay (Schnitzel topped with tuna mornay & cream sauce) -

Plus a bunch of others I didn't get a photo of, but you get the idea.

Now, as I had the traditional parma, the following comments are going to be about that - for individual opinions check the reviewer quotes further down.

I had massive hopes for this parma, and to be honest I was a little underwhelmed.

My biggest problem was the schnitzel. It was well cooked and decent quality chicken - but the crumbing was far too thick (if you scroll back up past the multitude of other photos and take a look at the cross sections you'll see what I mean) which gave it a bit of a processed feel. The ham was plentiful, but didn't carry a whole lot of flavour, and the cheese was okay - but nothing to write home about, same goes for the napoli also. I found myself looking around the table at everyone else's offering of amazing toppings stacked to the sky and couldn't help but feel short changed.

It wasn't bad, but for a place that touts itself as THE place to go for parmas I was surprised that their standard parma effort was a little lacklustre.

The chips were pretty good, standard pub chips, but they were well cooked and seasoned - served under the parma, but this never really bothered me too much as I'd rather have more chips and more parma as opposed to shrinking everything down to fit it all onto a plate. The serving size of the chips seemed to fluctuate a fair bit from plate to plate, but my serving was quite healthy.

The salad was also pretty standard. It was fresh, all the ingredients were top notch, but it wasn't really memorable - a fine accompaniment to the meal, but nothing too out of the ordinary.

Value-wise? Hmmm, I'd say stick to the novelties as $23 for the basic parma I got seemed a tad pricey, on the other hand if you visit the Shamrock on your birthday and show ID you get a Traditional parma absolutely free of charge - Which is a great deal in anyone's language.

I'm in two minds about the Shamrock parma - One half of my brain is telling me to not be so nitpicky, that I'm missing the point and that the novelty toppings are part of the fun - That the spectacle of seeing one of these 101 off-the-wall amazing parma creations come out of the kitchen is worth the trip on its own, and part of me believes that! I had an amazing time going through the menu with my mates, weighing the options and getting the opinions of "what one are you getting?" It was amazing fun and I'd definitely go back and see what other unbelievable combinations I missed the first time around.

Yet the other half of my brain is saying "If you can't get a basic parma right, whats the point of all the novelty nonsense?"

I guess thats up to you to decide. Like I said I had an amazing time at the Shamrock and would recommend every parma fan reading this to check it out at least once ... but go for the novelty and give the traditional a miss, Its much more fun that way.

We finished up the mains but weren't quite satisfied, I mentioned the desert parmas earlier in the review ... Something about chicken schnitzel topped with sweets just seemed so wrong, yet so right at the same time. I didn't want to commit to an entire desert parma to ourselves, but we ended up ordering a communal one so we could just see what it was like...

The Parmadamia (schnitzel with caramelised macadamia nuts, butterscotch sauce & vanilla ice cream) -

I don't know what I was expecting with this, but I had to give it a try. I took up the cutlery and dug in...

To be honest ... It was actually pretty good.

It was different. Unlike anything I've had before - but it was actually pretty damn tasty. I don't think I could finish a full one as it was extremely rich, but I'm definitely glad I had a taste, just be sure you've got someone to split it with if you want to give it a go.

We got quite comfy in the Shamrock beer garden. Before we knew it it was midnight and the beer garden was being packed up around us ...

We retired to our respective motel rooms, very seedily hit up the Beechworth Bakery the following morning for hangover food and headed back to Melbourne, waving at an extremely busy Tooborac Pub as we passed by. Parma 200 accomplished!

I'd better wrap this up as I've been going on for ... holy crap 2200 words... If you've read this, you're awesome - and thanks again for your support these past 4 and a half years!

Now the question is ... Where the hell are we gonna go for parma 300?!

Parma - 7.08

Chips - 6.00

Salad - 5.71

Value - 6.38

Total - 6.45

The search continues...

Attempt #199 - 'The Eureka Hotel'

When? - 11th of September, 2014

Where? The Eureka Hotel, 1 Church St. Richmond

Price? - $23 standard menu, $15 parma night Monday & Thursday

Website? http://www.eurekarichmond.com/

Reviewers – Fridge, Lee, Nikki, Stefo

All the times I was recommended The Eureka I just couldn't picture it. Surely I must have passed it hundreds of times - The corner of Church St and Victoria St. Yep, I walked across that intersection last month. But nothing ... try as I might I couldn't quite place it. Even walking in the door I had no memory of ever seeing this pub - sure I've heard about it a bunch of times, I've received emails in the double figures in the four years we've been doing this recommending the Eureka, but it had managed to slip past me every time.

I thought I had a point to that story. But it looks like I don't ... never mind! Point is, we went to the Eureka.

