Attempt #99 - 'Young & Jackson'

[info]

When? – 31/05/2012

Where? – Young & Jackson (Y&Js Cafe) Corner Swanston & Flinders St. Melbourne

Price? - $22.00

Website? - youngandjackson.com.au

Reviewers – Cale, Lee, Ness, Nikki, Pat, Tony[/info]

Young & Jackson is a pub that needs no introduction, I’d go as far as to say it’s Melbourne’s most well known pub - supporting this claim is the fact that I hinted on the Parma Daze Facebook page a couple of days ago that we were “going to that pub that everyone knows” … I thought it was cryptic, but commenters guessed the location in about 2 minutes flat. Surely a pub with such a high profile must have a quality parma? The signature dish for pubs all over this great country?

Situated in the corner of Flinders and Swanston St and adorned with an electronic billboard that puts Times Square to shame, Young & Jackson is a hard pub to miss, Inside you have lots of options, on the ground floor there is the main bar, the back bar and Y&J’s cafe which serves pub food and smaller meals. The next floor up has more of a cocktail lounge vibe, with couches and ‘Chloe’s Restaurant’ - a more lah-dee-dah affair that doesn’t have a parma on the menu. Finally on the floor above that there is the rooftop cider bar, an awesomely decked out spot that is a must for any Cider lover … but we’ll get there later, lets start with the parma.

Of all the rooms in Y&J’s, the cafe on the bottom floor was the only spot we could find a parma on the menu

We placed our order, grabbed a pint and took a seat. It’s worth noting that the largest table in the room was for 6 people, and they don’t take bookings in advance at the Y&J Cafe, so if you have a group of more than 6 you’ll either be splitting up or you’ll probably be missing out. They take advanced bookings at Chloe’s Restaurant upstairs, but (as mentioned earlier) there is no parma on the menu up there.

Before too long our parmas appeared -

The parma was … hmm .. well. Hard to describe. The schnitzel was thick enough, however the crumbs were quite thick and flaked off the chicken as soon as the knife pierced them. The quality of the crumbs made me suspect processed chicken, but the thickness of the chicken itself made me think otherwise. The final verdict was a processed schnitzel, but a high grade processed schnitzel.

The cheese only covered the spot where the ham sat, and some slippery ham led to slippery cheese, leaving a large part of the schnitzel nude to the world. The dominant flavour of the meal was probably the napoli, which had been loaded with pepper. There was a heap of cheese but it was all flavourless mozzarella (no sign of the parmesan mentioned on the menu) and I wouldn’t have known the ham was there if I couldn’t see it, added no flavour whatsoever.

[youtube id="707dURVOBkU" width="580" height="337"]

The chips were standard out-of-the-bag frozen pub chips, unsalted and bland. They had two saving graces - 1) there was a buttload of them, and 2) each plate came with an individual sauce pot, always points for a sauce pot.

The salad was, in a word, terrible. Garden salad of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, a couple of snow peas and bean sprouts… Lots of bean sprouts. There was no dressing to speak of other than a splash of oil and every mouthful was just an overload of bean sprouts - they dominated the whole salad and majorly overpowered it.

For one of the highest profile pubs in the state, the parma at Young & Jackson was a major disappointment. It seems they put all of their culinary efforts into Chloe’s Restaurant upstairs, and the pub meals down below have fallen by the wayside.

Post parma we headed upstairs to the cider bar - I’m a sucker for a good beer garden, and this is a fantastic spot, more ciders on tap than you can poke a stick at, great view of the city and plenty of room to move (granted it was 8 o’clock on a Thursday when we were there). To be fair, the whole pub is a pretty decent spot, I’ve had quite a few great nights there myself and their service slinging pints is hard to fault, which is why its such a disappointment that their parma was a let down … I expected more.

Parma - 4.83
Chips - 5.00
Salad - 3.25
Value - 4.00
Total - 4.39

The search continues…

Young & Jackson Hotel on Urbanspoon

Attempt #97 - 'The Mail Exchange Hotel'

[info]

When? – 17/05/12

Where? – The Mail Exchange Hotel, Corner Spencer & Bourke St. Melbourne

Price? - $21

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

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

I hope you all appreciate the time I am taking out of Diablo 3 to write up this review. You’re lucky I’m kind enough to put important things aside and instead write about chicken parmas. The things I do for you.

We had a few options for venues this week, we had whittled the potential candidates down to three (the other two will remain nameless, as they are in the crosshairs for next week). To make the final descision I checked out the menus on the different pub’s websites. One thing caught my eye, and that thing was Bad Boy Chips…

What are bad boy chips? No idea. Curiosity got the best of me and we scheduled parma night at the Southern Cross station adjacent Mail Exchange Hotel.

The Mail Exchange is an impressive pub. Any pub that has escalators is automatically impressive in my book! The place is huge, with a TAB and pokies area that rivals Crown Casino on the right (actually the whole pub wouldn’t look out of place if it were a level of Crown), Bistro and lounge area, complete with bookshelf filled with old books on the left, and a massive standing/drinking area in the middle. A lot of money has been sunk into the refurbishment of this place and it definitely shows.

We moved into the bistro, had a quick garlic bread while awaiting the rest of the review team, then once everyone arrived we ordered our parmas - we were asked specifically if we wanted salad with it, we all said yes (and checked the bill afterwards, there is no extra charge for the salad).

I’ll get to the Bad Boy Chips in a minute, first the parma. It was real, unprocessed chicken breast, thick and juicy - unfortunately mine was a little cold by the time it made it to the table. Well, “cold” is a very strong term - it wasn’t hot. it had obviously been sitting for a bit. There was plenty of topping on the schnitzel and the trio (ham, cheese and napoli) all carried a great flavour, my only other complaint would be that the crumbing on the bottom of the parma was a bit soggy - a personal preference really, sometimes a bit of sog is benificial.

[youtube id="MEsrnseqVhU" width="580" height="337"]

Now, to the bad boy chips. In short, they were amazing. Massively thick cut chips, in beer batter. Hot, perfectly crispy on the outside and so impossibly light and fluffy on the inside it was like you were eating two different chips. My only (minor) criticism would be that they weren’t seasoned very well, however a salt shaker on the table made short work of that issue. A triumph of the chip world, and possibly the best we have had on our search so far (if only they came with a dipping sauce, some garlic aoli would be perfection)

The garden salad was served in a separate bowl, which is always a plus. It contained lettuce, onion, cucumber, capsicum and tomato with a healthy splash of balsamic dressing. As far as garden salads go, it was great. I just wish pubs would realise that there are other salads that go so well with a parma (potato salad, pasta salad, coleslaw etc)

Rose Tattoo sang “I’m a bad boy for love” well I’m a bad boy for bad boy chips, A slightly above average parma was saved by a truly amazing side that I would definitely be back for. Maybe Angry Anderson wouldn’t be so angry if he got some of those bad boys in him, Then he’d just be Satisfied Anderson.

