#266 - 'La Roche'

Where? - 185 Acland St. Saint Kilda

Price? - $26.50

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

Reviewers – Adam Y, Fridge, Lee, Luke, Matt, Nikki, Stefo & Tony

If you hadn't noticed, I'm on social media quite a bit. Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest, and yes I'm one of those annoying weirdos that constantly takes photos of his food for Instagram. So when a uniquely prepared parma like the one at St. Kilda's La Roche starts popping up in my searches regularly it sticks in my mind, like a tick burrowing into my brain that won't stop until we try the parma in question.

I held off doing La Roche for a couple of reasons - Firstly because I had a very good feeling that this was gonna be a good one, so I wanted to save it until we were in a bit of a good parma lull, and secondly getting to St. Kilda from Essendon after work on a Thursday is a monumental pain in the ass, and wanted to postpone that hassle for as long as I could.

But the tick kept burrowing, and before I suffered permanent brain damage I gave in, we loaded up the parma bus (on possibly the most horrible night of 2016 thus far) braved the torrential rain and headed to St. Kilda to try out the many parmas at La Roche.

Not quite a pub and not quite a cafe La Roche is hard to define, but whatever they're doing is working as this place was bustling with patrons. Thursday night is $15 steak night so the tables were filled with hungry punters getting their weekly fix of meat - and I must say that the steaks coming out of the kitchen looked absolutely phenomenal, definitely worth a crack if you're in the area.

If the Google street view from 2013 of La Roche is any indication this place has undergone some renovations recently. Dim lighting, exposed brick walls, dark wooden tables, those old-timey lightbulbs with far more filament than is necessary - Its a great vibe and a cosy little hole in the wall.

La Roche is a pub of many parmas - an entire page of the menu is devoted to the different varieties available...

After weighing up the options for a while I just couldn't look past the Chorizo parma - damn that sounded tasty. Normally a parma purist I just couldn't say no to some spicy sausage (thats what she said), and I figured as long as someone at the table got the Original that I could steal a bite from we'd be okay, which Reviewer Nikki did. A few more Chorizos went out around the table, along with a Hawaiian, a Mexian and a couple of Cappriciosas. We placed the order and very hungrily awaited the arrival of our meals.

The tap list at La Roche isn't huge. 150 Lashes, Boags, Hahn and 5 seeds cider on tap with a few more bottled options. Nothing too outstanding but enough to wet your whistle. Reviewer Nikki did ask me to make special mention that, and I quote, "That was the best espresso martini I have had in my life", as a the slight espresso martini addict that she is that is a huge call.

About 20 minutes after ordering (which is pretty impressive for an order of 8 parmas) our food arrived from the kitchen...

The Hawaiian -

The Chorizo -

The Capricciosa -

The Mexican -

The Original -

Lets get one thing straight - this parma is a monster. Absolutely friggin' huge and I'll admit right now that it defeated me ... much to my own shame I had to leave some of this bird on the plate as I was absolutely stuffed.

The schnitzel was good quality - pounded a little too thin for my liking but thats just a personal preference, and it's not like I walked away hungry. It was cooked well, perhaps slightly too well done, but not overly so. Just the right amount of crumbs with a solid crunch to them, I detected a strong herb flavour that I believe was through the crumbs that was slightly overpowering, but nothing criminally so.

Now ... the toppings. The biggest problem I had with this parma was that, although it was massive, the toppings started an inch or so in from the edge of the parma, meaning there was a rather sizeable ring of plain schnitzel around the outside, not unlike a really big crust on a pizza. The problem being that you eat a pizza from the inside out, not from the crust in. On the parma at La Roche it meant you were four or five proper bites away from getting anything close to toppings, and with a parma as big as this stomach space is a finite resource that I'd rather not waste on nude schnitzel. My advise would be to cut the parma in half and work your way out from the inside (again, like a pizza).

The chorizo was quite tasty and went very well with the chicken. I felt the chorizo parma as a whole could have used one more ingredient to give it a bit more kick, but overall it was very enjoyable. The napoli was present (maybe a little overcooked). The cheese was fine, good coverage and well cooked, but like all the toppings I just wished they had've gone all the way to the edge.

Reports from around the table were mostly positive. Everyone with the novelty toppings seemed to enjoy them - The only one at the table that didn't seem thrilled with their parma was Reviewer Nikki with the original, I snuck a bite and agreed - It was good, but lacking any particular punch. Definitely recommend getting this one with one of the novelty topping options.

The chips were standard pub chips. A little beige after all the effort that was clearly put into the parma itself. Cooked well and served beside the parma but desperately in need of some seasoning or chip dip.

The salad started great, the cucumber was fresh and the lettuce crisp with a rich creamy dressing, however all the good stuff was on top leaving quite a few dry leaves at the bottom. As with the chips it was good - but a couple of steps shy from great.

“Huge parma! I had the Hawaiian and quite enjoyed it. Well presented and quite tasty”

— Stefo (Hawaiian)

“I don’t often choose a deviant parma, but the chorizo option tonight tasted great all round. Generous portions of everything, challenged to clear my board!”

— Matt (Chorizo)

“My biggest criticism is that, although the parma was big, I had to cut the edges four or five times before I reached the topping. Chips could have used some seasoning”

— Nikki (Original)

“Wowsa was it big... A lil’ bland for the chorizo. Chips were nice and salad could have used a bit more variety”

— Fridge (Chorizo)

“Amazing meal, but suffered from a little Big Parma Syndrome. Had to get to the middle to get the real flavour”

— Tony (Capricciosa)

“A good parma. Good size, salad was a little average - But would try it, or one of the other ones, again”

— Luke - Capricciosa

“Although it was huge and filled my appetite the toppings were all centred in the middle. The edges were a bit burnt but considering the size thats understandable. The flavours were very good. I enjoyed it”

— Adam Y (Mexican)

$26.50 for a parma is pretty pricey, possibly one of the most expensive parmas we've reviewed, but its a $26.50 promise that you'll walk away groaning from being extremely full. $15 Parma night on Wednesday is fantastic value and if you were gonna give La Roche a crack I'd urge you to try and get down then (I'm having trouble confirming if the novelty options are part of the special or if its original only - if anyone knows let me know).

It's also worth noting that La Roche delivers via EatNow, which means if you live in the delivery radius of Balaclava, Elwood, St. Kilda or Windsor I am extremely jealous of you as this would have to be one of the best options for a home delivered parma in Melbourne. Whats the one thing in the world better than a parma? A parma that you don't even need to put on pants to enjoy.

The La Roche parma is definitely worth trying, A damn tasty parma that will definitely have you going up a notch in your belt. It's not without its issues, there could be a little more love put into the sides and some better topping coverage, but overall its a damn tasty treat. The next time you're in Acland St (and if you can get a table) be sure to give it a crack.

Pros

• Absolutely huge
• Great range of novelty toppings

Cons

• Less than full topping coverage
• So/so chips and salad

Parma - 8.13

Chips - 6.00

Salad - 5.81

Value - 6.94

Total - 7.00

The search continues...

#265 - 'The Charles Dickens Tavern'

Where? - The Block Arcade, 290 Collins St. Melbourne CBD

Price? - $23.60

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

Reviewers – Lee & Nikki

If you asked someone to meet you at the pub on the corner of Collins and Elizabeth street you'd probably get a confused look coupled with a query of "umm, isn't that an Optus store?". Well yes, but what you might not know is that under the feet of the consumers working out if the new iPhone is too big to fit into the pockets of their skinny jeans, is one of my all time favourite pubs in Melbourne. The Charles Dickens Tavern.

The Dickens is a pub out of place and out of time. Once you descend the stairs in the Block Arcade you will come to a heavy, wooden, leadlight laden door, and once you open it say goodbye to Melbourne as you are stepping into one of the most authentic English pubs in the state. Stand at the bar at the Charles Dickens and you can easily forget you're in Australia, and if it weren't for the 60 inch LED flatscreens and signs promoting the free WiFi you could even get the sense that you're grabbing a pint in the early 1900's

The Dickens is divided into two halves. The public bar and the "Pickwick Room", which is basically their bistro - The menu is a tad fancier in there, but the bar menu is also available if you feel like it. It wasn't overly busy when we arrived so we pulled up a pew in the public bar and grabbed a menu...

Take note of the fine print there - chips or salad or vegetables. We ordered our parmas, weren't asked any followup questions, and took our seats.

Beer selection at the Dickens is pure British pub fare. Tetley's Bitter, Newcastle Brown Ale, London Pride, as well as a selection of ciders, ginger beers and even good ol' Cartlon Draught if you aren't feeling too adventurous.

About 25 minutes after ordering our meals arrived...

After rescuing the parma from atop the pile of chips we tucked in. The schnitzel was big enough, but nothing to write home about. Inoffensive thickness and well crumbed/cooked.

The chicken breast was pure and unprocessed, slightly dry but not horribly so - Possibly the weakest element on the plate, but by no means bad ... just not that notable.

If you're a fan of cheese then you'll be a fan of the parma at the Dickens. This thing was bordering on more cheese than chicken. Absolutely smothered in the stuff and grilled to golden brown perfection, these toppings were an absolute cheesy delight.

The napoli was a little lacking, it was there, but up against the sheer wall of cheese it was kind've lost in the crowd, the same goes for the ham, when I have to check if there is both napoli and ham on the parma you know that the ratio's are a little off.

Chips were your standard pub steak fries. Well cooked and plenty of them (no salad means more room for chips I suppose). As soon as our parmas hit the table we were offered a bottle of tomato sauce for dipping - always a well received touch. A solid side but again, nothing to write home about.

As predicted in the menu the parma at the Dickens comes with the choice of chips or salad or veggies. As much as I love a good salad I'm not giving up my chippies in favour of them, so we're invoking the You don't win friends with salad rule for this review.

A little over $23 for this parma? If it had been served with salad I would have been a little happier - but as it isn't the value score is gonna take a definite hit. It wasn't bad by any shot - but I won't be running out to have this one at full price again. There is a Monday night $20 parma and pot special that I would recommend hitting if you're at all curious, but I would be hesitant to hit it again at full price.

You should go to the Charles Dickens Tavern, its one of Melbourne's most unique pubs and it absolutely tears me apart to give this parma a less than glowing review. It's a fantastic little watering hole with unmatched atmosphere that pours a mean pint and I'll be back down those stairs very soon, I wont be rushing back for the parma though.

Pros

• Amazing pub
• Great range of English beers
• A cheese lovers parma

Cons

• Chips OR Salad
• Other toppings lost amongst the cheese

Parma - 6.75

Chips - 6.5

Salad - YDWFWS Rule invoked - 5

Value - 3.75

Total - 5.75

The search continues...

Special Attempt - 'The Sporting Globe: Addendum'

Where? - 690 Mount Alexander Rd, Moonee Ponds (with other locations in Werribee, Richmond, Fountain Gate, Watergardens, Geelong and Rockingham)

Price? - $24.90

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

Reviewers – Fridge, Lee, Nikki, Pat, Stefo

UPDATE 05/09/19 - We revisited the Globe to see what was new. Check it out here!

Cards on the table - We had not planned to visit the Sporting Globe this week.

All this week the plan was to visit Essendon's exceedingly popular Crème cafe, but (as seems to be a recurring theme this year) when I called on Thursday afternoon to secure our table I was told that they were completely booked out. Crap.

So in a last minute scramble for ideas I remembered that the Sporting Globe had recently introduced a new parma to their novelty line up, a special parma designed by 2014 MasterChefTMWinner Brent Owens...

The "Smoked Cheddar Parma" with ale infused tomato relish, streaky bacon, mozzarella and smoked cheddar. It was supposed to be a "limited time only" thing but it would seem that the Globe has promoted it to permanent menu status.