The front bar of the Eureka has a fantastic country pub vibe. A relaxed spot where you can chill with a pint over a game of pool, Big Buck Hunter (which takes credit cards now, isn't that insane?) or just kick back with a pint and watch the footy on one of the many big screens. The menu is formidable, just looking at the big board on the wall is enough to give an indecisive person a stress rash -

The bar snacks menu alone is enough to keep me happy for quite a while - There is nothing on that section that I wouldn't like... Come to think of it, I don't think there's anything on that menu I wouldn't be happy giving a crack, although you can keep your Quinoa salad, thanks.

Luckily we didn't have to think too hard as our target was front and center - Chicken Parma w' chips & salad for $23. The paper menu gives it a fancier description -

I also need to mention that The Eureka runs a $15 Parma & Pot night on Monday & Thursdays, as it was Thursday night we reviewed this parma it was bonus for us!

The beer selection wasn't terrible, 24 taps rotating a bunch of different beers - nothing overly special, but a decent mix of the standards and borderline craft beers, enough to keep us satisfied.

Now on Tuesday this week I found myself at the Oxford Scholar, I didn't have a ton of time so rather than having the parma I opted for an old school classic - chips & gravy. I'm telling you this as trying chips & gravy on Tuesday had given me a taste for it - so when I ordered the parma tonight I opted to throw an extra $2 Eureka's way and add a side of gravy to my parma, purely for chip dipping purposes.

Orders were placed, free pots were collected and we awaited the arrival of our dinner - just as I was finishing the pot our parmas arrived...

The schnitzel was impressive. Big, thick and juicy - cooked to perfection, pure white chicken breast. The crumbs were thin and, while a little soggy and lacking that crunch you want with your parma, conservatively applied. My one complaint with the schnitzel that I felt really distracted me from the meal is that it was ... I don't want to say cold, because that would be an exaggeration, but it wasn't hot. I like my parmas piping hot and this one felt like it had spend some time waiting for the others to be prepared.

The toppings on this parma were absolutely outstanding. The napoli was rich, fresh and insanely chunky. The cheese was applied liberally and grilled to a perfect golden brown. The ham ... I have never seen so much ham on a parma in all of my life. Look at the below cross section and you'll see what I am talking about. Absolutely insane. It had great flavour that permeated the dish, was definitely one of the best elements of the meal.

The chips were also pretty good - Beer battered and well seasoned, plenty of them and cooked perfectly (crunchy on the outside, fluffy on the inside). They were tasty enough to stand on their own without the need for gravy on the side - but I still enjoyed the occasional dip. I know we're not here to criticise the gravy, but I will say it was a tad watery for my tastes, and would have preferred it a bit thicker.

On the plate the salad looked amazing. Chock full of ingredients - cucumber, capsicum, onion, plenty of chunks of tomato and very little lettuce - it looked more like a fresh salsa than it did a garden salad. I was excited for it, but then I took a bite - Unfotunately Eureka have chosen to dress their salad in a very odd choice of salad dressing. It was insanely sweet - almost like caramel, I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was, so we asked the waiter who checked with the chef - He told us it's a 'proprietary blend' that uses Vanilla ... that's what the sickly sweet flavour was. Vanilla.

I'm all for vanilla, I think it's an amazing ingredient - but I don't think it works in a salad dressing. It was off-putting and made a fantastic looking salad a disappointment.

As I mentioned before we were there on parma night. Monday & Thursday for $15 with a pot. At that price I can't recommend this parma enough - definitely one to check out if you're in the area on Monday or Thursday. It was quality through-and-through and as far as value goes this one is hard to beat. For the full price of $23? Yeah ... I'd still recommend giving this one a go. I wouldn't say run out the door this second, but if you're in Church St. and looking for a quality pub meal I'd say pop in to the Eureka and give it a crack.

I like The Eureka, it had a good vibe, impressive menu and a damn tasty parma at a very reasonable price. It wasn't perfect, but I feel all the elements of a perfect parma are there - they just need to tweak their execution slightly and they'd be on track. Minor complaints though, a valiant effort from the Eureka that I recommend checking out.

Pros

• Rich, chunky napoli

• Abundance of flavourful ham

• Great value on Monday & Thursday

Cons

• Served slightly cold

• Unappetising salad dressing

Parma - 8.00

Chips - 6.63

Salad - 4.50

Value - 9.00

Total - 7.23

The search continues...

