2016 Parma of the Year awards

Well its December. The month where families gather to spend time with their loved ones, exchange heartfelt gifts, and read about which chicken parmigiana we thought was the best. It has been an interesting year for ParmaDaze, We enjoyed a parma in an American style diner, a parma designed by a MasterChef Champion, a Curry parma in a Japanese restaurant, a few parmas and some other heart-attack inducing grub on a road trip through the Southern United States, sampled every parma we could get our hands on during a week in Byron Bay and went yet another year without recording a new episode of our podcast.

Coleslaw seemed to be the big addition to parmas in 2016, it seemed like every second parma we had was sided with a serve of 'slaw as opposed to the traditional salad. I'm not complaining, a good slaw can really drive a parma home, but it is interesting to note that the trend seems to be swinging that way.

Now, for the Parma of the Year awards we normally give out two trophies, one for best parma overall (the top of the leaderboard) and another for best new parma that we found that year. As we have a new leader in 2016 our Parma of the Year and Best New Parma categories are one and the same, which means we only handed out a single trophy this year ... Only one award? That's no fun! So I've decided to hand out some honorary mentions for parmas of 2016 that have impressed us in other ways...

Outstanding chips

Ahh the chips. Nobody really cares about the salad, but everyone cares about the chips. But which ones stood out? We had some great examples of potato goodness in 2016 - But the absolute standout in my mind would be the roasted duck fat potatoes from the Empress Hotel

Seeing chip after chip every week its rare that we come across a form of fried potato beside a parma that makes me stop and think "damn, thats unique", and while not technically chips they definitely got our attention. 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 and something I'd like to see a lot more of in the future.

Most unexpectedly impressive parma

How we choose a location for our parma reviews every week depends on a lot of factors. Sometimes its a parma we've just heard about that does something unique or interesting, sometimes its a parma we've been recommended by readers, sometimes its a decent looking parma I spied on Instagram, and sometimes your wife is on late shift so you can't be bothered going far from home - You can normally spot these ones, they're the ones at pokies pubs or cafes, usually around Essendon or Moonee Ponds simply because we don't have time to travel far on a Thursday night - Hopes are never very high for these ones, which is why, when we found the parma at Crème, I was stunned.

I had written off the Crème parma as crap before we walked in the door, imagine my surprise when this sizeable and flavoursome bird fell in front of me. This isn't right! Crème is a cafe, not a pub! None the less they turned out an extremely enjoyable parma that I am thrilled to know is nearby when I need it.

Most improved parma

We had quite a few redo's this year, more than any year previous, and in that bunch of revisited pubs I was surprised at how many of them actually managed to pull up their socks and improve their product. Picking a winner for most improved parma is tough as there were so many good ones. In fact, I'm gonna need to call this one a tie, between The Rose Hotel in Fitzroy and Richmond's Royston Hotel.

The Rose Hotel underwent an amazing transformation. Both the parma and the pub itself are virtually unrecognisable. When we originally had it in 2010 it was absolutely horrible with zero redeeming qualities (other than the breadstick, which was a nice addition). In 2016 it was a damn fine bird. Quality chicken breast, tasty toppings, an all round hearty meal.

The Royston wasn't that bad to begin with, but they turned it into something phenomenal. If you throw out the scores for Chips, Salad and Value the Royston's parma is our second highest rated of all time, behind this year's Parma of the Year Winner. Both well deserving of the title of most improved parma.

Best Pub Dog

Who doesn't love a good pub dog? Who wouldn't want to be a pub dog? It isn't even a competition, this year's award goes to Billy at the Palace Hotel

Billy walks around the Palace likes he owns the place, and rightfully so, his face is literally on the walls in the beer garden and on the logo for the pub itself.

Oh, and the parma isn't half bad either.

I could go on, But there's a reason you're reading this post. It's time for the parma of the year...

Parma of the Year

Who would have thought when we walked into our first review of 2016 that we would be walking in to a new #1 parma for ParmaDaze. It's no secret so lets no bury the lead, Parma of the Year for 2016 goes to the outstanding Birmingham Hotel.

Its always controversial when a new leader is crowned, but I stand by it ... The above photo was taken last weekend when we presented the Birmy with their award and the parma is as tasty as it was in January. If you haven't yet you can read our original write-up here. Absolutely outstanding.

The lads at the Birmy were super stoked to receive their award. Always nice to see, quickly taking prime position over the front bar...

Congratulations to the Birmingham. An award well earned.