As for the Mail Exchange, it was a decent pub - the staff were friendly and eager to help and if you don’t mind some really obtrusive pokies then its a great venue. If I had to find fault I would say that the beer selection leaves something to be desired (standard big brewery selection, nothing in the way of microbrews). However I would definitely be back, if just for a bowl of bad boys and a pint.

Parma - 6.50
Chips - 9.00
Salad - 7.08
Value - 6.83
Total - 7.18

The search continues…

Mail Exchange Hotel on Urbanspoon

Attempt #96 - 'Three Crowns Hotel'

[info]

When? – 10/05/2012

Where? – Three Crowns Hotel. 365 Victoria St, West Melbourne

Price? - $17 (for chicken, $18.50 for veal)

Website? - http://www.facebook.com/threecrownshotel

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

This review is now out of date, we revisited the Three Crowns in june 2015, Click here to read the updated review!

I may have mentioned it before, but one of my favourite spots in Melbourne to grab a drink is Rrose bar, in Errol St. North Melbourne (or is it West Melbourne? I’m never too sure which is which) It’s a cozy little pub with some of the best cocktails in the city.

Unfortunately, the food at Rrose is strictly tapas, so they couldn’t help us on the search for Melbourne’s best parma, but on the multiple times I have staggered out of the door in the wee hours of the morning my eyes have fallen on the Three Crowns Hotel. Having never really given it a go (as an establishment for drinking or eating) I decided that parma number #96 was the perfect opportunity to do just that.

We loaded up the parma bus and headed to the Three Crowns, which (according to the Internet) is most definitely in West Melbourne.

The front bar of three crowns is damn cosy and seemingly recently renovated, a great selection of beers both on tap and in bottle make this a very inviting spot to stop in for a pint. We moved through the main bar to the dining area which was also very aesthetically pleasing, stopping to have a glance at the adjoined beer garden, which while being a tad small would make a great spot to enjoy a brew on a warm sunday arvo.

I couldn’t find a menu for Three Crowns before we left, and took a punt that they actually had a parma available - punt paid off and parma was on the menu -

A couple of choices - Chicken or Veal, we have yet to review a veal parma, so chicken is the standard. Not that we have anything against veal, Meat is murder. tasty, tasty murder.

The second option was ‘Chunky chips and salad’ or veggies and mash, Reviewer Nikki went for the latter while the other four of us opted for the chunky chips. I like my chips like I like my women - Chunky, spicy and next to a parma.

There was a bit of a wait at the table before we were served, and a decent wait before the parmas arrived -

When the parma hit the table it looked fresh and delicious, but looks can be deceiving. First of all the whole meal was very small, a small island of food in an ocean of porcelain. There was a bit of curly ham atop the parma which exposed a a fair bit of nude schnitz underneath, and revealed a few burnt patches in contrast to the non-burnt parts of the schnitzel that looked soggy and undercooked.

The chicken itself was fresh and unprocessed, however it didn’t carry any flavour - the whole parma (chicken, crumbs, ham and cheese) was rather bland - with the exception of the napoli sauce, which seemed to be the only part of the dish that hid the ashen taste of the burnt patches of the schnitzel

[youtube id="7lKGDlG2Rl8" width="580" height="337"]

The “chunky chips” were a bit of a disappointment, as they were just standard pub chips, nothing standout at all and a very small serving, gone in minutes.

The salad (lettuce, carrot, cucumber, sprouts & tomato with a creamy dressing) was actually pretty tasty, but much like the chips and parma, was in far too small of a serving to register as anything special.

It was a small parma, plain and simple - normally the ParmaCam runs for about 13 - 14 minutes while we eat, and I speed that up 1000% in post to give it a reasonable running time of about a minute and a half. This week, however, I only had to speed up the footage 500% to get the same minute and a half running time.

The Three Crowns hotel is a beautifully renovated pub, and some of the other meals I saw coming out of the kitchen looked great but I would give the parma a miss. It has the elements of a great dish with a good quality, unprocessed bird, however something is being lost in translation from chicken to parma.

They run a $15 parma night on Friday which would make the small serving size a tad easier to swallow, however in an area like West Melbourne with so many great parmas nearby  (here, here and here for example) It simply just doesn’t cut it.

Parma - 4.50
Chips - 4.20
Salad - 4.30
Value - 4.60
Total - 4.42

The search continues…

Attempt #92 - 'The Mint'

[info]

When? – 12/04/2012

Where? – The Mint. Corner William & LaTrobe St, Melbourne

Price? - $19.90

Website? - http://www.themint.com.au

Reviewers – Adam, Ben, Brendan, Cale, Carly, Emma, Lee, Matt, Ness, Nikki, Pat, Stefo & Tyson.[/info]

The parma at The Mint has been a point of contention in many discussions I have had on the topic of chicken parmigianas, A typical conversation on the topic going something like this -

*If my wife is reading this, replace “I’ll get my coat!” with “Hell no you crazy skank!”

… you get the idea. A lot of people say its great, but an equal amount say its terrible, so for parma #92 it was time to see if we could put an end to the madness, we loaded up the parma bus and headed to The Mint.

When we first arrived we sat out in the beautiful beer garden while we awaited the teams arrival - the beer garden was spacious while remaining cosy, with plenty of seating and, despite being meters away from Flagstaff Station, secluded enough to feel like a refuge from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Once everyone arrived we took our reserved table inside - it was quiet so there was plenty of room, but I could definitely see this small room packing out very quickly on regular nights. We ordered our meals and were presented with a couple of bowls of olives to tide us over - a nice touch. I had a photo of the olives but by the time I took it the napkin surrounding the bowl was already spotted with used olive pits, kinda gross.

For those venturing down, be aware that the kitchen closes at 8, so get in early if you want a feed!

We had a big group with us, and the friendly staff were more than happy to accommodate when we turned up with a couple more than we had booked for. About 3/4s of a pint after ordering our parmas appeared out of the kitchen.