Attempt #198 - 'The Pinnacle Hotel'

[info]When? - 4th of September, 2014

Where? The Pinnacle Hotel, 251 St. Georges Rd, Fitzroy North

Price? - $17.50

Website? http://www.fitzroypinnacle.com.au/

Reviewers – Fridge, Lee, Nikki, Stefo, Tony [/info]

If you live in Melbourne and you like beer chances are you've heard of The Happiest Hour, A website devoted to finding and listing the best pub food and drink specials in the country. Its an amazing resource if you're in the mood for a cheap bevvie, and if you haven't yet I suggest you mosey on over and check it out.

Over the last few weeks, The Happiest Hour has been counting down its annual "Top 50 pubs in Melbourne" awards, and if you've read this far and seen the title of this review I think its safe to say you can guess who took out number #1 for 2014 (for the slow, it's The Pinnacle Hotel). So earlier this week I was looking at the top 10 winners and a thought occurred to me, We have reviewed a parma at every pub in the top ten, with the exception of The Pinnacle (and the Rev, but they don't do a parma). How could this have happened? The supposed best pub in Melbourne does a parma and I haven't even set foot in the door?!

This had to be rectified, so last night we loaded up the parma bus and headed down to The Pinnacle Hotel in Fitzroy

The first thing you will notice about the Pinnacle is its odd shape - It's a triangle shaped pub, long and skinny - reminiscent of the Flatiron building in New York, but on a much smaller scale.

Walk in the door and its the quintessential Fitzroy pub. Dim lighting, mismatching chairs, decor that looks like it comes from your grandma's house and patrons that seem to be perpetually competing in a "who can wear the ugliest jumper" competition. When it comes to the beer list, the Pinnacle has hit the nail on the head. Rotating taps of craft beer and staff happy to make recommendations, I sampled the Nail Brewing oatmeal stout and pale ales last night and must say I was delighted with both. There's also a sizable beer garden out the back with a separate bar and what seemed to be a stage setting up for some live Thursday tunes. Was a bit of a brisk evening so opted to sit inside, but on a warm Sunday afternoon I could easily see chilling in the beer garden over a cold one.

We took a seat and checked the menu. This is a bit of a weird one, as (from what I can gather) The Pinnacle has just one novelty parma on the menu that seems to rotate each quarter. The Autumn menu from earlier this year touted an‘Americana’ Parma with hot salami, tomato, red capsicum, caramelized onion, black olive & mozzarella - The Winter menu (currently in rotation) however, offered up this one -

Not too shabby. I will mention that the Pinnacle advertises a $15 Parma & Pot Monday special - I'm not clear if thats for the novelty parma or just a standard nap/ham/cheese deal, but either would be worth a gander.

We ordered our parmas at the bar and awaited their arrival. It was a bit of a wait, I had downed a pint of Oatmeal Stout and was working on my 2nd as the parmas arrived...

My heart sank when I first saw the parma, I think I just had flashbacks to the Clyde a few weeks back  and was expecting a dried out, processed lump of crap- Luckily though, I couldn't have been more wrong. The schnitzel, while not being massive in circumference, was plenty thick without an abundance of crumbs.

One edge of my parma had spent slightly too long under the grill and was beginning to burn, but luckily they had pulled it out just in time and the well-done edge didn't affect the flavour at all.

The toppings are where this parma shone. I was a little concerned when I saw that this parma had both napoli and BBQ sauce - I thought they would clash, however they worked together perfectly - The napoli helped to balance out the harshness of the smokey BBQ - which, while tasty, could have proved overpowering on its own.

Under the cheese was a liberal helping of bacon, which was just fantastic. Sometimes when you get bacon on a parma they can be a little tight with it - but not at the Pinnacle. The more the merrier! The cheese was in abundance and cooked well, but with so many strong flavours on the plate it got a little lost in the shuffle.

Now to the most contentious element of the dish - the jalapeños.

I'll start off by saying that I love jalapeños. I get jal-ap-en-yo business if you can give me some jalapeños (and the award for dad joke of the year goes to...) But when I saw their inclusion on a "Smoky BBQ" parma I was thrown - They just didn't seem to fit the theme of the dish. On a Mexican parma? Fine. I'd even give them a pass on last-quarter's 'Americana' parma ... but Smoky BBQ? It didn't quite fit and I think their addition actually detracted from the dish.

Don't get me wrong, They were damn tasty and my opinion isn't representative of the rest of the table (some people loved them) - But with the napoli, the BBQ sauce, the cheese and the bacon, I just feel like the jalapeños added an unnecessary layer to an already very busy parma.

But thats me, and I'm bitching for far too long about a parma that I actually really enjoyed.

Chips were perfectly cooked and served piping hot. Not really seasoned but we were spoiled for choice at the array of condiments available beside the bar. Crinkle cut, too - which is always a bonus. A perfectly fitting accompaniment to the meal.