And with that another year is over! Massive thanks to all the readers for the support throughout the year, your comments, suggestions and abusive emails are what keep me going - Especially those who have already signed up to our 2017 Parma Knight's membership program, you guys are the real MVP's (memberships still available here ... Would make an awesome Christmas gift for the parma lover in your family ... Just sayin').

Also big thanks to the review team, When you drunkenly agreed to do a weekly parma with me after a filling meal at Mrs. Parmas I bet you didn't think we'd still be doing it 6 years later. Couldn't do it without you guys. Many thanks (although you need to get off your collective asses and come record another podcast with me).

Have an awesome holiday season, I'll most likely be posting of my exploits on Instagram more than anywhere else so that's probably worth following if you aren't already.

Should be back in action mid-January 2017 ... Catch you then!

#289 - 'The Royston: Redux'

Where? - 12 River St. Richmond

Price? - $24

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

Reviewers – Lee, Nikki & Tony

For about a year I've been hearing we need to go back to the Royston. "But it wasn't that bad, I don't think we need a redo" I used to say to myself, yet the emails that we had done it a disservice with our 2013 review kept pouring in. Out of curiosity I re-read our old review and admit that it might have come off a little harsh, I didn't remember disliking it as much as it seemed that we did back then, so out of a mixture of curiosity and the want to get all of you people off my back, we loaded up the parma bus and, for the last new review of the 2016 season, headed to the Royston.

The pub still looks as cool as it did back then, perfectly maintaining the retro 70's pub charm that it is known for. Rather than eating in the back dining room like we did originally we opted for a table in the front bar, where the atmosphere was much livelier.

I normally just post a grab of the menu that talks about the parma, but I was so impressed with some of the other delicious sounding items on offer that you can see it all...

Philly cheesesteak? Sticky toffee pudding?! Yes please!

The Royston prides itself on its beer list, and it did not disappoint this time around. I won't even bother listing the beers on tap as I don't think I've seen the same beer at the Royston twice. This is a craft beer lover's pub, and whenever you visit I'm sure you'll find something delicious.

Holy cow that's a photogenic parma. On the plate it looked absolutely phenomenal. Wasting no time we picked up our cutlery and tucked in.

Gone was the supermarket-deli-window thick crumbed schnitzel and in its place was a plump, juicy, pure white and lovingly hand crafted chicken breast. The crumbing lacked crunch and felt a little soggy, however that is pretty much the only criticism I have about this parma. It was damn near perfection, including the toppings which I'll get to in a minute.

The schnitzel was thick and stayed impossibly piping hot throughout the meal. It may have appeared a little small on a large white plate but trust me, this is a filling meal that you won't walk away from hungry. As far as schnitzels go this was a top notch foundation to any parma and light years ahead of the Royston's 2013 predecessor.

My praise for the toppings are just as positive as my praise for the schnitzel - Actually, I think even more so as I don't think I can come up with a single criticism. The 3 cheese blend was plentiful and toasted to golden brown perfection, the napoli was fresh, flavoursome and added a refreshing kick to the dish.

As for the ham I think the Royston has taken a cue from our current #1 rated parma The Birmingham, liberal lashings of smoked ham top the Royston parma, to the point where it might even be the most ham we've ever seen on a parma. The rich smokeyness of the ham topped this already stellar parma perfectly. The toppings were the strong point of the 2013 Royston parma, the 2016 version has taken the already great toppings and turned them up to 11. Bravo.

I know I keep referencing the 2013 version of the Royston parma but its Redo Week so shut up. In 2013 we were disappointed with what we received at the Royston, however one thing everyone agreed on was that the chips were absolutely phenomenal, some of the best we've had, however in 2016 those beer battered slices of pillowy soft-yet-crunchy perfection were nowhere to be seen and the Royston parma's chips had been downgraded to a much more standard pub chip.

They were fine, being served beside the parma and not underneath was definitely appreciated, however they were on to near chip-perfection in 2013 and nixing those amazing chips was definitely a step back.

Gone was the oily, rocket heavy salad of 2016 and in its place was a delightfully fresh and crisp coleslaw. If I've noticed one trend in parmas the last year or so is that regular salad is definitely on the way out and coleslaw is moving in as the default side to the dish ... I think I'm okay with this.

The Royston's coleslaw was light on the mayo and quite refreshing - Although a little heavy on the lemon juice (or maybe coriander?) as it had quite the sour kick to it.