The chicken breast, while looking smallish on the plate, was massively thick and juicy, fresh pure unprocessed breast that rivaled that of my friend Scarlett from our conversation above. The crumbing was standard, with some minor nudity issues on mine (although I seemed to be alone in that, luck of the draw I guess). The slice of ham complimented the meal perfectly and the napoli was fresh, well spiced and tasty (although a little thick, bordering on tomato paste)

A major drawback is that many of the team (including myself) reported a fair bit of burn on the bottom of our schnitzels, some more prevalent than others, but once again, this was luck of the draw

[youtube id="pD58FlSlwh0" width="580" height="337"]

The chips were well cooked, both well seasoned and sprinkled with herbs, giving them a unique flavour that we haven’t encountered before.

The salad, despite being a standard garden salad of Lettuce, onion, capsicum, cucumber & mustard seeds, was chock full of flavour with a tangy dressing that complimented the dish very well.

Much like what we had heard previous to visiting The Mint, opinion on the parma among our group was also split - some loved it and had no complaints, others weren’t as easy to please - as you’ll see by the quotes below…

Luckily nobody copped a fork in the eye

I’m a little stumped with how to finish up this review. The Mint has all the ingredients for a fantastic parma - the breast is the pinnacle of quality and all the ingredients are top notch, however it just comes off as a tad underwhelming. The burnt bases were definitely a turn off, but like I said, maybe we just got a bad batch.

Definitely one worth checking out however, especially if you’re out and about on $12 parma Tuesdays. Definitely one to remember, even if just to stop in for a beer in a great location and beer garden thats in mint condition.

(see what I did there?)

Parma - 6.54
Chips - 6.58
Salad - 7.15
Value - 6.85
Total - 6.73

The Mint Bar & Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Special Attempt - 'The United States of America # 2'

‘Murica

Those who remember my last visit to the land up-over will recall that pickings were rather slim, the two parmas I tried were god awful not so great, and all they really accomplished was making want to jump on the next flying kangaroo back home and sink my teeth into some quality parmage.

A year and a half later wedding bells were ringing and I (with my brand new wife) was hopping a plane back to the land of the free and the home of the cheeseburger, spending our honeymoon trying to track down the best parma the USA had to offer (well, at this point I’d settle for decent, its all about expectation management).

Lets do it…

Lets start with Leonardo’s, as it was the first parma of the trip it kinda makes sense to start there.

Our first stop on our trip was to Hawaii, to the Island of Oahu and Turtle Bay Resort - Many of you would know Turtle Bay Resort as the place where the movie ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’ was shot, to be honest that is why we picked it, but before we left I made sure to check the resorts website and make sure a parma was available.

Rather than our usual ‘we decided where to go, loaded up the parma bus and headed to the pub’ system, this parma was more of a ‘we stopped drinking cocktails at the bar and walked ten meters to the restaurant’ affair, which we did. On arriving at Leonardo’s, something from the menu filled me with hope…

It was actually called a Chicken Parmigiana. Literally every other time I’ve had a parma in the states it has been referred to as a “Chicken Parmesan”, Leonardo’s menu got it right, could it be good?! had this slight change of spelling redeemed American parmas?…

Nah… it was shit.

Do I really need to explain more than the picture shows? The schnitzel was tiny and overcooked to the point of being burnt, there was barely any cheese and the tomato soup masquerading as napoli took over everything else.

Going low tech with this attempt as I didn’t have the ParmaCam tripod with me on the trip, back to the old cross section!

The ‘salad’ was a bunch of over-boiled vegetables tossed in oil that just tasted like oil, and, as per usual with American parmas, there were no chips and instead we had a plate of gnocchi with cream sauce - surprisingly this was the nicest part of the dish, and if I ever found myself in Leonardo’s again, I would probably order a plate of the gnocchi on its own.

Interesting thing about Hawaiian hamburgers - rather than serving them with chips (or ‘fries’) they are served with chips (as in potato chips… crisps) A change that I thought was odd at first, but after trying I am all for, its amazing how well chips work with a hamburger and its a change I have adopted and will bring back to future Melbourne-based BBQs.

After the parma I did this with our room’s daily fruit delivery.

My wife rolled her eyes, I giggled like a schoolgirl.

Next up!

Romano’s Macaroni Grill, Ala Moana Shopping Center, Honolulu

On our last day in Hawaii we had the unfortunate task of having to fill a day in Honolulu after checking out of the hotel, as our flight wasn’t scheduled to leave until 11pm that night (first world problems, I know).

We wound up at Ala Moana Shopping Center - a massive complex devoted to coaxing greenbacks out of your wallet - and coax it did, after a few hours indulging in consumerism we were well and truly shopped out, so in an effort to escape the madness of the shopping mall and to kill a few hours, we found what looked like a decent Italian restaurant - And in America where there’s an Italian restaurant, there’s a parma.

We took our seats and checked the menu -

Success! lets just hope it was better than the last. we got some bread with olive oil and balsamic as a starter then waited the arrival of our parma, I’ve gotta say, expectations were low…

Surprisingly … it was good! Not one, but three separate parmas graced our plate, topped with two types of cheese and cherry tomatoes - the napoli, while on the plate and not on the parma itself, was tasty (albeit a tad oily) and the roasted cherry tomatoes added a sweetness to the dish that was a welcome addition. As usual, no chips or salad, but a bowl of pasta on the side did the job quite well.

We left Romano’s both full and happy. There was hope for America yet!

We left the shopping center and headed to the Airport, where we set up camp in the departure terminal for a few hours before boarding a plane to the bright lights of Las Vegas.

The first few days of Vegas were relatively parma-free, we were in the land of the all you can eat buffet and erection-inducing hot dogs.

Seriously… look at this thing.

Bacon chilli cheese dog with tomatoes, onions, ketchup and mustard … with onion rings. 

However a few days in I was getting a familiar hankering, so we tracked down another Italian restaurant, this time it was “Maggiano’s”.

Once again we took our seats and checked the menu. The parma was not only on the menu, it was listed as one of the “Chef’s Favourites”. Bonus.

Over there they call napoli ‘Marinara’  for some reason… don’t worry, there was no seafood to be found!

We ordered our parmas, and on the recommendation of our server we tried a starter that was basically a coronary is a bowl - it was a pot of melted cheese, topped with Jalapeños, pepperoni and chilli, served with a side of crispy bread for dipping. It was amazing, and totally distracted us during the wait, so before I knew it our parmas were in front of us.

Once again we were presented with multiple schnitzels, and although only two this time. Not quite as good as the parmas at Romano’s, the Maggiano’s parma was at least better than the first. The schnitzel was well cooked and fresh, there was a little nudity but the napoli was tasty.

You will have noticed from the photo, however, that Maggiano’s needs to work on their plating up skills - it didn’t look attractive at all. However I’d prefer a parma that looked like shit and tasted great to a parma that looked fantastic yet tasted like a crumbed and fried monkey turd.