Garden salad was okay, but it didn't blow me out of the water. All the ingredients were fresh and they weren't tight on the stuff (by "stuff" I mean the bits in a garden salad that aren't lettuce), but they didn't really do anything special with it. Serviceable - but not amazing.

$17.50 for this parma? I am extremely happy with that. In a depressing time when I consider anything under a twenty to be "cheap" $17.50 on a regular menu is refreshing - especially considering they weren't at all tight with the toppings. We have paid much, much more for much, much worse (I point your attention to parma #5 of our 'Tour De Hobart" last week ... I'm still dirty on that one). Throw the aforementioned $15 parma & pot deal into the mix and you're on a winner for a Monday night - I'll definitely pop my head back into the Pinnacle.

Being 5 days into Spring the Pinnacle is due to rotate their menu any day now - So if you want to give the Smoky BBQ parma a try get on it before its gone, as I have no idea what's coming next. It's like when there's a regeneration on Doctor Who ... I've got a  feeling whatever comes next will be good, but I can't be sure. So get on it while you can!

[pros]

• Plenty of flavour
• Liberal use of bacon
• Reasonable price for what you get

[/pros][cons]

• Lots of flavours going on, jalapeños clashed with the theme of the dish (in my opinion)
• [/cons]

Parma - 8.09

Chips - 6.62

Salad - 5.71

Value - 7.48

Total - 7.20

The search continues...

#197 - 'The Palmerston Hotel: Redux'

When? - 21st of August, 2014

Where? The Palmerston Hotel, 51 Palmerson Cres. South Melbourne

Price? - $20 for the standard parma, $22 for the "Palmie" parma (bolognaise instead of napoli), $24 for the "Special" parma of the week

Website? http://www.palmerstonhotel.com.au/

Reviewers – Fridge, Lee, Matt, Nikki, Stefo, Tony

It is with a heaVY HEART THAT I REPORT THAT THE PALMERSTON IS NO MORE, CLOSED TO MAKE ROOM FOR APARTMENTS. YOU WILL BE MISSED, PALMIE!

Cast your mind back to March 2010. James Cameron's Avatar was taking the world by storm, Rihanna's "Rude Boy" was topping the charts and we had just finished up our first group parma sesh at Mrs. Parma's since the loss of The Prince of Wales. After the parma we were talking about the idea of a website. "We could do this every week" I said, "we'll get score cards made up and I'll put it on a website!". It seemed like a good idea and thus ParmaDaze was born - But where to next? With Mrs. Parmas out of the way the next logical choice was to visit the pub famous Melbourne-wide for their chicken parmas, the pub whose parma used to top the leader-boards of Superparma.com before they disappeared from the internet.

We arranged a meet up that following Wednesday (we did parmas on Wednesdays back then) but then realised that that particular Wednesday was St. Patricks Day ... Nobody would come to a parma night on St. Paddy's day, So we pushed it to Thursday night instead. I arrived with reviewer Nikki and waited for everyone else to turn up.

And waited, and waited... and waited some more.

It was only our second attempt and we had learnt a harsh lesson - Don't arrange a parma night the day after one of the biggest drinking days of the year. Everyone will be too hung over to function. I made some calls and managed to get reviewer Shanan on board, he arrived late but still managed to get his scores in. You can read all about what happened with the rest of that attempt here.

It's more than four years later and I've always felt like The Palmerston never got a fair shake. We were hung over, barely any of us there, this was the first parma we'd ever done with the idea of a website in our heads and to be honest, we were parma n00bs. (I even forgot to take a photo of the parma we received - the one currently on the review was lifted from Google image search). It's not that it scored badly with the last review, in fact it's final score of 7.30 is quite respectable - I've just always been curious to check out how it has held up with the test of time.

So, with clear heads and more than 195 parmas worth of experience under our belts since the last visit, we loaded up the parma bus and headed out to The Palmerston Hotel in South Melbourne for the second time.

I say for the second time, however all but two of the people at this attempt were at the original, so we were definitely getting fresh eyes on the situation. The pub has barely changed at all in four years (other than the addition of a very impressive beer garden out the back) - A fantastic country pub vibe in the middle of Melbourne, the staff are among some of the friendliest we've encountered and give off a great "family pub" vibe - not to mention it's almost walking distance to Crown Casino should the need to gamble strike you (I actually put handy wallet-sized instructions on how to get to the Palmerston from Crown in our review of the now defunct, horrible parma of the Pub at Crown, probably still useful should you find yourself at Cotta).

The range of beers at the Palmerston is pretty basic - honestly not much more than what you would expect from a country pub. Ten beers on tap and a small selection of stubbies, but nothing particularly fancy, I started off with a $5 Crown Lager stubby, as they were cheap until 7pm, then after 7 I grabbed a pint of Little Creatures for $10.60 and headed to the table.