“Wow. I absolutely loved the flavours in the toppings, especially the ham. This parma has improved greatly. Coleslaw was tasty but the chips were a little boring”

— Nikki

“Great parma, great flavours. Chips were extremely dry and let down the dish”

— Tony

The Royston parma clocks in at $24 most days of the week, which some might consider a little on the expensive side, yet I'd be perfectly fine paying that again. You get what you pay for in terms of quality of ingredients and this is a prime example. Tuesday nights at the Royston is parma night and you can score this bird for just $18, a fantastic deal. An even better deal is that ParmaDaze Parma Knights members have access to this parma for just $18 any day of the week on presentation of their Parma Knight's keyring ... Get yours now! (Apologies for the ad, gotta pay the bills somehow!)

The meal at the Royston is amazing, no two ways about it. Despite some issues with the sides the parma itself is a touch shy of parma perfection. Had they still used the chips from the 2013 version of their parma I reckon they'd be in serious contention for the top of the ladder. Even without them this is still an amazing meal, an amazing pub and definitely worth your time to check out.

Parma - 9.33

Chips - 6.50

Salad - 7.33

Value - 7.50

Total - 8.00

The search continues...

#288 - 'The Orrong Hotel'

Where? - 709 High St. Armadale

Price? - $18

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

Reviewers – Daniel, Ella, Katie, Lee, Nikki, Ryan & Stefo

It has been brought to my attention lately that we have been (unintentionally) ignoring the Eastern Suburbs a bit lately. For the record I've got nothing against the East side, but needing to power through peak hour traffic on a Thursday night when all I want to do is get a parma and some beers inside me isn't always super appealing. I know, I know, that isn't fair those on the other side of the Yarra, so in an effort to rectify our laziness we are going to do our best to get to the East side a little more often.

I asked around on Reddit last week for suggestions of East-side pubs worth hitting. We got a few suggestions but the one that stuck out in particular was the Orrong Hotel, from a cursory Google it looked like an old school, down to earth pub. We set the date, grabbed our passports and rode the parma bus through the Burnley tunnel to Armadale's Orrong Hotel.

The vibe I got from my internet searches was right - The Orrong is a pub dripping with class and old school cool. The front bar feels like your Dad's local watering hole while the back area opens up into a very swanky bistro, and I think I even spied a little courtyard action out past the dart boards (oh yeah, they have dart boards too).

There's a fantastic fireplace as you enter the bistro (pictured above) however we had to visit on the first day in 7 months that was over 30 degrees, so luckily it wasn't lit or we would have been sweating more than a chip under a hot schnitzel.

We took a seat in the Bistro (there were also seating options in the front bar but it was already pretty busy when we arrived just before seven) and checked the menu. After confirming the parma was on the menu -

Our eyes wandered to the other options. The Orrong is definitely shooting for the Gastropub market with a selection of delectable sounding 60 and 90 days aged Gippsland steaks, there are even garlic snails on the entree menu for those feeling adventurous.

The tap list is solid. Running the full gamut from basic to craft beers. A pint of Stone & Wood fetched $11, pretty standard and freaking delicious. (I just realised that I might mention Stone & Wood a little too much on this website. We don't have any sort of pay-per-mention deal going I swear ... It's just a delicious beer).

While waiting for our food to be cooked we spied a few parmas coming out of the kitchen. They looked good! Hopes were high this was gonna be a quality parma. About 20 minutes after placing the order a glorious "ding" rang from the kitchen and our parmas started to appear -

On first glance they looked great. My parma wasn't grilled quite as golden brown as the others around the table, but I think I may have hit the sweet spot while the others were a tad overdone. I picked up the very heavy (and impressive) steak knife that seem to be standard cutlery at the Orrong and tucked in.

Crap.

Everyone at the table knew it at first bite - This was a store bought schnitzel. It was thick, but a fair bit of that was the crumbing. Standard processed schnitzel criticisms to follow - Dense, dry, with a shell of doughy thick crumbing. What a shame.

*UPDATE 28/11/17* As you will be able to see in the comments section below, we were contacted by the Orrong in regards to their schnitzel quality, they are adamant that they don't use processed schnitzel in their parmas. It has been over a year since this review so fingers crossed their schnitzel has improved - And we'll do our best to get back to the Orrong soon and confirm!

Despite the unappealing schnitzel the toppings did their best. There was plenty of cheese and flavoursome napoli throughout - The ham was a little lost to the point where I had to check if it was there, but otherwise points to the toppings for trying their hardest to save this dish.