No chips or salad, and the pasta wasn’t great at all - I have a sneaking suspicion that Maggiano’s have one giant pot of spaghetti on the boil all day, taking from it as they need too, as the pasta tasted like overcooked mush with the same napoli as the parma spooned over the top.

Alas, we have come to the end of our adventure through the world of American parmas, The first one we tried was definitely the worst, the second was the best, and the third was the one with the hairy chest not bad, but not great. The cheese fondue was amazing though, worth the trip alone.

The honeymoon was over far too quickly, luckily I could put solace that I was flying back into Melbourne - the city that serves up the most amazing chicken parmigianas on the planet and if anything it added fuel to the fire of our mission to find this fair city’s very best.

The search continues…

Attempt #91 - 'The Royal Standard Hotel'

[info]

When? – 05/04/2012

Where? – The Royal Standard Hotel, 333 William St. West Melbourne

Price? - Varies - See review for more details.

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

Reviewers – Adam, Ben, Cale, Emma, Janet, Lee, Ness, Nikki, Pat & Stefo[/info]

When I first heard of The Royal Standard I was told it was a “country pub in the middle of Melbourne”. I love country pubs, I love Melbourne, I was sold.

We arrived at the fairly quiet pub, hidden just behind the Queen Victoria Market, and from what I could tell the description was totally accurate - The Royal Standard has the feel of a down to earth country pub down pat, right down to the “Dress up Fridays” and occasional meat tray raffle.

We took our seat and placed our orders at the bar, now contrary to the menu listed on the website, there are a few options for parma, which were:

“Regular” parma - $16

“Large” parma (with wedges) $20

Add Bacon to either - extra $4

For completeness sake we split the order, some went the regular, some went the large, and some went either the regular with bacon or the large with bacon. Myself, I went for the large, with no bacon (a decision I immediately regretted - everything on earth tastes better with bacon, and I believe the inventor of the Wake n’ Bacon deserves a nobel prize).

After a bit of a wait (understandable, as it was a big group this week) the different parmigianas started making their way out of the kitchen…

My “Large” parma

A “Regular”

With tears welling up in my eyes as I mourned my mistake in not ordering bacon, I tucked in. Not too bad, The chicken was unprocessed and fresh and the napoli was fresh, plentiful and flavourful (especially in comparison to last weeks attempt). The crumbs weren’t overdone, home made and well herbed. There was a lot of cheese. And by a lot I mean enough to make a Swiss man moist in his pantaloons.

This was my opinion of the parma, however others around the table weren’t as kind, some reported it as dry, others as boring, one fact seems irrefutable though - everyone who had bacon said it was fantastic.

Cue ParmaCam!

[youtube id="8aobiBJSqEs" width="580" height="337"]

90% of the people around the table had wedges, everyone loves wedges (much like dune buggies). Some sour cream would’be been nice but they served their purpose perfectly.

The garden salad of lettuce, cherry tomatoes, onion, capsicum, cucumber & balsamic was pretty standard, nothing to write home about, my only gripe would be the ingredients were diced a little too finely, it was hard to get ahold of anything with my fork (as you’ll see in the closing minutes of the ParmaCam, I had to resort to the ‘spooning’ tactic as opposed to using the fork as a fork, and lets face it, nobody prefers spooning to forking.

Enough of my jibber-jabber! other people want to talk -

I would definitely go back to the Royal Standard, for a meal or just a beer - I love the feel of a country pub, and the whole place carries that vibe perfectly - the staff were friendly, the food was down to earth and the beer was cold. Definitely gonna check in again.

As for the parma the general consensus seemed to be go bacon or go home, ‘twas a standard parma that didn’t do much to “wow” anyone on its own, and needs that little kick to get it over the line that only bacon can provide - do yourself a favour, shell out the extra $4 for a ticket to flavour country, you wont regret it.

Parma - 6.30
Chips - 7.40
Salad - 4.68
Value - 5.70
Total - 6.08

The search continues…

Royal Standard Hotel on Urbanspoon

Attempt #90 - 'The Anglers Tavern'

[info]

When? – 28/03/2012

Where? – The Anglers Tavern, 2 Raleigh Rd. Maribyrnong

Price? - $21.50

Website? - http://www.anglers-tavern.com.au/

Reviewers – Lee, Nikki[/info]

Growing up in the area The Anglers was always a summer favourite of mine. There was no better way to spend a Sunday than with a couple of pints relaxing by the river watching the world go by. Despite the great atmosphere the food at the Anglers was never something to be proud of, so when it came up on the rotation of pubs to visit in search for a Melbourne’s best parma I have to be honest and say I didn’t have high hopes.

We arrived to a very quiet bar on Thursday night, as usual the location was fantastic (it’s really rare for a pub to change its location, wreaks havoc with the foundations). Absolutely massive beer garden perched on the banks of the Maribyrnong River, we ordered our meals and took a seat outside in the sun.

As I mentioned the pub was quiet, and it was a small group this week, so the parmigianas were out of the kitchen in under ten minutes…

Would you look at this behemoth?!

Short of our special attempts at The Albion, this would have to be the biggest parma we have come across - absolutely massive, and on closer inspection revealed to be two chicken breasts that would stand alone on the plate as decent parmas. But how did it taste?

Not great.

Don’t get me wrong, the chicken was unprocessed and fresh, they weren’t too heavy on the crumbs and there was heaps of cheese, but the whole thing just carried no flavour.

We coined the term “Big Parma Syndrome” (Or BPS) during our review of The Central Lion, and this parma is a prime example. The slice of ham added some flavour, however the sheer size of the parma meant that a single slice of ham barely covered 30% of its surface area, leaving a majority of the parma ham-less. Like trying to cover Kim Kardashian’s arse with a hand towel.

The saving grace for this chicken came towards my last few bites, and it was then I put my finger on why this parma had no flavour - the Napoli. My last three bites of parma tasted fantastic, as the action of cutting the parma had pushed what little napoli there was to one side of the chicken and had left a little treasure trove of great tasting parmage - it was a shame that by the time I got to those final bits I was so full I felt as if I was going to explode like the guy in “Meaning of Life”.

fuck off I’m full.

[youtube id="MID1nT5_m_Q" width="580" height="337"]

The chips were … chips. Standard pub chips, unfortunately due to the parma taking up the whole god-damned plate they were rendered a soggy mess by the time I got to them

The salad was a disappointment, truly there as an afterthought. A stack of lettuce with a slice of furry tomato, some cucumber and a single sliver of onion.