But this brings us to a conundrum! We have reviewed the Moonee Ponds Sporting Globe before, and we have also reviewed the novelty parma line-up at the Watergardens location. So what does this review count as? It's not a redo as its a different kind of parma, but its not a new location so we can't really give it a numbered review and its own spot on the ladder - Which is why I have come up with a new category on the fly, this review will serve as an Addendum to the previous two reviews. Part special attempt, part new review. Its its own thing (and yes, I'm making this up as I go ... sue me).

I'm not really going to cover the decor of the Globe as after two reviews it has already been covered ad nauseam. If you haven't already you should check out our last two reviews here and here, as I'm probably going to refer back to them a lot from this point out.

We arrived at the Globe and grabbed the menus ... I'm always surprised at how often the Globe must reprint their full sized, massive menus, as they never seem to be the same every time I visit. We spied our targets...

Interesting to note that a version of the "Smashed Avo" parma was on the specials menu the last time we visited a Sporting Globe under the name "Parmacado", and, like the Smoked Cheddar, has also received a promotion to full menu status. Reviewer Pat had to make things difficult and ordered himself the Smashed Avo parma ... Everyone else got the Smoked Cheddar.

Now one big disappointment ... The Sporting Globe Moonee Ponds used to carry Stone & Wood on tap, but as of last night's visit it is no longer available. Still a decent variety of beers on tap, but I was definitely sad to see Stone & Wood missing from the selection.

After about a pint's worth of wait, the parmas arrived.

Pat's Smashed Avo parma -

Our Smoked Cheddar parma -

First up, the schnitzel. What a hunk of bird this was. If we scored just on thickness this baby would get a 10. Thick as buggery with the perfect level of crunchy crumbs - However (and this is probably the biggest fault of the entire parma) it was extremely dry, and mine was served a little bit colder than what I would normally like. Great quality ingredients but faltered a little in the execution.

Now ... the toppings, boy were they divisive, and I'll do my best to convey everyone's opinions, both positive and negative.

The napoli was very interesting. It was almost a barbecue style sauce, but extremely sweet. A very dominant flavour that permeated the whole dish. I wished they had've made it more of a sauce than a relish as that would have helped a little with the overall dryness of the dish.

The streaky bacon was present, but lacked any significant punch. When I'm sold a parma on the promise of special bacon I want a pig to climb out from under the cheese and smack me in the face while I'm eating it.

The smokey cheddar and mozzarella blend was actually damn tasty. The smokiness of the cheddar carried through the dish well. I would have liked a little more power too it (I like my cheese flavoursome) but it did the job well.

The toppings on this parma promised a lot, and they delivered for the most part - However I feel that overall they were a little muted. It might have just been high expectations but I wanted fireworks of flavour from this dish, and at most all I got was a few sparklers.

Oh, and over the other side of the table reviewer Pat really enjoyed his Smashed Avo parma ... lots of thumbs ups and mumbles of "this is tasty!" causing quite a bit of food envy from everyone else.

Apologies for the blur, this is what happens when, after four pints, you pick the photo you want to use and delete the others that you took.

When the MasterChefTM designed parma first hit the Sporting Globe menu it was served with a side of special sweet potato fries (visible in the first photo above). It would seem this got the chop in the move from the specials board to the full menu and have been replaced with the standard Sporting Globe chips - And I'm not complaining one bit. The Globe's chips have always been on point, and last night was no exception. Served hot, crispy and well seasoned with chicken salt. Absolute winners as per usual. 

An element that didn't get cut on the move was the apple & celeriac salad, and (once again) this was a great choice. Creamy, flavoursome and slightly peppery - it was a great little salad. It looked small on the plate but was quite rich, I don't think I could've eaten much more if I wanted too. A very welcome addition.

“An interesting rendition of the parma. I enjoyed the slaw and the parma was filled with original flavours and toppings. The chips at the globe, as always, make everything worthwhile - But if I had the choice again I’d stick to something more original”

— Stefo

“Above average”

— Pat (Smashed Avo Parma)

“I was not a fan of this parma as it was so dry. The chips were definitely the star. In the future I would stick to the original”

— Nikki

“Not bad, was a little dry. Chicken salt on nice thick cut chips and the apple slaw was bang on!”

— Fridge

$24.90 is a bit steep for this, but everything at the Sporting Globe is a bit pricey so that's not out of the ordinary. It would seem from the website that the $15.90 specialty parmas on Wednesday's still stands ... I would have to assume that these two special parmas would be included. Definitely worth a crack at this price.

As I said earlier, this was a divisive parma. I definitely enjoyed it - but not nearly as much as I should have due to the issues with the schnitzel. If I found myself at the Globe again I wouldn't rush to try the Cheddar, but would probably either stick to the original variety or see what all the fuss was about with the smashed avo one.

As this is an Addendum I won't show the scores that we took, but they were pretty much in line with our past scores for the Globe's parmas. High in the 6's, not quite a 7 ... Still worth a shot if you're in the area (and the buffalo bites are still phenomenal).

The search continues...

#264 - 'The Stone Hotel'

Where? - 298-300 Brunswick St. Fitzroy

Price? - $22

Website? - www.thestonehotel.com.au

Reviewers – Lee, Nikki, Stefo

I was a bit nervous to head back to Fitzroy - The last time we were here we crowned a new king ... Any pub that was to follow that well and truly had their work cut out for them, so best to pick a pub that we had heard a lot of good things about before even leaving the house - We loaded up the Parma Bus and headed to Brunswick Street's Stone Hotel.

From outside the Stone's bright white facade is striking to say the least, and the interior is no less impressive. I don't think they have heard the word "Plaster" in this pub as everything is exposed. Exposed brick, exposed bluestone, exposed steel beams in the roof. Brightly lit with a welcoming vibe and plenty of space to stretch out.

We took a seat and checked the menu...

The menu description kept it simple, no clues as to what we were gonna receive there. We placed our orders and eagerly awaited the arrival of our dinners, We noticed a sign advertising a "Beer Garden" upstairs so we did some investigating ... beside what would be an outstanding function room we discovered what I would call more of a "rooftop courtyard" than a garden, but pleasant none the less. Cosy yet spacious and all that you really need if you're desperate for a fix of beers in the sun.

The tap list at the stone is relatively impressive - Plenty of options to tickle almost any fancy from the simple to the craft. Mountain Goat, 4 Pines, Young Henrys ... the list goes on.

About 15 - 20 minutes after ordering our meals hit the table...

I was a bit hesitant when I saw what looked like a not-so-great schnitzel, but hot damn looks can be deceiving. Plump, juicy chicken breast with crumb that carried a fantastic crunch throughout. Very thick and perfectly cooked - This is how I like my schnitzels. Outstanding

The toppings were just as impressive, and equally deceiving. When I first saw the odd orange-tinted napoli I was hesitant, but again proven wrong as it was absolutely bursting with flavour - Rich, creamy and plenty of it.

The cheese was probably the weakest part of the dish, but by no means bad. Plenty of it, but it didn't really pack any punch and could have definitely used another few minutes under the grill.

Its a good thing that we're ending on a positive note though, because the ham was absolutely amazing - By far the star of the topping trio. Rich, smokey and packed with a solid punch of flavour, definitely elevated this parma from great to fantastic.

The chips were on par with the parma. Beer battered delights. Perfectly cooked, well seasoned, served beside the parma and even delivered with a pot of sauce for dipping... What else do you want?

The first few mouthfuls of the salad were outstanding. For a basic garden salad of lettuce, onion, cucumber and tomato it was absolutely packed with flavour from being very well dressed in an extremely sharp dressing, very heavy on the lemon juice. It was extremely enjoyable to begin with, but quickly became overpowering, back off the lemon juice just a tad and this would be a salad on par with the other elements on the plate.

“Delicious juicy parma - the flavour from the ham was amazing. I love a lot of dressing in the salad but this was a little too much for my liking”

— Nikki

“A lot of positives in this parma. Thick juicy bird, tasty chips and a zingy salad. I would have liked my cheese under the heat a bit longer and maybe a blend of cheese to spice it up - But these are very minor criticisms of what is an otherwise great parma”

— Stefo

I enjoyed this parma immensely, and would have absolutely no qualms shelling out another $22 to try it again. Even better, the Stone offers a $15 parma night on Wednesdays - Outstanding value for an outstanding parma.

Welp, looks like Fitzroy has delivered the goods once again! I was very happy with the quality and flavour of this parma, and with the pub itself - A great spot to stop into for a pint, a feed and a good time. Worth checking out.

Pros

• Amazing flavours throughout a quality parma
• Top notch chips

Cons

• Salad dressing a little sour

Parma - 8.50

Chips - 8.17

Salad - 7.17

Value - 7.70

Total - 8.01

The search continues...

#263 - 'The Victoria Inn'

Where? - 65-67 Douglas Pde. Williamstown

Price? - $19

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

Reviewers – Lee, Nikki, Stefo

Hello all! Hope you had a great Easter break, and you're currently reading this review in a chocolate-induced stupor brought on by the consumption of at least half of your body weight in Humpty Dumptys and Cadbury bunnies.

As it was Easter, last Friday marked the annual Good Friday Appeal for the Royal Children's Hospital, what you may not know is that for the last ten years the ALH pub group has been running what they call "Parma Week" wherein $2 of every parma sold at any of their 80+ participating venues around the state for the week leading up to Good Friday goes directly to the Royal Children's - An initiative we're always happy to support.

Think of a pokies pub anywhere in Melbourne's inner (or outer) suburbs and dollars to donuts you're thinking of an ALH pub, so we had plenty of choices to pick from for this weeks parma review - Unfortunately ALH pubs don't have the best reputation when it comes to their culinary prowess, In my experience their parmas are your standard processed oversized chicken nugget garbage and as much as I wanted to support their charitable spirit, I also didn't want to eat a crappy parma.  So I hit Google in an effort to find a pub in the ALH group that also had a decent reputation for their food. Which we found in the Victoria Inn.

Well, mostly. Online reviews for this place were pretty harsh, mainly complaining about a lack of atmosphere and the presence of pokies, but in a strange anomaly a lot of the reviews I read (even the negative ones) ended along the lines of "... but the parma was pretty good". Good enough for us! With expectations suitably low we loaded up the parma bus and headed to Williamstown.

We arrived at the Vic and were pleasantly surprised - If you could tune out the jingle of the pokies room the front bar at the Vic actually had a bit of character. Multiple seating options, a small lounge area and some booths - It wasn't going to win any awards for interior design, but it was a very cosy little space.

The dining room could use a little on the atmosphere front, but it wasn't offensive - just a bit bland. Four walls and some tables with a TV up in the corner (lucky, as the first game of the 2016 AFL season was kicking off when we arrived). There were a few diners there already and filling up fast, so we grabbed a seat, checked the menu...

... and placed our orders at the bar.

ALH pubs are pretty notorious for not having a great range of beers. Most of the time if you don't enjoy VB or Carlton Draught you're out of luck, So imagine my surprise when I noticed that the Victoria Inn were also rocking a tap of Cricketers Arms Scorcher Summer Ale - A beverage I was happy to partake in.

Footy on the TV, beer in hand, expectations for the food about as low as they can get, we settled in ... and about 20 minutes later our meals arrived at the table.

That ... actually didn't look too bad! Despite being rather small (a fact emphasised by it being placed on a massively empty plate) the schnitzel was unprocessed, plump chicken breast. It was definitely on the small side, but thick, juicy and served absolutely scalding hot. The crumbs, while a little on the soggy side, weren't offensively applied.

Was expecting an oversized chicken nugget, wound up getting an undersized great quality schnitzel... I'm gonna take that as a win.

The toppings were all acceptable, although nothing really blew us away. The napoli's flavour dominated the palate, rich and chunky. The cheese was applied liberally and well melted. The ham was there ... but not really detectable.

Although not amazing everything was perfectly fine, and (again) much better than expected.