All up the parma has so much potential. I really wanted to like the Orrong as it seemed like a great pub and I was shocked as it didn't seem like the kind of place that would cheap out on the schnitzel.

The chips weren't great either. Totally unseasoned, quite starchy and felt as if they had been sitting for a while - Although the staff did offer tomato sauce pots to the table unsolicited, which is always a bonus.

The salad was pretty good. Ingredients were fresh and there was plenty of variety, however I felt it was all chopped quite finely, which made it difficult to eat without scooping up the lil' bits using your fork as a spoon. The choice of dressing got mixed reviews - I didn't mind it, but it wasn't popular with everyone around the table.

“I really dislike processed chicken so my heart sank with the first bite - Proper chicken breast would have been great as the toppings were quite tasty. Both salad and chips were unexciting, but it was a cool pub”

— Nikki

“Got my hopes up when I saw these coming out to other tables but my hopes were dashed upon my first bite into the disappointing processed chicken. If you feel like a giant chicken nugget with parma toppings, go for it!”

— Stefo

“Processed chook, non seasoned, not crispy chips, finely chopped basic salad and an orange plate! Don’t recommend”

— Ella

“I was pretty hungry and was a bit disappointed that we crossed the river for this parma”

— Daniel

“Expected highly and they delivered poorly”

— Ryan

“Couldn’t finish. Chips beyond terrible and processed chicken with some gristle. Salad was okay but covered in a terrible gristle. Salad was okay but covered in a terrible sauce”

— Katie

Value is always tough to judge on a parma like this. I'd consider $18 on the cheap side of things in this day and age, however if they had've used a real chicken breast I would have happily paid $22-$24 for this parma no questions asked. Our rule of thumb for value has always been "Would I pay the price I paid again to have this parma again" and I've got to say, even though it's cheap, I wouldn't be rushing back.

I'm quite upset that I had to post a negative review about the Orrong as I had high hopes that this was going to be a good one. They need to change one element on the plate to make this a parma worth trying - Get rid of the store bought schnitzel (and maybe the chips, but they aren't as important). It was a cool pub with super friendly staff and some great looking steaks and burgers coming out of the kitchen. If you're in the area definitely drop in for a beer and a feed, but just I can't recommend the parma in its current state.

Parma - 5.29

Chips - 4.71

Salad - 5.43

Value - 5.29

Total - 5.20

The search continues...

#287 - 'The First & Last Hotel'

Where? - 1141 Sydney Rd. Hadfield

Price? - $13 Parma Thursday, $21 regularly

Website? - https://www.firstandlasthotel.com.au/

Reviewers – Carly, Lee, Nikki, Pat, Shanan & Stefo

If you've been watching the hit new HBO show Westworld you'll know what I mean when I say that the First & Last Hotel is exactly like that ... Except much lower quality and with more pokies - Although all of the staff passed the Turing test with flying colours, so points there.

You do have to respect the First & Last for leaning into the Western theme. They have really gone all out to the point where its hard to find any element that hasn't been given at least some Western flair, from the cowboy that greets you at the door to the treasure chest shaped container for drinking straws.

I wasn't filled with confidence that this would be a good parma when I set the location this week, however it had been recommended a few times, and it wouldn't be the first pokie den to surprise us with a decent feed.

We grabbed a table in the dining room and checked the menu..

Aside from the parma there was also a dish called "Chicken Louisiana" on the menu that was basically a chicken breast stuffed with bacon, wrapped in prosciutto and topped with mushroom sauce. We didn't order it, but that description is heart-attack-inducingly amazing.

Upon going to the counter to order we discovered that it was $13 "Parmageddon" Thursday. Normally a "Parmageddon" night is associated with a slew of novelty options, but unfortunately the night was simply related to the price discount. We ordered our $13 parmas and awaited their arrival.

Beer list is pretty standard for a pokies pub, All the Carlton favourites were there, I was surprised to see that pints of Furphy were only $6 - Not my favourite beer, but for $6 a pint it will most definitely do the job. The (possibly robot) staff were super friendly, although I felt bad for the handful on shift having to practically run from customer to customer as they seemed woefully understaffed for the evening.

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

Yeah ... not great.

The schnitzel was big enough (although oddly enough one or two few around the table were smaller than the others), and served quite hot - Not much else to say. Quite processed although not a supermarket-deli-window level of processed. The chicken was thick enough in some areas and credit-card thin in others. The crumbing wasn't too thick, but it held no grip on the chicken and peeled away in large chunks while trying to eat the parma.