Once when Winston Churchill was asked how dry he liked his martini, he responded “I would like to observe the vermouth from across the room while I drink my martini.” - I think the chef at the Anglers had the same approach with the salad dressing, perhaps he glanced at it across the room while he was preparing the salad, however it was nowhere on the plate we received.

If you’re in the mood for a big feed then The Anglers is the parma for you, unfortunately, as we have discovered in the past - bigger is not always better (At least thats what the wife tells me, although I get the feeling she is just being kind).

If they took the time to add a bit of flair to the meal, dish out an appropriate amount of napoli & ham for the size of the bird they are putting on the plate, then they would definitely be a contender - Until then I’ll be content with sitting in the beer garden and watching the water with a pint in hand, but I doubt I’ll be trying the parma again any time soon.

Parma - 6.25
Chips - 4.5
Salad - 2
Value - 6.25
Total - 5.05

Anglers Tavern on Urbanspoon

Attempt #87 - 'The Prince Albert Hotel'

[info]

When? – 29/02/2012

Where? – Bettenay’s Prince Albert Hotel, 149 Douglas Parade,Williamstown  VIC 3016

Price? - $24 

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

Reviewers – Stefo, Emma, Ella, Kim, Karly, Pat[/info]

So the last few days in Melbourne have been very true to the calendar, taking the last weekend of summer, a very hot 38 degrees that left us with a thirst that could only be quenched by the most beautiful beer of all, free beer (thanks to Leeroy & Knickers for having a few of us at their fantastic wedding), into a typically winter midweek, with rain, coats, umbrellas, the lot.

This sort of weather is hard to deal with at first, but upon walking up to the doors of Williamstown’s third reviewee, The Prince Albert, I remembered why I love winter in this city. The chill of walking the footpath outside just makes the atmosphere in the pub look so much more enticing. You know theres probably a nice glass of shiraz with your name on it that’s just begging to be paired with some form of medium-rare, juicy, mooing plate of meat and potato. A nice tall pint of stout is settling as you put your jacket on a coat hook, and your safe from the storm outside.

The Prince Albert certainly gave me the feeling they could shelter me for a few hours after work on a Friday night, and tonight was the perfect night to introduce myself to the pub and its take on Melbourne’s favorite, the Chicken Parma.

A Parma review just doesn’t seem the same without the normal chairman of the parma-board, Lee, but he and his gorgeous new wife Nicole are off to Hawaii & Las Vegas for their annual international parma review honeymoon, and so I was left with the honors of the Chief Executive Creative Director of the Parma Review Team, so lets see how it all went then..

We took our seats on the long picnic table-come-booth hugging the wall, and ordered our meals at the bar, and both boys and girls were welcoming to the drinks on offer, the girls opting for a refreshing Aspall Cider, the boys a pint of local White Rabbit. One of the things that I loved about this pub was the range of drinks available, including cocktails, which you can read further into here.

So we didn’t have to wait long for the dishes to come out of the kitchen, all of us licking our lips starving. The first thing one of the reviewers pointed out was home made crumbing, definitely a welcome change to some of the lower-rated parmas we have tried. The plate was full, the chicken was a very respectable size, there was a nice heaping of chips on all plates, and a garden salad to accompany the pair, so we dug in.

Apologies for the quality of the photos, the ParmaCam wasn’t on hand this week. (I’m pretty sure the tripod is planted firmly in the honeymoon suite somewhere in Hawaii)

The chicken on the plate was a fantastic bit of real, top quality, thick, free-range breast. Theres nothing the Parmadaze team love more then a good set of breasts planted in front of us, and this was exactly what we got. The crumbing, as previously mentioned, was home-made and definitely something we were all looking to try out. It was refreshing to the pre-processed crap that some microwaves kitchens put out.

 

The general feedback from the team was fairly consistent; It wasn’t a poor parma, that’s for sure. It just wasn’t fantastic. A heap of chips is exactly what the customer wants, but PLEASE don’t serve us McDonalds fries. Every second pub in Melbourne serves them, and its boring, repetitive but most of all lazy. Unfortunately we did have to cope with these and they were fine, but I think the scores reflect the attitude towards them, with nobody on the team giving anything more than 5/10 for them.

The salad on offer was again, what you find in most pubs, a simple garden salad that was not too basic but nothing special at the same time, the dressing was slightly sweeter then your regular which I personally didn’t mind but I think the girls grew tired of it after a while. I wish more pubs in Melbourne gave us some bang for your buck in the salad category, a bit of pasta salad and potato salad goes a long way.

The crumbing was ok, but again nothing special. I do appreciate the effort that goes into the home made crumbing but the taste just wore off about midway through. A topping of pancetta, mozzarella and napoli sauce rounded it off nicely but we weren’t singing its praises, as we have at other pubs.

The general consensus was basically as follows:

 The Prince Albert’s Website has the following at the top of its eating page:

 ”Eating

<Definition: Belly full, mouth singing.>”

We were about halfway there with the belly full part ( I am always complaining about the lack of size in portions of food these days, and no I am not obese!), but we were definitely not singing. Having said that the menu had an absolutely delicious range of steaks on offer and I would definitely go back to try these out, I just cant see myself ordering the parma anytime soon. The $24.00 price point seems a bit steep for the quality of what you get in return, when a lovely wagyu beef burger is available at the same price I think it would be the safer bet.

Having finished in a bit of negativity there I would just like to set the tone I aimed for at the start of this review.  The Prince Albert looks like a great pub to call your local, I would happily be caught in there on a regular occasion, so please make sure you sneak in if you get the chance, and tell them the Parmadaze team sent you. Hopefully they will know exactly who you are talking about and as a result recommend you try their new improved chicken parma. 

Parma - 5.92
Chips - 4.00
Salad - 3.67
Value - 2.33
Total - 4.37

The search continues…

A massive thanks to Pat for taking the helm this week! passing the torch to Stefo next week, so stay tuned!

Attempt #86 - 'The Old Hepburn Hotel'

[info]

When? - 01/01/2012

Where? - The Old Hepburn Hotel, 236 Main Rd, Hepburn, Victoria

Price? - $22 for Traditional, $24 for Aussie and a $15 parma Monday

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

Reviewers - Grace, Janet, Lee, Nikki, Pat, Shanan, Tony[/info]

I’ve been sitting on this review for a while now, waiting for a time when I needed a week off from the parma hunt, That week has arrived and I think I’ve got a damn good reason. “I’m getting married this weekend” is an excuse I hope to only give once in my life, and in the ranking of acceptable excuses I think it ranks pretty high up there, probably just below “I was kidnapped, buried alive and I’m using what battery life I have in my phone to let you know I can’t make it” and just above “A badger ate my foot”.