The chips were pretty middle of the road. Pub chips with a desperate need for some seasoning, much like the parma they were served piping hot, and due to all the free plate real estate from the salad coming out separately not a single one was served under the parma - which was greatly appreciated. I could have definitely used an extra handful though.

As I mentioned moments ago, the salad was served in its own bowl that was actually delivered from the kitchen separately from the parma. It was your standard garden salad. Lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion and some radish slices. Everything was fresh and crisp with a healthy dose of balsamic. Refreshing and delicious.

“Great initiative to donate to the Good Friday Appeal. Parma was quite tasty but I would have loved it a little bigger”

— Nikki

“Slight improvements to the size of the parma, chips and salad could see this up there ... Surprisingly!”

— Stefo

If I were in Williamstown I'd happily pay $19 to have this parma again, at no point did I feel like I was getting ripped off with the quality of ingredients. The Victoria offers an $18 parma n' pot Wednesday night special with 5 different novelty varieties available. If you're a Willy local this sounds like a decent deal and definitely the night to visit if you're planning on checking out what the Victoria Inn has to offer.

I wouldn't go back to Williamstown just for this parma, but if I found myself at the Victoria Inn I would have no qualms ordering it again. It is probably the best parma I've had from an ALH pub, which I'm aware isn't saying much, but makes me kind've happy to know that they aren't all terrible. And props again to them for 10 years of Parma Week for the Good Friday Appeal - Will catch them again for year 11.

Pros

• Surprisingly good quality chicken breast
• Salad served in separate bowl

Cons

• Quite a small schnitzel
• Soggy crumbs
• Chips needed seasoning

Parma - 7.17

Chips - 6.33

Salad - 7.00

Value - 7.00

Total - 6.93

The search continues...

#262 - 'Temple Brewing Company'

Where? - 122 Weston St. Brunswick East

Price? - $25

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

Reviewers – Kylie B, Lee, Pat, Shanan

Let me paint you a word picture.

A couple of weeks ago I was heading out for a birthday dinner with the in-laws. We were headed to Brunswick East's Gelobar for a night of beers, grub, and without a doubt, some gelati (I had a parma that night too, off the books, if you follow us on Instagram you might have spied it). As expected there was zero street parking out the front of Gelobar on Lygon Street, so instead we found an underground carpark down Weston St.

Walking out of the carpark and towards the restaurant I heard the sound of frivolity, curiously I investigated and discovered, nestled in between two warehouses, was an impressive looking beer garden, buzzing with people.

I had discovered Temple. I stopped my wife and said the seven words she rolls her eyes at almost weekly "I wonder if they do a parma". Checked the menu by the door and yes ... yes they did. I locked the location in my brain to try at a later date, and last Friday night, that later date was upon us.

TL;DR - Saw a pub, saw they had a parma, went there.

First up, if you're thinking of checking out Temple after reading this review I highly recommend you book a table. I called to book a table on Thursday afternoon and was told we wouldn't be able to secure a table until 9pm - the place was packed. Friday night rolled around and, after killing an hour or so at the nearby Alehouse Project, headed over to Temple bar and took our seats.

The beer garden and downstairs area was packed to capacity, we were led upstairs to a secondary dining area that has a damn impressive view...

Did I mention Temple is a working brewery? Yeah. Awesome.

We checked the menu, spied our target...

... and placed our orders at the bar.

As you'd expect, being a brewery means that Temple has an impressive array of their own beers available. I could go on for hours about the beers we tried, but I've already waffled on for 387 words without getting to the parma - So I'll just say that the Bicycle Beer is delicious, and the tasting rack ($15) is highly recommended.

About 25 minutes after ordering, our parmas appeared -

Of all the elements of the dish, I think the schnitzel was the weakest. It was big enough and decently thick, but the chicken itself was very dense and a little on the dry side. Saying that it was real chicken breast, which it gets points for at the very least.

The crumbs were ... odd, but nothing we haven't come across before (Abbotsford's Yarra Hotel springs to mind), in that they had the texture of a piece of grilled flake, seemingly more battered than crumbed. A weird choice, I can't say I'm a huge fan - but definitely not a dealbreaker by any means.

With a weak schnitzel the toppings had their work cut out for them to save this bird - and they succeeded for the most part. Plenty of flavoursome cheese, melted to perfection and quite a tasty blend. The ham was not lost amongst the other strong elements to the dish and the napoli was bold, rich and complimented the parma well. Brought this one back from the brink.

The chips were middle-of-the-road standard pub chips, maybe a little undercooked. Not bad, not great, not a lot to say about them at all. They served their purpose.

When I saw the salad I thought it was going to be bad. Usually when a salad is nothing more than a pile of leaves I prepare myself for a let down ... But in this case I was pleasantly surprised. The dressing definitely saved the day. Tangy and punchy, but not too overpowering. Not bad at all.

“It was tasty. No complaints, but not amazing”

— Kylie

“Great place for a beer”

— Shanan

“Average at best - Chips were undercooked”

— Pat

There's no sugar coating it, $25 for this parma is pretty steep. $25 and up is reserved for the best of the best, and while Temple's parma is pretty good, There's no way its worth $25. $20 - $22? Sure, I could make peace with that, But $25 hurts a little. From what I can tell there aren't any parma night specials on the cards.

Temple Brewery is an awesome spot to check out. Grabbing a bite in the presence of a working brewery is a unique experience that I would definitely recommend, and its not often you get to drink an awesome beer mere steps from where it was created. The parma isn't bad, not by a long shot - but its not the best we've had either.

Maybe worth it if you're in the area - although prepare your wallet for a sting.

Pros

• Amazing place
• Great beers
• Tasty toppings

Cons

• Dense, dry schnitzel

Parma - 5.67

Chips - 5.75

Salad - 5.50

Value - 5.63

Total - 5.64

The search continues...

#261 - 'Bells Hotel'

Where? - 157 Moray St. South Melbourne

Price? - $22

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

Reviewers – Lee, Nikki, Matt, Stefo

We're stretching our legs this week! After a year of attempts pretty much exclusively North of the CBD we decided it was well past due to mix it up, so we loaded up the parma bus and headed to one of the many pubs on our list in South Melbourne - Bells Hotel.

The Bells is a pub of many personalities. The front bar is airy and light with plenty of space to breathe, The dining area behind it is classy and elegant and the sports bar is a more casual affair with everything you would need for a day on the punt (with a few pokies thrown in for good measure). In preparation for this review we had heard a lot of rumours about the fantastic outdoor courtyard and unmatched rooftop marquee - Unfortunately Melbourne's weather was being a harsh bitch on this particular Thursday evening, so persistent rainfall kept us from checking those areas out ... Will save them for next time.

We started with a pint in the sports bar while waiting for the whole group to arrive, then quickly moved through to the dining room, pulled up a chair and checked the menu...

It's not often we get such a wide variety of options for the base - The eggplant is worth noting for the vegetarians out there. The choice is nice, but being slaves to the almighty chook everyone at the table opted for a chicken parma.

Range of beers on tap was decent, nothing that blew me out of the water in terms of selection The James Squire Swindler Summer Ale did the job just fine.

After a surprisingly short wait (10 minutes at the most) our parmas hit the table...

First up - The Schnitzel. Not winning any "biggest chook on the farm" awards, but big enough to be filling. It was mostly thick, but had been hammered a little shy of too thin in some areas. The crumbs weren't laid on too thick and carried an almighty crunch.

The chicken was pure, stunningly white chicken breast all the way through - It carried a great flavour although was a little on the dry side, and to be honest mine could have been served hotter - But otherwise it was a pretty solid start to the dish.

The toppings that were there were great - Plenty of cheese grilled to bubbly golden brown perfection, along with a rich and flavoursome napoli. However this is a parma devoid of ham. Now our official stance at ParmaDaze is that we are ham agnostic - As we have had many damn good parmas without a piece of pork that have fared just fine, and we don't consider it an absolute essential part of the dish if you do everything else right.

However a slice of ham would have brought this parma to life. Everyone at the table had pretty much the same thought - This was a good parma, but with a bit of pork it would be great.

When I first saw the chips on the plate I thought "ho hum ... standard unseasoned pub chips". Hot diggity I was wrong. I don't know what they seasoned these chips with, but they were absolutely bursting with flavour. Piping hot, crunchy and soft at the same time - I was regretting not ordering a side of gravy for chip dip - but honestly these chips didn't need it. A fantastic surprise.

The salad looked damn impressive. An explosion of colour across the plate served as the side to this parma. Lettuce, cucumber, onion and capsicum - Simple, but effective. The dressing used was delicious but there could have been a little more of it, as some areas of the salad were a little dry.

I'm not sure what got into the other reviewers this week, as they were all damn talkative in their quotes! Lets see what they had to say -

“Quite tasty. Parma was a little overcooked, would have been great with some smoked ham. The parts of the salad that had dressing were delicious - But it could have used some more”

— Nikki

“I think a nice bit of smoked ham would have complimented this parma nicely. The dressing on the salad was also very tasty but not evenly spread. Chips were standard. A little more zing throughout and a little more love could make this good parma into a great one!”

— Stefo

“A little thin for what we’re used to, yet this parma was an all round good portion size. Napoli was full of flavour though some ham would have really made this one shine. Chips were a good surprise, salad was a little light on veggies - all weed salads are boring”

— Matt

I'd be happy to pay $22 for this parma again. It had its faults, but I walked out satisfied. There is a "$15 mains" specials night on Tuesdays that is definitely worth poking your head into if you're in the area.

I liked Bells. I am keen to come back once the weather clears up and check out the famed rooftop, as if its put together as well as the rest of the pub I'm sure it would be an impressive sight. As I said, the parma isn't perfect, and there's definitely room for improvement - But I walked out with a smile on my face. Decent if you're in the area.

Pros

• Tasty chips
• Quality ingredients
• Solid salad
• Spoilt for choice (Chicken, Veal, Pork, Eggplant)

Cons

• Needs ham
• Served slightly not hot enough.

Parma - 7.38

Chips - 7.13

Salad - 6.38

Value - 6.88

Total - 7.03

The search continues...

#260 - 'Keilor East RSL: Redux'

Where? - 12-22 Hoffmans Rd, Essendon

Price? - $21.95 Non-Members, $19.95 Members

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

Reviewers – Lee, Nikki, Stefo

At the start of the year I made the declaration that we would no longer be doing parma restaurants purely out of convenience, that we would be going the extra mile to try and track down the best of the best - regardless of how much of a pain in the ass they are to get to on a Thursday evening.

Well, even though the Keilor East RSL is about a three minute drive from my house, This is an exception to the rule ... and I'll tell you why.

In December last year, right on the lead up to Christmas, I received an email from the Keilor East RSL That told the story of a new chef that had taken over the kitchen, had overhauled the parma after reading our less than positive review in 2012, but as our old review was still active they were still getting cancellations on reservations for Christmas parties due to people doing a bit of pre-dinner googling and finding our post.

This made me sad, I felt horrible that we were costing an RSL business after they had put in the hard yards to fix their parma. When I got their email we were winding up reviews for the year, so I vowed that we would slot it in as the first Redo of the new year.

They say that Old Man ParmaDaze's heart grew three sizes that day...

"But PD!" You might be saying to yourself "It's March! Surely if it was so important you wouldn't have waited until the third month of the year!" Well, dear reader, this was not our first attempt to visit the Keilor East RSL in 2016. You might recall at the start of our review of the Pascoe Vale Hotel in January (our second review of the year) we rocked up to the RSL and were flabbergasted to find the place absolutely packed to capacity... I guess our negative review wasn't hurting them too much as we were literally unable to get a table on a Thursday night, so we hit up the Pascoe and made plans to revisit the RSL again when we next had the chance, which we did last night ... with a booking this time.

When we arrived the place was again completely full, it even looked like they had squeezed a few more tables into the public bar area to make room. We took a seat, checked the menu ...