The flavour of all the toppings was eclipsed entirely by an extremely sweet canned napoli that tasted as if it had a few cups of sugar poured into the pot (although I'm 90% sure it came out of a tin). The ham and cheese were both there and applied liberally, however the sweetness of the napoli rendered all flavours moot.

The chips were dry, totally unseasoned and looked as if they had been sitting in the kitchen for a while as they were quite shrivelled. In desperate need of a dipping sauce of some kind. At least they were served beside the parma and not underneath (although being underneath may have given them some moisture at least)

The simple garden salad of lettuce, tomato, onion and cucumber salads ingredients looked quite tasty and fresh, however much like the parma itself it had been drowned in a horribly sweet dressing that obliterated any other flavours.

“Okay for the pric, but I’d be pissed off if I paid $21 for what I received. Needs a lot of work”

— Nikki

“Chips were bland & unseasoned, the salad was an afterthoughtsand the napoli was sweet and overpowering. Despite the cheap parma night price would not have again”

— Stefo

“At $13 it gives a similar impression to Donald Trump, in that the bar is set fairly low and anything half decent would be a welcome surprise. Unfortunately we didn’t get it”

— Pat

“Focus is on quantity, not quality, except for the small-ish parma which opted for neither. Unusually didn’t need dessert afterwards - Sweet salad dressing, sweet napoli and saltless chips. Reminiscent of eating a cheeseburger back when they were served on sugar buns. Grateful we went on parma night, value kicked this through”

— Carly

“Decent feed for $13 but nothing great. $6 pints of Furphy are worth the trip”

— Shanan

For a $13 parma at a pokies pub I wasn't expecting much at all, and I think the parma at the First & Last met my expectations. It was a filling dish, so if you're after nothing more than something to fill your stomach on the cheap while taking a break from Where's The Gold? then it won't disappoint to horribly. If we had paid full price ($21) for the meal I'd probably be more incensed, however I'm putting this one down as a case of "you get what you pay for".

If you want to kick off your Sydney Road pub crawl in style then the First & Last would be the place to start, It's a one of a kind pub with amusing decor, good for a pint at least. The name of the pub is quite appropriate, however, as last night was the first and last time I'd ever eat.

Pros

• Amusing Decor
• Cheap & filling on parma night
• $6 pints of Furphy

Cons

• Processed schnitzel
• Horribly sweet napoli
• Dry, shrivelled, unseasoned chips

 

Parma - 3.83

Chips - 2.92

Salad - 3.67

Value - 7.50

Total - 4.35

The search continues...

The search continues...

#286 - 'The Market Hotel'

Where? - 160 Clarendon St. South Melbourne

Price? - $20 (for both Classic and Mexican)

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

Reviewers – Lee, Matt, Nikki & Stefo

When I heard that Star Bar, an establishment in which I had drunk away many of my younger and more debaucherous years, had reopened as "The Market Hotel", the first thing I did was check the menu to see if they had a parma available. Low and behold, they had two! We wasted no time in loading up the parma bus and heading to Clarendon Street to see what Star Bar The Market Hotel has to offer.

Holy cow. What a transformation.

Virtually unrecognisable from its Star Bar days, the Market Hotel is an absolute triumph of pub design. Massive glass windows let in copious amounts of light, its open, airy and classy from head to toe. The vibe changes from room to room (and there are a lot of rooms to choose from), but every space seems thoroughly thought out and perfectly executed... I Could go on, but I try to keep these things under a thousand words, and even then I don't think I could describe it accurately enough. However the parma review below pans out, do yourself a favour and go check out the Market Hotel, if only for the ambiance.

We sidled into a booth beneath a gigantic palm tree and checked the menu - As I mentioned earlier there was a choice to be made...

As much as I do love the occasional Mexi-parma, the "Classic Royale" sounded too good to pass up, and surprisingly the rest of the table agreed with me as we all ended up getting the standard (or "Classic") parma option.

Plenty of options on tap in terms of beer selection. From Stone & Wood and Two Brothers all the way to copper tanks of unpasteurised Carlton Draught (visible in the above photo). Even got a glimpse of a cocktail or two that looked mighty fine.

After about a half an hour wait the parmas arrived from the kitchen...

My first thought upon laying eyes on the Market parma was "Oh crap, they've burnt it" as the crumbs were insanely dark. Imagine my surprise, however, when cutting through it to find a surprisingly juicy, pure white chicken breast waiting underneath, and although a little overcooked for my liking, the well done crumbs added a much welcome crunch to the schnitzel.