We took our seats in the dining area around the back and checked the menu -

The "Special" parma this week was topped with Hungarian salami and bocconcini, according to the menu this rotates weekly - I don't mind the occasional novelty like this, its when the novelties completely eclipse the menu that I get slightly miffed.

Inflation has driven the price of both chicken parma varieties up a few bucks since the 2010 review, from $17 to $20 for the standard parma is an understandable rise in four years (if the quality of the parma remains the same, that is). The Palmerston Hotel is still touting that they were voted number #1 by Superparma ... There has got to be a statute of limitations on how long they can boast about that, superparma.com hasn't even been active since 2008 - move on guys!

Now, here at ParmaDaze we have been known to partake in a little pre-parma snack (or "pre-game" as we call it) from time to time should the menu have some tasty looking items on offer. It's generally a mixed bag, some pubs offer a few good looking options, other pubs are pretty sparse when it comes to entrées. The Palmerston? They've got you covered...

I don't think there is a single item on that entrée menu that I wouldn't enjoy (I'm not big on Oysters, but others in the review team are all about Kilpatrick). Chips & mushroom sauce? Yes please! Homemade sausage rolls? Gimme! South Melbourne dimmies? sign me up! Looks like I've got egg on my face for saying last week that you can't normally get dim sims with a parma!

All reasonably priced as well, especially considering that a few weeks ago we found a place charging $15 for cheesy garlic bread, $6 at the Palmie is a damn steal.

We ordered some cheesy garlic bread and oysters kilpatrick for pre-game, our parmas (4 standard and 2 specials) and awaited the arrival of our dinner.

Good lord, this review is almost as long as the entire first attempt and we haven't even gotten to the parmas yet... Moving on!

First up were the entrees, The cheesy garlic bread -

Was extremely tasty and a great way to kick off the meal. Was a little off-put when I realised they used a whole-grain bread, but it wasn't a deterrent at all. Cheesy, garlic-y, bread-y ... Really everything you could want from cheesy garlic bread.

Also up were the oysters Kilpatrick -

I feel like I could get on board with oysters kilpatrick if it weren't for the oyster. If someone offered me a cup of diced, fried bacon soaking in Worcestershire sauce I would be all over it - but the little booger-looking blob underneath is just in no way appealing to me.

Anyway, thats me. Reports from the oyster eaters around the table came back universally positive. We polished off the entrees in a matter of minutes and the parmas arrived shortly after.

First difference I noticed was that the parma no longer came with a bake-at-home roll on the side, as it did when we first reviewed it. Although I had just downed two slices of cheesy garlic bread this bummed me out a little - I am always stoked when I get a roll with my parma, and to see it fall by the wayside (even after the price of the parma has raised) was disappointing.

One thing you can guarantee with a Palmie parma is that you are not going to get a processed schnitzel. Pure, white, juicy chicken breast all the way. perfect thickness all the way through and remained piping hot until the last bite - If I had to gripe about the schnitzel I would say that the crumbs were a bit soggy, especially underneath - but that's a minor criticism that didn't detract from the flavour of the dish too much. Overall the schnitzel at the Palmerston provided a solid base for this parma.

I complained that the 2010 parma was a little light on the napoli - this is no longer the case at The Palmerston. Under the cheese hides a generous serving of rich napoli sauce, more than enough to adequately cover the parma. The flavour of the ham was prominent and the cheese was beautifully cooked to a perfect golden brown.

I'm not gonna sugar coat it - the chips were a let down. Quite a small serving tucked away under the parma. Standard, unseasoned pub chips that honestly looked a little old, as if they had been sitting for a while. Liberal use of the salt shaker brought them back to life, however I was by no means blown away.

My major complaint with the salad last time was that it was chopped too finely - sounds like a silly thing to complain about I know, but you don't realise just how annoying it is until you try it - and they still do it. Although the ingredients were fresh, crisp and tasty it was a struggle to even get it on the fork - We had to resort to the 'spoon' technique and try to scoop up the little giblets of salad to eat that way. That being said I appreciated the addition of green and red capsicum, along with the onion, cucumber, lettuce and tomato.

For $20? Not too shabby. The parma was made from quality ingredients and stood apart from the other elements on the plate. I wouldn't shy away for paying $20 for this again, and would probably go out of my way to give it another shot - if only for the pub itself.

As for the parma "specials" with salami, reports came back that it was a welcome addition - however not quite worth the $4 price hike to swap out the ham for a few slices of salami.