... and placed our order (with an added side of gravy for an extra $1.50). The two different prices you see listed there are the prices for members and non-members, every purchase (including the beers) at the East Keilor RSL has a discount for members. Speaking of beers, you wouldn't expect anything too crafty from an RSL, and the Keilor East is pretty much what you'd expect. Draught & VB - Nothing too fancy, but it was ice cold and did the job.

We mentioned last time that the fresh Bake-at-home rolls that we got after ordering were the highlight of the meal, much to our delight they haven't gone anywhere - and served as a tasty pre-game before the main event arrived.

If you can't be bothered reading through the last review, the cliff notes are basically this - Toppings were good, but a hugely processed chicken breast let down the entire meal. Chips were okay but needed seasoning and the salad was ... decent.

After a short wait the parmas arrived at the table. As is tradition with re-reviews first we will take a look at what the parma used to look like before checking the new one.

Before (2012) -

After (2016) -

From the moment it hit the table I knew it was an improvement, and cutting through the chicken my suspicions were confirmed. Gone was the processed oversized chicken nugget of a schnitzel and in its place a pure white, piping hot and juicy chicken breast. A little variance in thickness throughout but plump enough leave you satisfied at the end. Nothing fancy with the crumbs but they were applied conservatively. Very skilfully cooked with zero traces of burnt edges like its predecessor. A top notch foundation for this parma.

If you're a fan of chunky napoli then this one's for you - plenty of onion chunks and diced tomato throughout makes this the second chunkiest napoli I think we've had (The Plough still takes the #1 spot on that front), it tasted great with perhaps a slightly metallic aftertaste, so I'm rather confident they used tinned tomatoes in the recipe. The cheese was perfectly browned and tasty however the ham, while plentiful, was a little lost among the other elements of the parma.

After a quick extraction from underneath the parma the chips were pretty good, a definite improvement on their 2012 counterpart. That being said they still could have used some seasoning and were a little plain ... I'm glad the extra $1.50 for gravy. But they were well cooked and plenty of them, can't complain too much.

The salad was probably the only element that was not as enjoyable as the previous review. Gone was the beetroot and capsicum that made this salad shine and what was left was a pretty basic garden salad. The creamy dressing was tasty and it served its purpose, but the old salad packed a punch that was sorely lacking this time around.

“The meal has definitely improved. Still love the bread rolls”

— Nikki

“Real chicken this time, nicely cooked. Sides were pretty “meh”, but for an RSL this was a pretty good meal”

— Stefo

For the non-members price of $21.95 I was pretty happy with the meal I received. It's a down to earth meal in a jovial family atmosphere that I'd happily try again. It's worth noting that the Keilor East RSL offers a $15.95 parma Tuesday with a bunch of variety toppings that I'd be very keen to investigate further - If you're at all curious about checking it out that would be the day I'd recommend you head down.

I'm glad we revisited the Keilor East RSL, it's such a friendly little spot and it never sat well with me that we gave it a bad review. Great to hear they turned it around to a parma I'd have no problems recommending ... If only for the bread rolls.

Pros

• Marked improvement on the previous attempt
• No more processed schnitzel

Cons

• Salad has lost its mojo

Parma - 7.33

Chips - 5.83

Salad - 5.00

Value - 5.83

Total - 6.27

The search continues...

#259 - 'The Northcote Social Club'

Where? - 301 High Street. Northcote

Price? - $25

Website? - http://northcotesocialclub.com/

Reviewers – Lee, Nikki, Pat

The Northcote Social Club is the lost parma review. A few years ago I couldn't make it to a review as I was away on Holiday (Possibly my Honeymoon? Can't quite remember) and delegated the weekly parma review duties to Reviewer Pat - Who gathered a team, headed to Northcote and gave the Social Club's parma a crack.

Then he pretty much forgot to do anything after that. No review was written, nothing went up on the site, the world (amazingly) kept on spinning.

I didn't realise this when I picked the Northcote as our destination this week and was only informed once we had locked it in that we had, in fact, done this parma before, Although from what I can gather this was before the swanky new renovations took place. I figure since the review never actually made it to the site there was no drama in finally giving the Northcote Social Club a review (granted it was a little late, but we got there eventually!)

I briefly mentioned the renovations earlier - This pub looks great. The front bar & band room are pretty much your standard pub fare - but the open air dining area and beer garden out the back is where this pub really shines. There are covered areas with fans & heaters if you need to take shelter from the elements, but also an uncovered spot up the back if you want to see the stars above.

Wednesday is vegan/vegetarian takeover night at the Northcote, so as well as the standard menu there is also a full vegan specials menu available to choose from, right down to vegan and gluten free beers (no vegan parmas unfortunately).

So amid all the happy patrons chowing down on couscous and quinoa, we checked the menu, spied our target...

... and placed our orders at the bar.

The range of beers on tap at the Northcote is adequate - Nothing overly craft focussed but should be enough to keep everyone happy. From Melbourne Bitter to Mountain Goat Steam Ale I'm sure you'll find something to wet your whistle, and if you're really feeling fancy theres a decent range of bottled beers available as well (Stone & Wood, Two Birds, Moon Dog ... You name it).

Around 15 - 20 minutes after ordering the parmas arrived at the table -

The parma looked impressive on the plate. Only served slightly on the chips but most of them were free to breathe. The chicken breast schnitzel was a little small, not overly so - but varied a little in thickness, ranging from "damn thats thick" to "hmm ... this is a little thin". It was cooked well for the most part, conservatively crumbed and carried a great crunch.

My biggest complaint would be the chicken itself came out quite dry - there was a lot of napoli on top, which helped a bit, but the dryness of the bird was still very much detectable.

The toppings were all pretty good. The cheese was a flavoursome tasty blend, As I mentioned the napoli was plentiful and carried a light tangy flavour that complimented the dish well.

The ham was fine, had a great taste to it that definitely made its presence known - However I'm not sure just how "off the bone" it was as the menu states, seemed like pretty standard sliced stuff to me. Either way there was plenty of it and it all worked well.

The chips were pretty great. Beer battered, well cooked, crunchy and delightful. They were in need of a little salt, but there was plenty available at the cutlery station along with both tomato and HP sauce for dipping. A fine addition to the meal.

The salad was pretty much an afterthought - Dry, mostly wilted leaves with barely any dressing to speak of. Definitely needed a bit more love on the salad front.

“Overall quite a tasty meal, but I’m not sure its worth the price. Chips were good but the salad needed more dressing and I’m not sure the ham was shaved off the bone as advertised”

— Nikki

“If it’s the same meal you get on a Monday night for $15 then I’d stick with that. Not worth $25 but great for $15”

— Pat

Reviewer Pat pretty much just stole my next paragraph for his quote, but he is spot on - $25 is a pricey parma, and while this was a perfectly fine meal I would hesitate in shelling out another 25 clams for it again. The Northcote offers a "Monday Mass" $15 chicken or eggplant parma and $15 jugs from 6pm. At $15 this parma is an absolute belter and definitely one you should check out ... but for $25 it falls a bit shy of the mark.

I really enjoyed my trip to the Northcote - The pub looked great, the beer was cold and the parma was a damn fine meal short of a few minor quibbles. Overall it was a great parma - Just not a $25 dollar parma.

Pros

• Quality chips
• Tasty toppings
• Amazing beer garden/dining area

Cons

• Chicken was a little dry
• No love in the salad
• Expensive for what you get

Parma - 7.50

Chips - 8.33

Salad - 4.33

Value - 4.00

Total - 6.33

The search continues...

#258 - 'The Empress Hotel'

Where? - 714 Nicholson St, Fitzroy North

Price? - $24.50

Website? - http://theempress.com.au/

Reviewers – Fridge, Lee, Nikki, Pat, Stefo

I think I've started at least a hundred parma reviews with the line "We've driven past this place many times and never gone in", but gosh darn it, thats exactly what I'm gonna say about The Empress. Right down near the Brunswick end of Nicholson Street, this pub managed to stay completely off the radar until last year when they underwent a massive renovation, and we sat up and took notice.

The pub looks absolutely fantastic inside. Beautifully renovated while still maintaining its old world Aussie pub charm. There's a cosy beer garden off to the side that was already bustling with people and a dining room to the back that was filling up fast.

We pulled up a pew in the main bar, with a view of the footy and an eye on the selection of beer taps, and checked the menu -

Target acquired, we placed our orders at the bar.

If you're a craft beer fan you're in for a treat. The Empress has a fantastic selection of beers to suit every taste. We started the night on the "Feature Tap" listed above - the Bosco's Grapefruit and Cucumber IPA from Moon Dog. A very unique drop with strong cucumber notes, and overall a very tasty beer! (and at 6.8% it packs a punch as well). We rotated through some of the other beers throughout the night, but the Bosco's was definitely the one to try.

The food arrived a little staggered, but that's understandable as we ordered separately.

As soon as it hit the table I knew - this would be a unique parma.

The schnitzel sizes varied from plate to plate, ranging from "It could be bigger" to "thats a bit too small". They were all pure chicken breast, well cooked with only the slightest hint of burn on one of the parmas. The crumbs appeared to be home made and herbed, but suffered from a nasty case of sogginess throughout - the schnitz had zero crunch to it. Thick enough, but not winning any awards there - They did well retaining the juiciness of the chicken.

A competent start with only some minor issues, the toppings were really going to make or break this parma!

Let me start by saying that I love prosciutto, and the Empress is most definitely a prosciutto lover's parma. Lashings of freshly shaved ham were not in short supply at all, which added prosciuttos trademark saltiness - Which can, and has in the past, been a little to overpowering and salty, but here it worked well.

(Fun fact - Prosciutto is sometimes known as "Parma ham" ... hah!)

Unfortunately the rest of the toppings let this parma down. The cheese, while being extremely creamy, didn't add a whole lot to the flavour profile of this parma. The napoli was a non-event, much like the cheese there was plenty there, but in the end it just fell flat.

Rather than the standard chips, the Empress had switched things up a bit and opted for a side of duck fat roasted potatoes instead, and let me tell you - They are an absolute triumph. The best part of the dish by far, these potatoes were absolutely delicious. Crisp and crunchy on the outside opening up to fluffy clouds of potato inside. Fantastic flavour that barely needed seasoning - I could have easily downed a full plate of these solo. A very welcome change from the norm.

The salad/coleslaw looked great on the plate, but had some very strong flavours from mint and capers that I doubt are to everyones taste. A salad is usually good as a palate cleanser, but this one is so strong (and sour) and completely obliterated it. It might be for someone, but definitely not for me ... not a fan.

The Empress is a prosciutto lovers parma, and in the end that will be the deciding factor if its one for you or it isn't.

“Not a fan of the salad. The prosciutto was a nice touch. Potatoes definitely the star”

— Nikki

“The parma was definitely different. The sides were also original but lacked that ‘zing’ that would have made this worth coming back for”

— Stefo

“Different but not amazing. Spuds were the highlight”

— Pat

“My parma was not much bigger than some chicken nuggets, the piece of chook was thin and a bit tough. Apart from that it was a nice change of pace to have roast taters with the meal, the salad was different, just not to my liking”

— Fridge

Its clear the Empress is going for the "Gourmet parma" market with this one, and its definitely coming at a gourmet price. $24.50 is a little steep when it comes to parmas, but they are definitely pulling out all the stops when it comes to the quality of ingredients and lets face it, you get what you pay for.

There aren't any parma nights that I can see, but the Empress does offer a pretty sweet Pint club if you're there often -

I won't be rushing back to the Empress to have their parma again, but I wouldn't be completely against it should I find myself in the area. It's a quality pub with a great atmosphere, and god damn those chips are tasty.