So cast your minds back to the first day of 2012, On the first of January after a night out at The Palais I awoke to a hangover only a parma could cure, and seeing as I was up at Daylesford with a pretty decent chunk of the Parma Daze review team we headed to the Old Hepburn Hotel try the first parma of the new year.

To give you an idea of the state we were in I have prepared a collage of photos, taken on my phone, on the 31st of December 2011.

Nerf machine guns, moths the size of my hand and a lot of inappropriate podium dancing while much alcohol was consumed, it was a big’un.

Early in the afternoon a very seedy group of people wandered into the Old Hepburn Hotel and took a seat in the bistro, the bold amongst us ordered an alcoholic beverage while the rest stuck to soft drink and water - A parma was set in my mind as my cure-all, then I noticed that, other than a regular parma, an Aussie novelty parma was available with bacon and egg in place of ham, now I am not normally one to indulge in novelty parmas, but my body needed bacon more than it ever had before, so I went with the novelty and the others opted for the original.

The wait for our meals was filled up with the usual ‘morning after’ conversation - lots of “I did shots?”, “What time did we get home?” and “where did you disappear to for 2 hours in the middle of the night”

Before too long, our precious hangover food arrived…

The Aussie -

The Original -

This whole parma just screamed home cooked meal, the schnitzel was thick and juicy, pretty sure they were crumbed in-house with home made crumbing, the napoli was perfect, chunky with big chunks of onion and herb throughout that gives the strong appearance of another home made creation, The cheese was tasty, well cooked and there was plenty of it.

My bacon and egg was cooked to perfection - I like my egg yolks runny in the middle and these were perfect. Despite getting looks of envy from those who went with the traditional parma, word came round that theirs was just as good.

This is normally where I would put the ParmaCam or cross section, however in my handicapped state it slipped my mind to get a photo (and I didn’t have the parmacam tripod when this was reviewed), so just use your imaginations!

Imaginaaaation! Imaginaatioon!

The chips were fantastic, beer battered perfection, the only complaint around the table was that there simply wasn’t enough of them, They were great, we just wanted more.

The salad was … enough. A garden salad of lettuce, onion, tomato and cucumber was definitely fresh, but a little lacking in the taste department, a splash of dressing would’ve really brought it to life.

Those around the table who could actually summon the will to speak managed to mumble out the following -

If you’re in Daylesford or Hepburn and looking for a good honest pub meal without a lot of the wank that is associated with restaurants in the area, then the Old Hepburn Hotel is definitely the way to go. The meals were top notch and definitely hit the spot for those of us dealing with post new years eve trauma, Looking at the pub’s Facebook page they seem to offer up a $15 parma night every Monday with a bunch of novelty options - definitely worth hitting if you’re in the area. Even if its not a monday night, stop in as its a great spot with a winner of a parma.

Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind… Should old acquaintance be forgot, and Auld lang syne.

Parma - 8.29
Chips - 7.21
Salad - 5.14
Value - 6.43
Total - 7.07

The search continues…

Old Hepburn Hotel on Urbanspoon

As Reviewer Nikki and myself will be on our honeymoon from the start of March, the next two weeks are going to be a bit different! We have lined up some of the other, usually quiet, members of the PD team to take the reigns and I’ll be doing my best to track down some parmage in both Hawaii and Las Vegas to report back! Stay tuned to our Facebook or Twitter for more info

Attempt #84 - 'Rochester Castle Hotel'

[info]

When? - 09/02/12

Where? - Rochester Castle Hotel. 202 Johnston St. Fitzroy

Price? - $8 for original, $10 for novelty

Barry? - No

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

Reviewers -  Cale, Lee, Nikki, Stefo[/info]

** NOTE - This pub has closed! Parma no longer available - Review will stay up for posterity. Enjoy!

 

A couple of weeks ago I made a post on /r/Melbourne, the Melbourne sub-reddit of the website Reddit, Asking the good people for suggestions of pubs to hit to find a good parma - I was inundated with responses so last week I picked one at random from the massive list, loaded up the parma bus and headed down to the Rochester Castle Hotel.

The first thing that struck me about the Rochester was the sheer size of the place - I wasn’t expecting this corner pub to be so massive! heaps of tables in the front bar, booths through the back room to the pool tables and continuing into a quaint little beer garden out the back - we took a seat and perused the menu, we were in for more than just a standard parma as a rather sizable list of novelty parmas appeared before us…

Both the schnitzel & gravy and the traditional parma clocked in at $8, all the others $10. Reviewers Stefo, Nikki and myself kept it traditional, while reviewer Cale branched out and got the Nacho parma, with salsa, ham, mozzarella, corn chips, guacamole & sour cream.

While waiting for our food the two pints I had consumed got to me and I had to use the facilities, I don’t normally mention the men’s room in reviews but this one shocked me, as it was lit entirely by tea light candles - I don’t often pee by candlelight, and the whole experience felt … well I won’t say rapey but I was definitely clenching my cheeks.

When we ordered we got one of those plastic buzzers that light up and vibrate when the food is ready. I friggin love these things, I dont know why but if more pubs had them I would die a happy man!

The buzzer buzzed and we collected our meals, I have included photos of both the Traditional and the Nacho parma to give you a clearer idea.

Okay, it’s a cheap and nasty parma, but for $8 I can’t say I was surprised. It wasn’t terrible, not at all, for a cheap and nasty it was actually pretty good, but the whole thing was just bland. Unfortunately neither the chicken, ham or cheese carried any flavour, and the napoli was virtually nonexistent.

I’ll say it again in the conclusion but I’ll put it here as well for the record - This is a parma that needs the novelty toppings, the parma on its own just doesn’t carry enough flavour to stand on its own. The Nacho parma looked freakin delicious, and regretted not getting something from the novelty menu from the moment it hit the table.

The chips were standard, well seasoned but a little overcooked, nothing special - some tomato sauce on the table would have helped them out a lot.

The garden salad was basic, but for an $8 parma not a lot is ever expected of the salad. Simple garden salad of lettuce, carrot, onion, tomato and a splash of balsamic - was a little light on the balsamic for my liking but nothing terrible.

ParmaCam seemed to get a good reception last week, so it returns!

[youtube id="Z6sXdxuB9s8" width="580" height="337"]

I really need to work out a way to format these better so the quotes don’t come right after the ParmaCam, maybe next week I’ll put it after the parma section itself, I’d change it myself, but ehhh, I’m too hung over for that!