The Palmerston is one of my favourite pubs in the area. It's an honest family pub that is becoming increasingly rare these days - The menu is devoid of any wank - just down-to-earth solid pub grub. Not much has changed with the Palmerston parma - it is still the solid contender that it always was, but I think we were a little blind the first time around, as I said at the start of the review we were new - Our parma review experience didn't extend far beyond The Prince of Wales or Mrs. Parmas. 197 reviews has given us a little bit of perspective, as well as some fresh eyes on the parma - and it has caused a slight score fluctuation - I'd still recommend it, but the price hike, loss of a bread roll and lacklustre sides have caused a slight score drop. I'd still recommend, just not as vehemently as I did four years ago

Pros

• Solid, tasty chicken parma
• Down to earth pub with great atmosphere
• Rotating parma "special" to keep things interesting

Cons

• Soggy crumbs
• disappointing chips
• salad diced far too finely

Parma - 8.33

Chips - 4.67

Salad - 6.67

Value - 7.17

Total - 7.03

The search continues...

Attempt #196 - 'Hooked On'

[info]When? - 14th of August, 2014

Where? Hooked On Fish & Burger Bar, 368 Keilor Rd, Niddrie.

Price? - $10.95

Reviewers – Cale, Lee, Stefo, Tony [/info]

I won't lie, We've been on a pretty bad streak lately. The last few weeks have been crap, preceded by crap, preceded by ... pretty good, actually. But three weeks without a decent parma is starting to hurt, So when it came to deciding where to visit for this weeks parma I decided to mix it up a little, perhaps find gold in an unlikely location.

Hooked On is a fairly recent addition to the Keilor Rd menu. Research online tells me they've been open since September, yet my memory tells me they've been open for about 6 months. Either way the place is brand spankin' new. Beautifully fit out, amazingly clean an professional and to be quite honest one of the best looking fish & chip shops I've ever visited. I've visited (for fish, chips and the occasional burger) quite a few times and have never been disappointed with the result.

So a couple of weeks ago when I was wandering home from a morning walk to the supermarket I spotted a sign in the window advertising "$10.95 Chicken Parma with Chips & Salad". Dangerous being so close to where I live, even more dangerous if it was good. I made a mental note to come back some time and check it out.

Now this isn't the first take away parma we've done on Parma Daze, and funnily enough the other one we reviewed (George's Hamburger, Fish & Chips) is in direct competition with hooked on, as only a few hundred meters divide the two, and they're the only two Fish & Chips shops on Keilor rd.

Parma night rolled around, we met at Hooked On, ordered our parmas (with a couple of dim sims on the side, because ... why not? We're at a fish & chip shop and its not something you can normally get as a parma accompaniment!) and waited for them to arrive...

I'm not terribly into seafood, a special flake is about as adventurous as I get, however I've gotta give points to Hooked On for the very pretty display window showing the different cuts of fish they use.

In a flash our parmas were ready to go. There is indoor and outdoor seating available at Hooked On if you want to dine in, however as I live so close we opted to do this weeks review in the comfort of home...

I think Hooked On needs to invest in some bigger containers as every element of the parma was spilling out of its styrofoam area and into the others. I was impressed when I opened the container. I picked up the knife & fork and tucked in. I was expecting horribly processed schnitzel - imagine my surprise when I cut into it to find real chicken!

It was deep fried, which isn't the best way to cook a schnitz, but I wouldn't expect any different from a business whose primary method of cooking is six vats of boiling oil. The deep fried'ness made the crumbs very crunchy, reminiscent of the hard crumbs that form around a chicken kiev. A minor complaint though, as this parma was turning out much better than I was expecting.

The toppings were also quality. Plenty of flavourful ham and well grilled cheese, the flavour of the napoli was a little lost amongst the other elements but it was there, a little more would have been appreciated though.

The chips were a bit of a divisive issue. They were fresh and hot, but unseasoned. You can't really expect more than "fish & chip shop chips" from a fish & chip shop, but far as "fish & chip shop chips" go these were pretty good. A very plentiful serving, more than enough - it just depends on if you like that style of chip with you're parma or not. Its not a pub chip, its not beer battered, but for what it was it was pretty good.

The salad had a lot of potential. I could see what they were trying to do but the end result was a little shaky. The greek salad I was served had a little bit of feta and plenty of olives and tomato, but no onion, Reviewer Tony got all of the feta and a heap of olives, but no onion or tomato and Reviewer Stefo got the short end of the stick, no olives, no feta, but he got onion when none of the rest of us did. So scores varied wildly due to the inconsistencies in the different dishes. The one thing all of us agreed on, however, is that the lettuce could have been a bit fresher - it was quite wilted and limp, as if it had been prepared quite a while in advance.