Pros

• Duck fat potatoes are phenomenal
• If you like prosciutto, you'll like this parma
• Great range of beers

Cons

• Small schnitzel
• Unpleasant salad

Parma - 6.00

Chips - 8.50

Salad - 3.80

Value - 5.80

Total - 6.02

The search continues...

#257 - 'Misty's Diner'

Where? - 765 Gilbert Rd, Reservoir

Price? - $25.90 for both varieties

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

Reviewers – Carly, Lee, Nikki, Shanan, Stefo

Well, its Superbowl week - The week more than any other in Australia where we seem to celebrate all things American - So this week we decided to get into the Yankee spirit and check out one of the most American places in Melbourne - Misty's Diner.

Before heading to Misty's I asked around, and the general consensus seemed to be along the lines of "Its an experience" and "the food will shave years off your life" ... Sounds like my kind've spot, so we loaded up the parma bus, cranked some Sweet Home Alabama, and headed to Misty's Diner

Oh, and just to clarify for this review we visited the Misty's in Reservoir - They have another location in Prahran, but from the looks of things they're pretty much the same experience at both spots.

Walking into the (obviously an old Red Rooster) Diner, I instantly see what everyone meant by an "experience" This place is top to bottom gaudy American chic. The outfits, the licence plates on the roof, the music, the glass case of authentic american candies - this place is on point.

We grabbed a table and checked the menu. We were told to make sure we went in hungry, and after hitting some traffic on the way there we were absolutely famished by the time we arrived - so we opted for a pregame of deep fried pickles before our parmas.

The beef gravy option was too rich for our blood, so we all went for the more traditional parma ... although the sauteed mushrooms struck us as a weird addition from the word go.

All of the tables were outfitted with working jukeboxes, I grabbed some change and got the tunes pumping.

Beer selection is completely American. Coors, Bud, Blue Moon, Sierra Nevada and a few others ... Nice for a change! Blue Moon was my drink of choice for the evening.

The fried pickles were good, but not great. The side of ranch helped but they didn't quite have the pickle punch you want in a deep fried pickle - Reviewer Carly put it the best when she said "They could just be deep fried zucchini and you wouldn't know the difference"

Shortly after we polished off the pickles, the behemoth of a parma arrived...

The picture doesn't do it justice - this thing was massive. First up - the chicken. I hesitate to call it a schnitzel, as it was nothing of the sort. A huge chunk of deep fried, buttermilk battered chicken breast was the foundation for this parma - The closest thing I can liken it to would be an oversized KFC boneless breast piece. It was pure white breast all the way through, thick and well seasoned. On its own it was a solid foundation for the parma.

Unfortunately this parma fell down when it came to the toppings. They just didn't go. All the ingredients were quality, but the conflicting flavours of the tomato and onion just didn't pair well with the buttermilk fried chicken.

Don't get me wrong, everything was fresh and applied liberally, but the presence of one item was just inexplicable - The sauteed mushrooms. They didn't sound right from the moment I read them on the menu, and just as I expected they stuck out like a sore thumb. They didn't mix well with the chicken or the toppings. Keep the onions, they were fine ... but ditch the mushrooms.

The flavours were confusing, but also a little bland. The last fried chicken parma we had was from the American BBQ restaurant Smokehouse 101 in Maribyrnong - Now that was a fine example of how to do an American style parma, the fried chicken was the same, the BBQ sauce worked infinitely better than napoli and combined with the maple bacon it had so much flavour I almost started bleeding from the eyeballs. The parma at Misty's is a bit of a damp squib in comparison.

The chips were lovely - But with the sheer amount of food piled on to the plate they were a bit of a struggle to get to. Once I managed to dig them out from underneath everything they were a fine, crunchy, fried chip - Maybe a little oily and under seasoned but not criminally so. I was glad I hung on to the leftover ranch dip from the pickles for some chip dipping.

The salad was probably the most disappointing element on the plate. Totally undressed, dry as buggery - and covering it with something as divisive as olives was another odd choice (I enjoy olives, but at least three people out of our group of five hated them). Definitely an afterthought and a bit of a let down.

I got very excited when I heard our already massive parma also came with a veritable loaf of garlic bread ... and rather disappointed when I realised it was left on the grill too long and tasted quite burnt. Not a repeating problem though, as reviewers Shanan and Carly ordered there food about ten minutes after the first three and their garlic bread was un-burnt and cooked to perfection - Luck of the draw I guess!

“I feel as though this parma was very confused as to what it wanted to be. The chicken itself was very tasty but the onion and mushroom just wasn’t necessary. Salad was dry however the chips were quite tasty”

— Nikki

“Parma on the chips erased all texted. Salad had olives... First mistake”

— Carly

“A lot of food. Elements of the parma worked well individually but together it didn’t quite gel”

— Shanan

“Holy moly! This meal doesn’t look big on the plate but bloody hell its huge - Way too much for me! The bird itself felt like a great bit of KFC with an assortment of toppings. Mushroom and onion was over the top and definitely unnecessary as the chicken would have been great with just a normal parma arrangement. Definitely worth the experience if anything but if you are looking for a more traditional parma you can do better elsewhere ”

— Stefo

Value is a little hard to judge - $25.90 is very steep for a parma, yet we walked away so full we could barely function. If you're personal definition of value is money in vs sheer amount of food then Misty's takes the cake - However we have always judged value with the rule of thumb "Would I pay $x dollars to have that parma again", and to be honest I won't be rushing back for a Misty's parma any time soon.

We finished off the meal with a slice of Nutella pie, which was by far the best thing we ate all day - Absolutely phenomenal, and grabbed a pack of Milk Duds from the American candy stand for the car trip home. Misty's is absolutely killing it when it comes to the American food. The entree was enjoyable, the desserts were amazing, some of the shakes and burgers I saw coming out of the kitchen looked absolutely insane ... Having a parma on the menu of a place so authentically American was an anomaly to begin with. If you want a unique American styled parma experience check out Smokehouse 101. I would recommend a trip to Misty's just for the experience, its definitely a place worth at least one trip - But stick to the American grub unless you're really desperate for a parma.

Pros

• Quality tasty buttermilk fried chicken (independent from toppings)
• Amazing desserts and entrees
• Decent chips
• Unique dining experience in Australia

Cons

• Odd choices for toppings did not mix well with other ingredients
• Burnt garlic bread
• Dry, tasteless salad

Parma - 6.20

Chips - 5.60

Salad - 2.60

Value - 4.60

Total - 5.04

The search continues...

#256 - 'The Swan'

Where? - 425 Church St. Richmond

Price? - $19, $21 with the addition of ham

Website? - http://theswan.com.au/

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

There are quite a few pubs on Swan Street, and quite a few parmas. We've hit a couple already (The Precinct, The Corner, The Richmond Club Hotel and The Rising Sun), but we have yet to find one that has blown us out of the water - Swan Street parmas have typically straddled the line between "meh" and "not bad", so when I received yet another recommendation to give the Swan Hotel a crack I wondered ... Could this be the one?

On arrival the pub was already pumping with diners, but parmas did not seem to be the hot ticket for the night - On Thursday nights at the Swan the steak is king, offering a (quite decent looking) cut of beef for $12.

I stuck my head out the back and was very impressed with the beer garden - With a much more modern vibe than the pub itself I could see it as the perfect place for a lazy feed and Sunday sippers on a warm summer afternoon.

We secured our table, checked the menu and was met with a choice...

The parma at the Swan does not come with ham as standard, there's a $2 surcharge if you want to get some pork on your fork. I've been asked this question a lot and I firmly stand in the opinion that a Parma doesn't need ham if the other elements are outstanding enough that the extra flavour isn't needed ... But I'm not gonna take that gamble on an unknown parma. Getting ham on the parma was an absolute no-brainer and out of the 6 people at tonight's review not one went without opting in.

We placed our orders at the bar, the bartender commenting "You guys know it's steak night, right?"

The beer list had all the standards, Nothing overly adventurous, but enough to satisfy most punters. To be honest everything else went blurry once I saw they had Stone & Wood on tap.

I'm going to preface the comments in the following couple of paragraphs by saying that opinion on this parma was controversial to say the least. Thoughts seemed to be split down the middle amongst the table as to whether it was good or not. I enjoyed it, but I'll try to make sure all opinions are heard.

The schnitzel was great quality. A little smaller than some would like, but it had enough thickness to be a solid meal. Pure white chicken breast throughout, could have been a little juicier, but by no means dry. The crumbs were applied conservatively - nice and crispy on the sides but carrying a slight hint of sogginess on the bottom/under the toppings.

Quite a good foundation for the meal.

The toppings were quite tasty - the Napoli was fresh (some detected a slight "tinny" flavour that I didn't get at all) and applied liberally. The ham was a welcome addition, while the parma was pretty good it definitely needed the ham to carry it over the line. I detected a slight smokiness that I considered quite pleasant, but some of the others at the table said that it "tasted burnt" ... each to their own I guess!

The cheese blend was the star. Full of flavour, plenty of it and grilled to (what I consider to be) bubbly golden brown perfection, I even loved the shards of crispy cheese from where the blend had dripped onto the fry pan.

The chips were an absolute triumph. Served seperate from the Parma, they were beer battered, perfectly cooked, well seasoned, hot and fresh. As it was the aforementioned steak night there was a bit of a "serve your own sauce bar" set up on one side of the bar with three types of mustard, tomato sauce and garlic aioli ... What more could a guy want? Our only criticism for the chips would be that there just weren't enough of them. It was about half a handful shy of being a satisfying side.

The garden salad was probably the weakest part of the dish. Not terrible, but just a wilted, oily afterthought. Not a lot of flavour and definitely nothing to write home about

“Great seasoned chips, parma was tasty but the salad needed some more love”

— Tony

“All the elements of a good parma were there, but I can’t quite put my finger on why this parma didn’t do it for me. Good, but not great”

— Nikki

“It rates higher after a few drinks on a Sunday arvo in the beer garden!”

— Grace

“Cheese, ham & napoli portions were spot on. Chips & salad were tasty. Value will definitely rate higher on their Wednesday discounted parma night”

— Matt

“I found the bird to be quite bland. The main flavour for me was burnt crumb. The napoli had a delectable texture however no flavour whatsoever created sogginess if anything. Chips tasted great but shame it was such a small portion.”

— Stefo

I think the Swan should ditch the option of the $19 Ham-less parma and just go the whole hog for $21. $21 isn't that expensive for what we received, and the ham was definitely a great addition to the dish.

As far as parma specials go at the Swan, they have a Wednesday "Parmageddon" which is very enticing - $12 with a bunch of novelty varieties. A perfect time to go and dip your feet in if you're on the fence about this one.

Despite some mixed opinions on this parma I walked out satisfied, and I think pretty much everyone else did - The argument was by no means between "Good" or "Bad", it was more between "Good" or "Great". By no means the best parma we've had - but the best we've had in Swan Street? I think so (so far, at least)

Pros

• Quality chicken breast with a delicious cheese blend
• Great chips

Cons

• Ham should be standard, not a $2 surcharge
• Lackluster salad
• Not enough chips

Parma - 7.45

Chips - 8.07

Salad - 5.67

Value - 6.73

Total - 7.07

The search continues...

#255 - 'The Railway Hotel'

Where? - 35 Anderson St. Yarraville

Price? - $22.50

Website? - http://www.facebook.com/Railway-Hotel-Yarraville

Reviewers – Cale, Lee, Nikki, Stefo & Shanan

After picking the Railway as our target earlier in the week I had no idea that we had visited before until I looked up the address as we were headed out the door.

Back in 2011, for attempt #38 we visited an Irish pub in Yarraville known as the Blarney Stone. I had heard many great things about this new pub in the area called the Railway Hotel ... But I never put two and two together that they were the same pub. I had no idea the Blarney had even closed its doors.