If you’re after a cheap n nasty parma then the one at the Rochester actually isn’t that bad, Tuesday night trivia coupled with cheap jugs and a $10 novelty parma sounds like a great night out to me, and definitely wouldn’t say no to another one, but avoid the traditional and go for something from the M selections range (a little bit fancy).

Parma - 4.86
Chips - 3.63
Salad - 3.63
Value - 7.88
Total - 4.97

The search continues…

Rochester Castle Hotel on Urbanspoon

Thanks to the Redditors for the suggestions! I have a lot to get through now and will not rest until we try them all. 

Attempt #83 - 'Bev & Mick's Turf Club'

[info]

When? - 02/02/12

Where? - Bev & Mick’s Turf Club, 1 Flemington Rd, North Melbourne.

Price? - $15 ($12 Parma n’ Pot Tuesdays)

Barry? - No

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

Reviewers -  Adam, Emma, Grace, Lee, Matt, Nikki, Tony[/info]

Much like last weeks attempt at the Keilor East RSL, The Turf Club is one of those pubs that I’ve seen hundreds of times, but never had an excuse to visit - until now.

Located at 1 Flemington Rd, under the giant Aussie flag at the Haymarket roundabout, This pub has recently joined the ‘Bev & Mick’s backpackers’ franchise and has thus had a bit of a paint job and spruce up since the above photo was taken.

Walking in half of the pub was blocked off as they seemed to be doing renovations in that area - no matter though, past the juke box and pool tables is a door that leads to a huge beer garden, much larger than I was expecting, with heaps of seating. It was a warm night so we pulled up a pew in the sun and placed our order.

The Turf’s standard parma clocks in at $15, and on Tuesday night there is a $12 parma n’ pot special. Unfortunately we were in on a Thursday, so it was full price for us.

After a longer-than-usual wait (about 45 minutes) our parmas arrived.

There was a lot of nude schnitz and the bottom of the parm was a bit overcooked, it was processed schnitzel (curse you processed schnitz!!) which caused the crumbs to often flake away upon cutting.

The cheese, while a little overcooked like the rest of the parma, was pretty favourful and it was clearly visible that both parmesan and mozzarella was used, adding a bit of depth to the flavour. The ham was passable, as was the napoli - if only it had covered the whole parma.

There was technically nothing wrong with the chips, but they were forgettable. A decent serving but not much else to say other than that.

The garden salad (lettuce, onion, carrot, cucumber & tomato) was also passable. It’s score dipped in the slightest as a very sweet dressing was used, and a garden salad usually doesn’t go down very well if it tastes like its been dressed in sugar syrup.

Now to introduce a brand new feature on Parma Daze - The Parma-Cam (patent pending). Click play below to watch…

[youtube id="0TYV5SbhD7k" width="580" height="337"]

Enough from little ol’ me, on to the comments!

The Turf’s parma is your standard el-cheapo processed parma, but saying that, on the scale of el-cheapo processed parmas, it tasted pretty good in the end - The chef has done what he can with the ingredients he had and has pulled off a decent meal.

Completely forgettable, and not one I would be seeking out again, but good for what it is - If I was there again and it was a Tuesday night $12 parma n’ pot deal I’d probably … wander down to The Metropolitain and get an awesome parma. Sorry, but at least I’m honest.

Parma - 4.92
Chips - 4.52
Salad - 4.33
Value - 5.42
Total - 4.82

The search continues…

Hit us up of Facebook or Twitter! Let me know what you thought of the new Parma-cam - a good addition? Worth continuing? 

Also, thanks to the folks over at /r/Melbourne on Reddit for all the awesome parma ideas - I know the Turf wasn’t one of the ones you suggested, but we will definitely be getting to some of those soon!

Catch ya next week!

Attempt #82 - 'Keilor East RSL'

[info]

When? - 19/01/12

Where? - Keilor East RSL. 12-22 Hoffmans Rd. Essendon

Price? - $20

Barry? - No

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

Reviewers -  Adam, Bearder, Carly, Lee, Nikki, Pat, Stefo[/info]

EDIT 04/03/16 - We wen't back! After hearing that the kitchen at the Keilor East RSL had a revamp we went back for round two, and found a much better bird waiting for us! This review is no longer valid - check out our new thoughts by clicking HERE!
EDIT 2/12/15 - Just got word that the Keilor East RSL has seen the light from their processed-schnitzel ways and are now taking great pride in their home-made birds. Going to give them a re-redo in the new year, but until then perhaps you could give them a chance? If you do let me know how it goes on any of our social media accounts or shoot me an email. Cheers!

RSL is an initialism we have been avoiding for 81 parma reviews. Well, that isn’t quite true, we didn’t make any active effort to not visit an RSL, it kind of just … happened.

With the new year upon us we had to start somewhere and as we had all been on quite a long parma drought we decided to test the water with somewhere local, and as we have exhausted most of the local flavour in terms of pubs - RSL’s are the only venues that remain, and the closest one to most of the PD team is the Keilor East RSL. So for the first attempt of 2012, that is where we went.

First of all, RSL’s are great, I think you would struggle to find a place with nicer people.

I arrived at this attempt about an hour early, I was waiting at the bar for the rest of the group to arrive - looking like a bit of a fish out of water (being a lad in his late 20’s in a sea of blokes in their late 60’s) a guy stopped me wanting to get a better look at what was on my T-shirt. He read it aloud - “Dyslexics have more nuf”, had a bit of a chuckle, then invited me back to his table to have a beer and introduced me to his mates. It’s that sort of kindness and Aussie spirit that you don’t often find in pubs any more, and it was greatly appreciated.

The rest of the team started to arrive so I left my new found friends and took a seat in the bistro. I arrived at 6 o’clock and the place was absolutely packed, by the time we sat down to eat it was about 7:30 and a fair bit quieter, which was a great thing, easy access to the bar with its oh so cheap beer prices.

We ordered our meals and awaited their arrival, white waiting we finished off our complimentary bake-at-home bread rolls and a beer or two, I promise this year I am going to try and make a better effort to start timing between order and parma arrival. well actually, I can’t promise i’ll try, but ill try to try

Anyway - the parmas arrived

I had high hopes for the parma and it looked good when it fell in front of us, presented beautifully and on square plates (a microwaved turd would look good on a square plate) I couldn’t dig in quick enough, unfortunately though, it was downhill from there.

I have been trying my best to be positive about this parma, as it is served up at an RSL and the people there were just so damn nice it pains me to speak ill of them, how about if I get all the negatives out of the way in one go, as quick as I can, and we can move on from there… ready? *deep breath*

The schnitzel was processed chicken, it was over-cooked, dry and bordering on burnt in places, the ham was present, but didn’t do much for the overall flavour, the cheese and napoli were tasty well done but the overall dryness of the prefab chicken left a bit of a bad taste in our mouths that no quality of toppings could save, and $20 is a bit expensive for the quality of the chicken.