For $10.95? I'd have this parma again. It's got its faults but those are easily forgettable when you consider that last week's attempt was much worse than this, and more than twice the price, not to mention I got to enjoy it in the comfort of my own home (the beers are much cheaper there).

For a take away fish & chip shop parma Hooked On is right on target. It's cheap, quality, perfect for a quick feed on the go when you can't be bothered going to the pub, not to mention the added bonus of being able to throw in a potato cake or dim sim if you get the urge (although I regretted getting the two dim sims with my parma, as nice as they were, the parma itself was more than enough to feed a hungry man). If you're in the area I'd recommend checking it out, at that price it's hard to go wrong.

[pros]

• Real chicken
• Generous serving for a tenner

[/pros][cons]

• Deep fried schnitzel/hard crumbs
• Wilted salad

[/cons]

Parma - 6.25

Chips - 5.75

Salad - 5.00

Value - 8.00

Total - 6.25

The search continues...

Attempt #195 - 'Max's Corner'

[info]When? - 7th of August, 2014

Where? 1/3-5 Leake St, Essendon

Price? - $22.90

Website? - http://www.maxscorner.com.au/

Reviewers – Fridge, Kylie, Lee, Shanan, Stefo [/info]

I've lived in and around the Essendon area my whole life, and for as long as I can remember, in one form or another, there has been Max's. Starting off as a tiny little cafe Max's has now spread out to envelop the majority of the corner of Mount Alexander Rd and Leake St. With more outdoor seating than you can shake a stick at its a popular spot to stop for a coffee, its not unusual to pass on a warm summer night to see the place packed to the brim.

Talking to people about Max's in the past I've always got the same feedback - "The food is good, but the service is terrible" or "it was nice, but they messed up my order" from multiple people at multiple times, and stopping in for breakfast on occasion I have been victim to it myself - One time walking out after not being served 15 minutes after being seated. But that was a while ago - Perhaps they had sorted out the kinks, we arrived at the Cafe and took a seat inside (just a little too chilly for Al Fresco dining tonight, although there were plenty of heaters). Were given menus and spied our target -

A little pricey but I don't mind paying a premium if its a quality parma. The service was quite slow (it took about 10 - 15 minutes after we were seated for anyone to ask if we wanted a drink) but the staff all seemed to be armed with touch-screen PDA's to take orders on, so I had confidence they would get it right - and surely it'd be nearly impossible to mess up an order of "five parmas". We considered getting a cheesy garlic bread as an entree - Until we saw that they charge $14.90 for it. I'll say that again. $14.90. For garlic bread.

The beer selection wasn't outstanding, but I wasn't expecting too much from a cafe - No taps, just bottled beer (run of the mill stuff - Carlton, Heineken, Crown Lager, Asahii etc. I think the most exotic beer on the list was Peroni) All quite pricey with most bottles somewhere between the $7 to $8 mark.

Shortly after four parmas arrived - I was scared they had forgotten one, but it appeared from the kitchen a few minutes later. Crisis averted.

Alright lets start with the schnitzel... It wasn't good. It was processed, thin, small and far too overcooked. wait, not overcooked, burnt. Just looking at the photo you can see all of the black areas of the schnitzel showing through under the toppings - that wasn't just on the edges, the entire surface of the schnitzel looked as it it had been chucked onto a bonfire. The crumbs, while black, weren't too thick .... Probably the nicest thing I can say about it.

Surprisingly, the toppings were actually the saving grace of this parma. The napoli was rich and fresh, there was just the right amount of cheese which was flavourful and well cooked, not to mention a liberal sprinkle of shaved parmesan atop the melted cheese which was a very nice touch. I would have loved some ham, however it didn't really need it as the toppings worked well enough without. Its a damn shame they cheaped out on the schnitzel as these toppings on a decent bird would have been outstanding.

Chips were very basic. Unsalted, unseasoned pub chips - although they all came with a little squeeze container of tomato sauce without being asked - that was a nice touch. Not a whole lot to say about them though ... average.

The salad had good points and bad - for some reason I got the core of the onion, which was a little off-putting. None of the ingredients seemed fresh and it was quite dry - but the inclusion of olives was a nice touch, if they had've committed and gone full Greek salad (perhaps with a bit of feta?) It would have been much better.

For $22.90? Never again. This is a $15 parma at best and should be priced as such. For $23 I want more than a supermarket deli case schnitzel and two olives in my salad. If they sold it at a fair price I could possibly forgive this parma's shortcomings - but unless something changes I'll be giving this one a wide berth in the future.

I still like Max's, on a nice day the outdoor seating is a great spot to chill with friends over a cappuccino or try to remedy a hangover with a big breakfast on a Sunday morning - But its very expensive for what they serve. Other than some tasty toppings I wouldn't recommend this parma at all. I will go back to Max's Corner, but I'll stick to coffee.