We picked the Railway based on a recent article in the Herald Sun that listed the state's top parmas. The article touted the Railway as 3rd best in the state - and was the only pub in the top 5 that we had yet to visit. Naturally, that put it on the top of our list. So we loaded up the parma bus and headed to the shockingly narrow streets of Yarraville to see what they had to offer.

Inside, the newly renovated Railway Hotel is very impressive, A million miles ahead of when it was the Blarney. The front bar is spacious with plenty of table space available, plenty of TV's to catch the sport of the day and even has a cosy courtyard off to the side for when the sun comes out.

The dining area out the back is a bit more formal, but equally as impressive. After last week's booking debacle I made sure to call ahead this week and reserve a table, which put us in the dining room for the evening.

We sat, munched on our complimentary warm bread rolls, and checked the menu for our target -

Done and done.

The tap list was adequate. Nothing too crafty but still a few options. I opted for the Cricketers' Scorcher for most of the night - A lovely drop.

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

The schnitzel was big enough, but quite (and I'm going to use a this word a lot in the following few paragraphs) bland. The chicken was quality breast, but quite dense and lacking a lot of moisture, which had all seemed to have soaked into the crumbs - which were a soggy mess by the time the parma hit the table.

It was thick enough, and cooked quite well, but completely devoid of personality. A competent foundation for the parma, but by no means perfect.

The toppings are where this parma really goes off the rails. First up there is no ham, for a $22 parma I find this very surprising as ham is usually the first thing to go when there are cost cutting measures in play for a parma - But I always say that a parma can easily survive a lack of ham if the other elements are quality. The parma that started this website at the Prince of Wales Hotel didn't have ham and we still consider that the best parma that ever existed.

I could see the napoli on the parma when it was put on the table, but there was so little of it they might as well have not even opened the can. You can see from the cross section photo above that this meal was basically a chicken schnitzel with cheese - the napoli was completely undetectable.

The cheese could have done with another few minutes under the grill and was mostly pretty bland. That's exactly what this parma was - bland from top to bottom.

The chips were the best thing on the plate and the saving grace for this parma. Beer battered, well seasoned, crispy and hot with a pillowy center. Tomato sauce was supplied on request without hesitation for some much appreciated chip dippage. My only criticism being the serving size - Just a half of a handful too small to be satisfying.

The garden salad was pretty decent. Granted I picked a lot of the onion out to put with the parma to give it some semblance of flavour. But all the ingredients were fresh and crisp - with a rather flavoursome dressing. Not the best thing on the plate, but not the worst ... a fine side to the meal.

“The best part of the meal was the free roll. How on earth was this rated third best by the Herald Sun?”

— Nikki

“Very bland, not much flavour. Pricey for what was served”

— Cale

“How this is #3 in the Herald Sun’s top parmas is beyond me! This thing was average at best. There was very little flavour to the dish. Great journalism Herald Sun. What a joke!”

— Stefo

After finishing the meal we sat in shock. How could this have gotten voted #3 in Victoria by the Herald Sun? I re-read the write up that was printed and it suddenly became very clear. The Herald Sun reviewed the Railway on a Tuesday night. Tuesday night is a whole different ball game, as the price drops to $15 per parma with a choice of original, satay, Mexican, meatlovers or Mediterranean.

Thats what this parma needs. Novelty toppings.

With the quality chips, salad and okay chicken breast, if you throw some meatlovers or Mexi-toppings on this parma and it would have come to life! But as it stands on every other day of the week the original parma is severely lacking in the flavour department.

As much as I enjoyed the look of this pub I can't bring myself to recommend it at full price. $22.50 is far too expensive for a parma without ham and minimal napoli. It might be worth checking out on a Tuesday from the Herald Sun's recommendation alone - and if not you're only out $15, but on any other night I'd give it a miss.

Pros

• Quality chips
• Decent salad

Cons

• No Ham
• Next to no napoli
• Extremely soggy crumbs

Parma - 3.25

Chips - 6.50

Salad - 5.63

Value - 4.00

Total - 4.53

The search continues...

#254 - 'The Pascoe Vale Hotel'

Where? - 12 Railway Parade, Pascoe Vale

Price? - $23

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

Reviewers – Lee & Nikki

Leaving the house last night we had not intended to visit the Pascoe Vale Hotel. Our intended target for this week's review was supposed to be a redo of the Keilor East RSL after hearing from a few sources that they had drastically lifted their game since our 2012 review. Well apparently word has spread because we rocked up to the RSL to find it packed to capacity - To the point that people were standing around waiting for a table to open up. As a group we are pretty impatient, and damn hungry by the time it comes to 7pm on a Thursday night - So we went back to the ParmaBus™ and frantically googled locations nearby that we have yet to visit ... and that's how we found the Pascoe Vale Hotel.

(We haven't forgotten about the Keilor East RSL either, if anything after seeing that insane crowd has only piqued our interest further ... we'll get there soon, and we'll book a table this time).

Being the nerd I am I know the area around the Pascoe Vale Hotel quite well due to my many trips to MSY Computers, known as The place to be if you're ever in the mood to queue for an hour to buy an extra stick of RAM or a new CPU - Yet in all my years of going there I never felt the need to visit the Pascoe. Looking at it from the outside it always came of as a bit of a  ... I'm trying to think of a word that sounds less harsh than "dive", but I don't think I can.

So imagine my surprise when we walked in and found a fantastically renovated sports bar...

Colour me impressed - This is not what I was expecting at all. A wide open bar with a great modern aesthetic. The staple TAB and pool tables all looked clean and well kept, and the beer garden looked damn impressive had it not been a bit of a crappy night.

We walked past the sports bar, through the gaming area (this pub is big) and found the bistro. Took a seat, checked the menu. the parma runs at $23 with no specials on it that I could see. Placed the order at the bar and ordered a couple of pints to go with it.

Beer selection in the bistro is pretty much limited to Carlton Draught or Extra Dry - There was a bigger selection in the sports bar, but that was too far of a walk for me ... So I just went with the Draught - $8 a pint.

After a 15 minute wait our meals appeared...

I won't lie, my expectations of the Pascoe's parma were pretty low - So imagine my surprise when the schnitzel was pure, white, unprocessed chicken breast. Hand crumbed with a great crunch - Unfortunately mine spent a little too much time on the grill and came out fairly burnt, this is usually excusable but the black spots added a distinct charcoal taste that permeated the dish.

If you like cheesey parmas then this is one for you - I think there was more cheese than their was chicken. Gooey and well cooked, the cheese was probably the element I have the least to complain about.

The napoli was as plentiful as the cheese, but had a very acidic (possibly metallic) aftertaste that absolutely dominated the dish. If they could have backed it off a little I would have been much happier with this parma. The ham was there, but didn't add anything to the flavour profile.

The chips were standard pub chips - Nothing bad, points for not serving them under the parma. I cursed myself for not ordering a side of gravy for chip dipping. They were fine ... nothing great, but nothing to write home about either

The salad was surprisingly fresh and had a real "home made" vibe to it. It looked great on the plate and everything was fresh and crisp. I could have used a bit more ingredients-wise other than a few cucumber slices and some onion slivers - Much like the chips the salad was good, but not great.

I think $23 is a little steep for this parma - Without a parma special I won't be rushing out to have it again. for $18-$19 I could forgive a lot of its sins, but at $23 the Pascoe Vale Hotel's parma is a little too rich for my blood.

The Pascoe Vale Hotel and the parma therein definitely exceeded my expectations. I was absolutely shocked at how good the pub looked inside. The parma had some elements of greatness, it just faltered a little too many times in its execution for me to give it a seal of approval. If there's a parma night on that I'm not aware of its worth a crack, otherwise I won't be champing at the bit to go back.

Pros

• Quality chicken breast schnitzel
• Plenty of cheese
• Fresh salad

Cons

• Burnt schnitzel
• Napoli had metallic tang

Parma - 6.00

Chips - 4.50

Salad - 5.00

Value - 5.00

Total - 5.35

The search continues...

#253 - 'The Birmingham Hotel'

Where? - 333 Smith St. Fitzroy (corner Johnston & Smith St)

Price? - $21. Tuesday Parma Night available

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

Reviewers – Fridge, Lee, Nikki, Stefo

And we're back! I hope everyone had a lovely holiday break brimming with quality parmas.

2016 is upon us, and while we discovered some outstanding birds last year I was a little perturbed that there wasn't a single shake-up to our top ten. 2015 was the first year since the inception of this website that the ten highest rating parmas didn't change at all - So I resolved that '16 was the year of the big guns.

No more picking locations based on how far I have to travel because its been a long day at work, no more picking pubs because there's a comic shop around the corner I want to check out ... None of that nonsense any more. Only the highest recommended parmas on the cards this year - We're gonna kick the search for the perfect parma into high gear... First on the list? The Birmingham.

A couple of years back I looked into trying the Birmingham, but the word on the grape vine was that it was mediocre at best, it was on the list for sure - but not a priority.

Then the recommendations started rolling in.

Towards the end of last year it seemed like every week we were getting an email asking us to try the Birmy, as our schedule was quite packed with pubs to try I kept putting it off, but after another five recommendations over the off season I knew it had to be first cab off the rank in the new year.

So last night we loaded up the parma bus for the first time in 2016 and headed to the Birmy.

Walking in I was blown away at the contrast between outside the pub and inside. Outside looks like your standard Fitzroy dive bar - Inside is a whole new story. Polished wood everywhere, plush leather stools - it's a bright and vibrant pub with a rustic feel that you'd never imagine looking at it from the street.

The Birmy is a pub of many rooms. To the left of the main bar was a large open space (currently hosting a function) that I imagine to be a dining room. To the right of the bar is a walk through to the "Workshop", a high roofed space that was brimming with tables already booked out for the Thursday trivia night. Past that is a small outdoor ground-level courtyard featuring a large TV for those keen on watching the game - and above that is a quaint rooftop beer garden.

We would've snapped up a table on the rooftop had Melbourne's weather, the harsh bi-polar mistress that she is, not been so unpleasant - So instead we grabbed a stool at one of the solid wood tables by the bar.

Grabbed a menu and spied our prize...

Easy done. Ordered at the bar.

The Birmy has a great range of beers on tap, running the full gamut from Draught to Craft - enough to keep anyone happy. The "beer of the month" was $8 pints of 4 Pines, so that was the beer du jour for the day.

After a 20 minute wait, the parmas arrived from the kitchen and ... Holy crap....

As soon as the birds hit the table I knew we were in for something special, and slicing through the schnitzel my suspicions were confirmed.

The chicken breast was plump, thick and unfathomably juicy. Pure white and cooked to perfection. When it comes to foundations for a quality parma this is how you do it. My only (very minor) criticism for the entire dish would be that the bottom of the parma got quite soggy towards the end - I think as a result of the sheer juiciness of the chicken.

On the subject of crumbs they were well cooked, crunchy (before the aforementioned sogg got to them) and had a fantastic flavour.

The toppings? Also stellar. Lets start with the ham - Straddling the line between sliced and shredded, it was in absolute abundance and carried a brilliant smokiness that permeated the dish and complimented the chicken perfectly. The napoli was fresh and light - Making its presence known without overpowering the other elements. The cheese was applied super liberally, there wasn't a single scrap of schnitzel nudity - Melted to golden brown perfection.

I literally cannot find fault with the toppings of this parma

The chips? Another victory. Beer battered, golden brown beauties - and plenty of them. The sauce pot you can see on the plate above comes standard with the parma for chip-dippage (no need to ask) and when the parmas hit the table we were asked if we also would like some garlic aioli to go with it. Hell yes we would like some garlic aioli! You can never have too many options for chip dip. Phenomenal.

The salad was (you guessed it) another win. It didn't seem like much looking at it - Just a simple garden salad, yet the dressing which was thoroughly worked through carried a fantastic flavour. The ingredients were crisp, fresh and flavoursome without being overpowering - Everything you want out of a salad.