*braaarghh*..*pant…pant*

There, its done, the rest of this review should be mostly positive! As I said the cheese and napoli were great, and (once again) it amazes me how much a sprinkling of green things can help the presentation of a parma.

The mountain of chips was indeed impressive, albeit a little overcooked - caught in a limbo between french fries and chips, a little seasoning and they could have been much better, definitely quantity over quality in this case.

The salad was surprisingly good - Lettuce, onion, cucumber, beetroot, carrot & capsicum in a creamy dressing, heaps of it with a great flavour - if they shaved some fresh parmesan on that baby it’d be top shelf for sure.

The quotes were a bit of a shambles this week, The team was definitely out of practice, but take a gander at what they thought -

The end of Carly’s quote should read “than that parma”, I’d change it, but editing the quotes after the fact is a bit of a pain in the arse!

So our first RSL wasn’t the best, but that doesn’t mean we will stop trying - I have had some great (unofficial) parmas at RSL’s around this great country and I’m sure we will find one eventually. I complained in my burst of negativity about the price of the parma at the Keilor East RSL, but to be honest if the money I put over the counter goes to helping those who put their lives on the line in service of this country then I am more than happy to contribute - and the beer is friggin cheap, so it all evens out in the end anyway!

If you know any RSL’s we should try, shoot us an email or let us know on facebook or twitter!

Parma - 4.14
Chips - 4.36
Salad - 5.50
Value - 4.86
Total - 4.60

The search continues…

Taking a week off this week as parma day (Thursday) falls on Australia Day, and we will all be far to busy drinking beer and eating overcooked sausages to review a parma - I’m working on something so we wont be totally update-less, so stay tuned.

Cooking with Parma Daze - 'Southern Style Parma'

Well this is something different! how exciting.

First things first a Happy New Year to everyone reading (if you aren’t reading you can fuck right off), I hope 2012 brings us all sorts of happiness and some truly tasty parmas - and not the end of the world, asshole Mayans.

Now we will be returning to our regularly scheduled programming next week, We will be hitting a pub next Thursday (the 19th) and a few of us even managed to sneak in a parma on New Years Day in Hepburn, more info on that little gem when I get around to it. In the meantime, you get to see photos of my kitchen … fun!

A few months ago a fellow blogger and twitterer known as @_BeerSnob_ Posted a recipe for a ‘Southern Style Chicken Parma’ on his website (check it out for the full recipe as i’ll only be posting snippets here) It intrigued me, and I have been meaning to whip it up since I read it - Well last night I had an opening in my dinner calendar, between Monday night’s Hamburger from the Airport West fish & chip shop and Wednesdays tasting of the meals that will be served at my wedding, Tuesday became an impromptu parma night. I headed to LaManna, loaded up the spices and started MKR - Parma edition.

Now I will warn you there are gonna be a lot of pictures from this point on, and I’m not sure if I’m gonna have much to say in between, but we’ll see how it goes - I have deviated a little from Beer Snob’s recipe in a couple of places, I’ll point em out as we go.

Lets start with the crumbing, in one bowl I beat an egg & added some milk, in the other a decent splash of cornflake crumbs, and in the third there was a plethora of spices - check the recipe for actual amounts but in the end I had something that looked a little like this…

The spices in that second bowl are salt, oregano, garlic powder, thyme, ground ginger, basil, Celery salt, black pepper, dry mustard and a shit load of paprika.

Now on to the star of the show, The original recipe calls for chicken thigh but, as the ladies know, I’m all about the breasts.

Personally I’m not huge on butterflied chicken breasts, so rather than play surgeon I played masochist - covered the chicken breast in a healthy layer of glad wrap and let loose with the rolling pin, after a vigorous spanking I had achieved optimal thickness

I gave the breast a good soaking in the milk (Think Carmen Electra in that scene from ‘The Raven’ - you know the one) Then into the spices - I wasn’t quite sure of the order put forth in the recipe so I went a little off book, giving it a covering in the spices, then back to the egg/milk mixture for adhesion, then into the crumbs for its final coating. chucked it on a greased up oven tray, posed it for a quick photo…

Covered the tray in foil and popped it into the preheated oven. The recipe calls for 30 mins of covered cooking then 20 mins uncovered, while I waited I prepared the side dish…

Good ol’ McCain oven fries - I find the original ones are the best from the bag, oiled up a tray, sprinkled with a liberal dose of chicken salt and slid it in alongside the parma.

Then it was time to wait…

After de-foiling at the 30 min mark and putting her back in for an extra 20 it was time for the toppings

I wasn’t quite sure what brand of everything to get, so I got the first ham that I saw, the cheese had a parma on the bag so that was a no-brainer and the leggos sauce also had Parmigiana on it. Easy done.

I went with the SHNC topping system, starting with the schnitz, then ham, then napoli and cheese on top - I was very liberal with the toppings and wound up with this delicious looking monstrosity…

Fired up the grill function of the oven (quite possibly the first time its ever been used) and chucked her back in.

I killed some time watching youtube videos for 5 minutes and re-approached the oven. Things were looking good except it seemed that the cheese and the napoli had a big fight, and the napoli told the cheese to get out - why can’t they all just get along?

I took a photo, the blast of heat from the oven fogged up the lens, but you get the idea

Not to worry, there was still plenty of cheese still left on the chicken

All that was left to do was to plate it up…

tadaa! No salad, CBF making salad.

The recipe calls for an accompanying IPA, but all I had was Bulmers or some Blueberry Cruisers left over from a NYE party. Bulmers won.

As for taste - Not too shabby if I do say so myself! the coating of spices definitely makes it different but well worth a try, Next time I make it (I will, as I bought a fuck-ton of spices) I don’t think i’ll keep it in the oven for quite as long, maybe 20 mins covered and 20 uncovered.

So if the wife is bugging you with “why don’t you cook dinner for once” chuck one of these babies in front of her and you’re sure to get laid. Guaranteed*.

Well I hope you have enjoyed this little deviation from the norm! Massive thanks to Beer Snob for his recipe!

If you give this parma a go, or have any ideas on how to improve it, send us a pic of your creation on either the Facebook or Twitter! I’d be excited to see other attempts

As I said at the beginning we will be back in force for 2012 starting next week. Catch you then!

The search continues…

*Not a guarantee, although its pretty likely, you’ll at least get a wristie out of it