[pros]

• Delicious toppings
• Sauce packets for chips supplied without request

[/pros][cons]

• Expensive
• Processed schitzel
• Burnt

[/cons]

Parma - 4.80

Chips - 4.40

Salad - 4.20

Value - 3.60

Total - 4.36

The search continues...

Attempt #194 - 'The Clyde Hotel'

[info]When? - 31st of July, 2014

Where? The Clyde Hotel, 385 Cardigan St. Carlton

Price? - $17.95 - Standard, $18.95 - Novelties

Website? - http://www.theclydehotel.com.au/

Reviewers – Bearder, Fridge, Grace, Lee, Nikki, Shanan, Stefo, Tony [/info]

The Clyde is another one of those pubs I've been past a hundred times, but never happened to go inside - Nestled between Lygon St and Melbourne Uni it definitely attracts the university crowd - And with a wide array of both food and drink specials its hard to blame them!

I liked the Clyde as soon as I walked in the door - It's got the "cosy local" vibe down pat, yet at the same time remaining surprisingly spacious. The welcoming front bar weaves around the corner to the immense lounge/dining area as well as (if it weren't one of the most horrible nights of 2014's winter so far) quite a pleasing beer garden. I grabbed a pint of Brunswick Bitter ($8 on Thursdays,  can't complain about that) and took a seat while waiting for the rest of the review team to arrive - it was only 6:30 and the place was already bustling with uni students taking advantage of Thursday's $2 Taco night.

The team arrived and we moved around to the lounge and took a seat, we grabbed our menu's and spied the target -

There were novelties, but they kept them simple. Basically an extra dollar buys you pineapple or jalapenos. Almost everyone went with the standard parma, a couple strayed and got the Mexigiana (Fridge and Stefo) and I think only Reviewer Shanan opted for the Hawaiian.

It was a bit of a wait for the parmas, but nothing criminal as they were clearly very busy churning out tacos (which a couple of reviewers partook in, they looked pretty good. A little oily, but for $2 nobody is complaining). The parmas arrived...

Oh no.

The schnitzel was bad, there's no way of sugar coating it, it was just horrible. The worst kind of processed. Crumbs thicker than the chicken for the most part and had no grip on the "meat" itself, just flaking away whenever it was pierced with a fork. I lost count of how many times I cut a slice only to realise there was nothing but crumbs on my fork. The chicken inside the shell of crumbs was just as bad. Dry, bland and tasteless.

The toppings weren't much better - The napoli tasted like SPC spaghetti sauce from a can, the ham was completely undetectable (I had to check multiple times if there actually was any on my fork) and the cheese... The cheese actually had a little bit of flavour, despite its neon-yellow colour, it was a heavy tasty-cheese mix, and I always enjoy the sharpness that tasty cheese brings to a parma.

I immediately envied those on the table who got the novelty toppings. This parma needed all the help it could get - Luckily there were bottles of tobasco sauce floating around (presumably for the tacos). A heaping of that over the top made this parma bearable ... but it was by no means an enjoyable experience.

Hiding underneath the parma were the standard pub chips, there was a decent serving, but overcooked and criminally oily. I could feel the oil coating the inside of my mouth with each bite. They weren't as bad as the parma and were salvageable with a bit of gool ol' tomato sauce, but not great by any stretch.

Continuing in the "needlessly oily" tradition of this review was the salad. I had hope for the salad as it looked decent on the plate (although not everyone at the table got any tomato, I was one of the lucky ones), but the dressing they used tasted like pure oil. The quickest way to kill a salad in my book is to soak it in oil, It completely killed the flavour, I took a few bites and couldn't finish it.

$17.95 is one of the cheaper parmas we've had lately (its a sad state of affairs when I now consider anything under $20 "cheap"), but I wouldn't be happy paying that for this parma again. There's a $12 parma night on Tuesdays but to be honest I'd give that one a miss as well, there were just no redeeming qualities about this bird.

The pub, however, I loved. Cosy, welcoming, great range of beers and a quality atmosphere I'd be happy to visit the Clyde again (if I'm welcome back after this review, that is). I'd definitely pop in again on $2 taco night as they looked great for the price, along with cheap Brunswick Bitter meaning I can get a taco and a pint for $10? That's just a lovely evening right there. Just give the parma a wide berth .

[pros]

• $8 pints of Brunswick Bitter

[/pros][cons]

• Horrible parma
• Chips were far too oily
• As was the salad

[/cons]

Parma - 3.50

Chips - 3.75

Salad - 2.44

Value - 3.88

Total - 3.41

The search continues...