“Wow. I am so impressed with this entire meal. The beer battered chips were cooked to perfection, worked well with the accompanying tomato sauce and the offer of aioli was also greatly appreciated! I’m very impressed. Hats off to the chef”

— Nikki

“Wow! What a way to start the year!”

— Stefo

“Holy sh*t Batman! F*ck me drunk... Lock up yo daughters, lock up your wives - I haven’t had a parma as good as this in years. Piping hot, smokey ham, napoli to die for. Crispy chips and the salad was awesome... Just awesome”

— Fridge

I'd pay the menu price of $21 for this parma any day of the week. This is easily a $25 parma - for $21 its an absolute steal. The menu and website mentions that the Birmy has a $10 Parma Tuesday, with some novelty options available at an extra charge -

If the Tuesday version is anywhere near the quality of the full priced version? I'd have no qualms calling this the best parma night in Melbourne. If you have the Tuesday version and its the same quality as the full priced be sure to let me know.

**UPDATE** The Birmy just got in touch to let me know that it is the same quality parma on $10 Tuesday as pictured above. Hot Diggity.

For the first parma of 2016 I wanted to come out swinging. Never did I expect this. You're going to see the scores in a moment so I think I'm okay to spoil the surprise - The Birmingham Hotel is the best parma we have had so far. I'm sitting here trying to pick anything I didn't like about it but I'm coming up empty. Even the things we don't score on were perfect (the service was absolutely outstanding, the range of beers was awesome and the general vibe of the pub was salubrious) - The constant recommendations I received last year actually make sense now.

It's also worth noting that there is an eggplant parma available for $19 for the vego's ... Although I'm guessing not many vegetarians would read this far into a review about a chicken parma, good to know its there.

The rest of 2016 has its work cut out for it if this is where we set the bar. The Birmingham's parma is nigh on perfection. I can't describe in words how well this bird hit the mark - If you haven't tried it yet get down there now - I can't recommend it enough.

Parma - 9.38

Chips - 9.13

Salad - 8.88

Value - 8.75

Total - 9.10

The search continues...

2015 Parma of the Year awards

Hold on! Don't finish the year just yet! We've got some Golden Chooks to hand out. Well that was 2015! Quite a milestone packed year that rung in both our 5 year anniversary and 250th parma review! It was quite the year for the non-traditional parma, with a BBQ Bacon parma that blew our socks off, a curry sauce parma that was so packed with flavour it still invades my dreams, and a bunch of shredded-ham delights in my favourite beer garden in the state.

We ate a hell of a lot of chook in 2015, and also witnessed more getting eaten in one sitting than any mere mortal should deem possible. All up it was a stellar year with some phenomenal birds ... Now it's time to give them the trophies.

Now we give out two awards each year, Best New Parma, is awarded to the best parma we have had in the 2015 season, and Parma of the Year, which is awarded to the pub who sits at #1 on our ladder. Both are extremely rare and prestigious awards, the Oscars better watch their backs as we have our sights set to overtake them in popularity very soon.

So without further ado, lets start with the Best New Parma…

Best new parma

This pub was an unexpected delight. In an area not renowned for its pubs, this one blew our socks clean off. The pub itself is a beautiful spot to grab a beverage, with both cosy on-street dining area and a more than impressive beer garden tucked away out the back. If you're after a unique spot to grab a pre/post MCG drink, you should probably put this one on your calendar. Massive congratulations to...

Aviary Hotel

If we divided the parma awards into "best ham", "best napoli" and "best cheese" categories I reckon the Aviary would have taken them in a clean sweep. The toppings on this parma are second to none. Absolutely exploding with flavour. The chicken breast was pure, piping hot and packed with a unique lemon zing, and if that's not enough for you there's the option to throw on some jalapenos. If you haven't yet its worth checking out our full review here

Congratulations guys!

If you're too lazy to check the full review, below is the pic of the parma the first time we had it, note the unique salad/coleslaw hybrid, which Reviewer Stefo dubbed "sal-slaw, a fanstastic addition to the dish.

The Aviary accepted the trophy with glee, and it quickly found a home on the shelf behind the bar...

Congratulations again to the Aviary!

Parma of the Year

Is it even worth hyping it up any more? You know what its gonna be.

Taking out the Golden Chook for the Fourth consecutive year, the Imperial Hotel is still second to none.

As a celebration of the end of 2015 we arrived at the Impy on Sunday to present them with their trophy, as well as get our fix of the best parma Melbourne has to offer (in our opinion, anyway).

However the Imperial has a new surprise...

A stunning new rooftop bar has been built at the tippy top!

After ascending what seems like at least twenty gazillion stairs, the rooftop now opens out into a stunning rooftop area with a view to die for...

Unfortunately we picked the one day of the last week where the skies opened up with rain, so after appreciating the sights we headed back down and got down to the important business ... the parmas.

I was a little concerned when the parmas first fell ... Has it shrunk?!

Luckily not, it was just not hammered down enough. Shortly after tucking in everyone at the table was sitting back emitting groans of contentment - This parma is still a beast, still delicious, still number 1.

Notice the sign above the fridge? Love it ... although its gonna need an update!

Congratulations (yet again!) to the Imperial Hotel

And with that, 2015 is done. Be sure to stay tuned for 2016! I'm looking at my "list of parmas" taped to the wall of my office and there are quite a few that I'm very excited about. We've got some other things in the works that I can't announce just yet, but rest assured they're going to be all sorts of awesome.

Oh, and I promise we'll get another podcast out in 2016.

Congratulations again to the winners, a massive thank you to all you readers, especially those who follow my shenanigans on all the social medias (facebook, twitter, instagram), and a huge thanks to the Review Team ... Who I doubt will actually read this, but my gratitude is with them none the less.

Hope you all have a great holiday, and awesome New Year, and we will catch you in January!

Cheers.

#252 - 'Mollie's Bar & Diner'

Where? - 103-105 Smith St. Fitzroy

Price? - $12 Parma Wednesdays, $16 off the specials board

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

Reviewers – Lee, Matt, Nikki, Taylor

29/03/17 - Update - OUR GOOD FRIENDS AT THE MELBOURNE CHEAPSKATE HAVE UNDERGONE A REBIRTH AS CHUG. Check them out when you get a chance!

Well it's that time again - The last parma of 2015. It has been a solid year of some interesting discoveries - But I'll cover all of the yearly-round-up stuff in the Parma of the Year post coming either late December or early January (depending on how long it takes to get the Golden Chook trophies made up).

A couple of months ago I got an email from Taylor of Chug, asking if he can join us for a parma and a chat. It took a little time to work out a suitable location when we were both free, but we managed to squeak it in at the last parma for the year - The target? Mollie's Bar & Diner in Fitzroy, which fit both of our needs perfectly as it was a) a parma, and b) with a $12 parma Wednesday special, cheap as hell.

So we loaded up the parma bus, headed to Fitzroy and met up with Mr. Chug himself...

If I had've known I was dining with such a glorious beard I wouldn't have shaved mine off three weeks ago

I didn't really know what to expect when ascending the stairs to Mollie's, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got there.

The pub itself is basically one room with a bar at one end and a food truck at the other (yep, the food truck is in the pub), there is a door behind the bar that leads out to a very impressive and well hidden outdoor area, and it was a lovely Melbourne evening we pulled up a pew out there.

The ordering process at Mollie's is unique to say the least, On every table you'll find a few pens and this pre-printed pad -

Simply fill out what you want, take it to the bar and they will send your order over to the food truck (I'm not sure exactly how they do this, but I like to imagine they fold the order sheets into paper airplanes and fly them across the room). As the parma is currently a "special" ($12 on Wednesdays, $16 all other times) we simply wrote "PARMA X 4" in the box and took it up to the bar.

One thing worth noting - For the $12 parma special you get a choice of chips or salad, not both. We all went with chips so we didn't get a peek at the salad on offer - I couldn't ascertain if the full priced parma came with both or also offered the same choice.

About 20 or so minutes after ordering our parmas arrived...

Normally a $12 parma special is a guarantee of a processed, oversized chicken nugget of  a schnitzel - So I was pleasantly surprised when we were delivered a plump, juicy chicken breast. Crumbed and fried to perfection with the perfect amount of crunch. Other than being a little bit small the schnitzel was pretty hard to fault. Expectations had been exceeded, lets see if they could bring it for the toppings...

... Kind've. The cheese was flavoursome with a good coverage and grilled to a perfect crispy golden brown. The ham was applied liberally (also rare for cheapo parma).

The napoli was ... Different. Quite thick and tomato pastey, although it had some home-made looking herbs through it. It carried a very sweet, almost sugary tang that permeated the entire dish. It wasn't bad, but it was unexpected, and a very distracting element on what was otherwise a damn good parma special.

The chips were pretty standard. Unseasoned pub chips. Kind've boring until we saved them with liberal application of salt and tomato sauce. I was hoping for a little more flair when they were the lone side to the parma - They were fine, by no means bad, but just felt a little phoned in.

As none of us partook in the salad we're invoking the You Don't Win Friends With Salad rule for this parma.

“A solid parma for the price. Can’t fault the meat or toppings, however a little on the small side. Chips were average”

— Taylor

“Lovely quality parma for a parma special. It was a little small but quite tasty. Chips were a bit boring and would have loved a sala”

— Nikki

“I found this to be a unique parma, mostly from the crumbs and cheese. while choice of only chips or salad, pretty great value for $12”

— Matt

The rule of thumb for the YDWFWS rule is that the lack of salad is reflected in the value of the parma - but even after taking that hit this is still a damn tantalising parma special. The Fitzroy Beer Garden around the corner (formerly Sentido Funf) has arguably the more famous Wednesday parma night in the area, but I reckon the bird at Mollie's gives it a run for its money, and is definitely worth your consideration the next time you're out.

And like that ... We're done for 2015! Massive thanks to Taylor for coming down and contributing to the review, and be sure to check out Chug whenever you're on the hunt for a cheap feed

Be sure to stay tuned some time in the next 30 days-ish for the Golden Chook awards, thanks a heap for your support this year - and we will be back and hitting the parmas again in early 2016!

Pros

• Great quality chicken
• Won't sting your wallet if you go on a Wednesday

Cons

• A little on the small side
• Chips OR salad

Parma - 8.00

Chips - 5.75

Salad - 5.00

Value - 7.25

Total - 6.80

The search continues...

#251 - 'The Leveson: Redux'

Where? - 46 Leveson St. North Melbourne

Price? - $25

Website? - http://www.theleveson.com/

Reviewers – Bearder, Lee, Luke, Nikki, Shanan.

Just a quick note - This review was written on the week of the 16th of November - We just held it in the bank for a week or so as to not screw up our numbering for parma #250 last week... Enjoy!

Well the deed is done. Reviewers Tony and Grace got hitched on the weekend (Congratulations guys) and as a recovery on Sunday a bunch of seedy individuals made their way to the Leveson for a bit of a post-wedding catch up. After ordering we realised that most of the people in attendance were ParmaDaze reviewers, so we might as well make it official and give the Leveson a much needed redo!

The Leveson was the third parma we ever reviewed back in 2010. We were still finding our feet and working out what the hell we were trying to do with this website (I'm still not sure we've entirely worked it out) but none the less we found ourselves at the Leveson with a pretty tasty parma. In the last five years the Leveson's reputation for a quality bird has only grown, and for the longest time I have felt we needed to give them another shake. So, slightly hung over from a very large night a few hours previous, we grabbed the menu and ordered the world's greatest hangover cure ... the parma.

There is a decent range of beers on tap at the Leveson, and some hair of the dog was definitely in order. I went with a pint of Stone and Wood, but there were quite a few other options both on tap and bottled.

People were arriving in dribs and drabs (whenever they could drag themselves out of bed, really), So the parmas came out of the kitchen in pretty staggered intervals. Reviewers Nikki and myself were the first to order (we don't mess around), so ours were the first to come out of the kitchen, about 15 minutes after ordering.

As is tradition with Redos, we compare the last time we had the Leveson's parma with the new one...

Last time -

This time -

First up this parma was served piping hot straight from the kitchen. The schnitzel was a decent size, plump, just the right thickness on the schnitzel with pure white, juicy chicken breast. The crumbs were crunchy top and bottom with no trace of any soggyness. The chicken was outstanding quality and cooked to perfection - An absolutely fantastic foundation for this parma.

The Leveson parma is one for the cheese lovers - Almost more cheese than there was chicken on this bad boy. Grilled to golden brown perfection while still maintaining its gooeyness throughout. A tasty blend with fantastic coverage.

The shredded ham was full of flavour and definitely made its presence known, they weren't at all tight with it and it complimented the meal perfectly - The Napoli, however, might be the only point at which this parma started to stumble. There just wasn't enough of it. For a parma with a ridiculous amount of cheese and quite heavy on the ham I was struggling to get any napoli flavour in the dish. There was a bit of napoli if you hunted for it, but it tasted rather canned and tomato-pastey, a bit of a let down, but overall a minor complaint to a fantastic example of a parma.

The chips were on point, no doubt about it. Beer battered, well seasoned, well cooked, and a decent serving - Just how I like 'em. Not really anything to complain about here - They could only be improved with the addition of a chip dip or other sauce (and I'm currently spewing I didn't have the forethought to order one at the time).

The salad was a bit divisive. As it did last time, the Leveson's trademark garden salad comes with included freshly torn mozzarella cheese, which I love. They have switched out the cherry tomatoes for something a little more standard, and that is all chucked in on a bed of rocket... Which I'm not a big fan of. I love the cheese, but just cheese and tomato in a salad seems a little lacking. It was in desperate need of a handful of fresh onion and maybe some cucumber... as someone who isn't a big tomato eater this salad was pretty much just mozzarella cheese and lettuce leaves. Needed something to give it a bit more punch

“Good feed. The parma could’ve used a little more napoli”

— Shanan

“Tasty parma but it needed more napoli. Loved the cottage cheese in the salad, but I’m not a fan of rocket”

— Nikki

“Salad could have been better”

— Luke

$25 is definitely pricey for a parma - But the Leveson uses such quality ingredients that I honestly didn't mind shelling out the big bucks to partake. The Leveson runs a $19 Parma n' Pint Tuesdays which is fantastic value, and definitely one worth checking out.

The Leveson's parma is definitely one worth checking out. It's a little pricey but you can see where your dollars are going - everything on the plate is enjoyable, and (other than some minor complaints) it's pretty much a safe bet that you'll enjoy this one.

Pros

• Quality chicken breast
• Mozzarella cheese through the salad
• Chips were on point

Cons

• Not enough napoli
• Salad needed something more

Parma - 7.60

Chips - 7.60

Salad - 6.20

Value - 6.20

Total - 7.04

The search continues...

#250 - 'Precinct Hotel'

Where? - 60 Swan St. Richmond

Price? - $22.50

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

Reviewers – Lee, Matt, Nikki, Stefo

Well, here we are. A quarter-of-a-thousand chicken parma reviews. I'm not gonna go on about it, as I did that a lot on our 200th review (which doesn't seem that long ago, to be honest), but just a massive thanks to you all for helping ParmaDaze get this far, couldn't have done it without all of you readers, and a special thanks to the review team who put up their time and money every week to help this silly little website do its thing. Finally, as we did in our 100th parma review, a moment to honour all of the chickens that have given their lives in search for the perfect parma. I ran the numbers and over the course of 250 reviews we have ordered a total of 1567 parmas. Divide that number by 2 (as you get two breasts per chook) and we get the grand total of 783 (and a half) chickens that have given their lives in the search for the perfect parma.

Cluck cluck, my brothers ... cluck cluck.

So! How'd we pick the Precinct? You decided! If you look at our Facebook you'll see the full story, but the short version is we did a poll, and the Precinct in Richmond won the day. We loaded up the parma bus for the 250th time and headed to Richmond... We left at 6ish but didn't get there until almost 8, a half an hour drive blown to hell due to massive traffic. The cause? Hugh Jackman playing at Rod Laver Arena. Bloody Wolverine kept me from my parma from almost an hour.

The Precinct is one of those pubs that you walk into on a quiet night and can just tell things get loose on the Weekends. It's got the vibe of a nightclub that acts like a local pub on weeknights. The bar is absolutely massive with a very impressive courtyard out the back with its own, separate massive bar.

As we were already running behind schedule thanks to the Boy from Oz, we wasted no time in grabbing a beer, a menu and placing our order.

The pub had quite a few people for a Thursday, but as the Precinct is massive it didn't feel at all cramped, plenty of room for everyone to spread out.

If you like your beers on the craft side you're going to be disappointed. The Precinct is a CUB pub, so the craftiest thing you'll get on tap is probably the Fat Yak or Lazy Yak, didn't see much more variety in the bottles either, oh and there are no pint glasses either - Schooners are the biggest glass you'll get.

About 20-25 minutes after ordering our meals appeared from the kitchen -

I'm not gonna lie, my expectations for this parma were low. From some of my research online before heading out to the parma the general consensus on the food at the Precinct was "Meh".

So imagine my surprise when it was actually quite good! The schnitzel was pure chicken breast. Plump and juicy with stunning thickness throughout. Other than some soggy crumb issues this was an unexpectedy quality foundation for the dish.

The toppings were also quite good - the star being the smoked ham, which added a delicious smokey flavour throughout the dish that was very easily picked up. The napoli and cheese, while not being particularly noteworthy, served their purpose well. There was great coverage all round and this, overall, turned out to be a very tasty parma.

The chips were pretty good, pretty standard pub chips - Under seasoned, but quickly remedied with a salt shaker. They were served almost completely out from underneath the parma, which I applaud them for. Well cooked, good sized serving, just didn't really blow me away.

The salad was quite similar to the chips - Not bad. Fresh and crisp with a lot going on. Technically good, but not a lot of flair.

“Tasty! Could actually taste everything in the dish, which was a pleasant experience, yet for the price I’d like a little more on the plate or an upgrade on the sides”

— Stefo

“Loved the toppings - Particularly the smoked ham. Could be improved with some beer battered chips and less soggy crumbs”

— Nikki

“A very tasty parma”

— Matt

For $22.50 I'd happily return to the Precinct and pay that again. There's no mention of a specific "parma night" that I can see to get it any cheaper, however they do advertise a $15 "Lunch Break" which, while they don't specifically say parma anywhere ... you'd have to assume they do. Maybe.

I walked out of the Precinct happy. After arriving with very low expectations and in a horrible mood due to Jackman-related traffic issues they must have done something right to turn it around. The Precinct parma isn't perfect, but its a good, honest pub meal thats worth a crack if you find yourself in the area - definitely worth keeping in mind if you're after a feed after the Footy/Cricket/Hugh Jackman performance. If they put a tad more love into the sides it'd be a more well rounded meal, but they've done well where its important.

Pros

• Quality chicken breast
• Smoked ham extremely flavoursome

Cons

• Soggy crumbs

Parma - 7.63

Chips - 6.50

Salad - 6.38

Value - 6.75

Total - 6.98

The search continues...

#249 - 'Harbour Town Hotel'

When? - 19th of November, 2015

Where? - 9/12 Star Circus, Docklands

Price? - $24 Traditional, $26 Hawaiian

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

Reviewers – Lee, Matt, Nikki, Stefo

UPDATE 02/11/18 - HARBOUR TOWN IS NO MORE! AND IN ITS PLACE IS URBAN ALLEY BREWERY - WHICH WE HAVE ALSO REVIEWED. NEW REVIEW IS HERE!

I've had the Harbour Town Hotel on the list for a couple of years now, yet it has kind've just sat there, constantly overlooked for a different option as I find it hard to build up the motivation to actually go to that area Docklands. That whole area just has a vibe of depression and desperation that's hard to lift. But at the same time I felt that the Harbour Town had some potential, every time I have been past the place has been packed, granted it was always either before or after an AIHL Ice Hockey game at the adjacent Icehouse, but surely all those people can't be wrong, So last night I decided that we need to find out, once and for all, what the Harbour Town Hotel has to offer.

The Harbour Town Hotel is in the shadow (both literally and figuratively) of one of Melbourne's biggest wastes of time and money - The Southern Star (That thing with the cool lights you see when driving over the Bolte), So close in fact that you could see the deserted box office from where we ate our parmas. We arrived at the pub just before 7 and walked in to find the place absolutely deserted. We grabbed a table, some pints of Blue Moon and took a seat.

The Harbour Town is actually a decent looking pub, absolutely massive with a large decked area for beers in the sun and even a pool table around the back, something rarely seen in this day and age. As I said I've seen this pub busy, and when it is it has a great atmosphere. When its quiet? Not so much. The sheer size of the place just made it feel more empty, not to mention a musty smell of what seemed like old potatoes didn't help matters much either.

For the curious we sat beside those orange circles on the left that look like Jupiter

Beers in hand we checked the menu -

Screen shot 2015-11-19 at 1.44.21 PM

And placed the order, with reviewers Nikki and myself springing an extra $1 for a side of gravy with out parmas for chip-dipping purposes.

The beer list at the Harbour Town is okay -

Nothing that will blow your socks off, but as a perpetual Blue Moon fan I was satisfied, although the pints we were poured were a touch too warm for my liking, and missing the trademark slice of orange - Weird for a pub that seems to hold Blue Moon in a very high regard.

Before we could get halfway through our pints the parmas hit the table...

No hiding it, the "schnitzel" on this parma was straight up, heart shaped, processed to the max, out of the packet, oversized chicken nugget.

Need I say more? For the past few weeks I had retired the "cross section" image (I had a bit of a crisis when I considered that maybe people don't want to see photos of my half eaten food) but I'm bringing it back for this one, so you can see the horrid crumb-to-chicken ratio...

The toppings were actually decent, and put in their best efforts to bring this parma back from the brink of absolute crappiness. The cheese was a good blend of tasty and mozzarella, good coverage and grilled to a perfect golden brown and they weren't at all tight with the lashings of ham.

The napoli tasted a bit canned and had a slight metallic aftertaste, but it had some flavour and added to the dish - Had these toppings been on a chicken breast that wasn't one of the worst things I've seen in my life there may have been some hope for it.

The chips were pretty run of the mill. Completely unseasoned and sandwiched under the parma. They were well cooked but didn't have a lot of flavour - I'm just glad Nikki and I shelled out the extra $1 for some gravy for chip-dippage, as that helped them quite a bit. If you find yourself at the Harbour Town I recommend doing the same.

The salad was akin to the chips - Not bad, but not great either. Well dressed and fresh with plenty of onion, cucumber and tomato. If fulfilled its purpose without offending too much.

$24 for this parma is utterly outrageous, no question. The Harbour Town runs a $15 Parma Monday, and even that is a bit pricey in my opinion. To me this is a $10 parma, Maybe $15 if you threw in a free pint ... $24 is simply laughable for a processed schnitz.

In short my thoughts on the parma at the Harbour Town are the same to my thoughts on the Southern Star - A waste of time and money. If you're at the Icehouse next hockey season by all means stop in at the Harbour Town for some pre-game beers (hopefully they remember to serve Blue Moon with orange by then), otherwise steer clear. I know there aren't many other options nearby if you're feeling like a parma but as Reviewer Stefo said in his quote you're probably better off saving your cash for an extra pint and going to the KFC next door instead.

Pros

• Toppings did their best to bring a horrible schnitzel to life

Cons

• Schnitzel was the epitome of processed

• $24 for a schnitzel that was the epitome of processed.

Parma - 3.63

Chips - 4.00

Salad - 4.00

Value - 3.25

Total - 3.70

The search continues...