One of my pet peeves is lukewarm-cold chicken. The Market Hotel will not be receiving any complaints from me. I'm not sure how they did it but the Market's parma remained absolutely piping hot throughout the entire meal, with steam rising from the plate until the final bite.

The toppings were a bit of a mixed bag. First up, I loved the crunchy prosciutto - I don't know where the trend started to leave prosciutto uncooked, but when I have prosciutto on a parma the crunchier the better. Absolute perfection. The buffalo mozzarella was nice, but, as with most mozarellas, was a little bland and didn't add a whole lot to the dishes flavour profile.

The napoli was quite interesting as, as far as we could tell, the Market has gone for a combo of grilled tomato slices and a more traditional napoli. The tomato slices were a fantastic touch, however the napoli itself seemed to soak into the crumbs leaving them a little soggy on top, and an extra teaspoon or two wouldn't have gone astray.

I wish the chips could have blown me away as much as the parma did, but unfortunately not. They were fine, don't get me wrong, but nothing to write home about, and Reviewer Stefo complained (as you'll see in his quote below) that he received a fraction of the chips on his plate than everyone else.

After my recent Tour De Byron Bay I thought I was done with coleslaw beside my parma for a while, but I'm happy to report that I still thoroughly enjoy it as a side to my schnitzel. It was creamy and fresh, possibly a little heavy on the dressing but not criminally so. I enjoyed it but opinions around the table were mixed -

“Could have used a smidge more napoli and a bigger plate, but other than that it was quite tasty. Piping hot and loved the crispy prosciutto”

— Nikki

“My schnitzel was evenly cooked throughout and smoking hot. Really enjoy the crispy prosciutto and the mozzarella; subtle, flavoursome choices that make the parma different. Chips and coleslaw sides were fine additions - I couldn’t fault them ”

— Matt

“Prosciutto was a welcome addition to the parma. Unfortunately the tomato slices were not as they created a lot of sogginess which led to the rest of my toppings falling off. Didn’t seem to have as many chips on my plate as the others, which hurt my feelings and the stringy serve of coleslaw was ‘meh’”

— Stefo

For only $20 with such an array of quality ingredients I'm calling this a bargain, like the renovations I don't feel as if they cheaped out with any element of the parma (maybe the chips, a little), and I'd be more than happy to spend what I did again. While no Parma Night that I could see, the Market does offer 20% off all food on Monday night for locals. Definitely worth a crack.

As I said at the start of the review the Market is worth a visit just to check out what they've done with the place (especially if, like me, Star Bar was a haunt you frequented once upon a time) - An added bonus that the parma is also worth trying. I'm a little sad that nobody opted for the Mexican parma as I'm genuinely curious to see what it's like, however on repeat visit the Classic Royale with its crunchy prosciutto would be hard to pass up.

Pros

• Great quality schnitzel
• Remained piping hot throughout
• Crunchy prosciutto is a winner

Cons

• Slightly overcooked crumbs
• Uneven chip distribution[/cons]

 

Parma - 7.88

Chips - 6.50

Salad - 6.00

Value - 7.55

Total - 7.16

The search continues...

Special Attempt - 'Tour de Byron'

Ahh Byron, That town that pretends its in Queensland when its really in New South Wales, although you wouldn't know it from looking. Byron Bay is the quintessential Queensland beach town - It's laid back, its chilled, and I'm pretty sure only one in ten residents actually owns a pair of shoes. As is tradition here at ParmaDaze, I took it upon myself to sample as many chicken parmas as the tiny beach town had to offer as I could in the time I was there. After the first day in Byron it struck me that if you aren't a fan of surfing or sitting on the beach then there isn't a whole lot to do other than pull up a pew at a pub and sink some pints in the sun ... Luckily they are more than prepared for this as there is a new pub almost every 100 meters - All three of the parmas I will write about below were consumed on the main street.

PARMA #1 - BYRON BAY SERVICES CLUB

The Byron Bay Services Club was a godsend. Literally next door to where we were staying, for the entire week I was no more than a 60 second walk from their bistro, public bar, pool tables, lounge, kids play area, pokies, outdoor pokies and beer garden. With rooms upon rooms this place was massive, super friendly, inviting, and the first parma we partook in on the trip...

The weakest part of this dish was probably the schnitzel, It was unprocessed but came out quite dry when served. The toppings were spot on though, plenty of cheese grilled to a perfect bubbly golden brown, and plenty of fresh napoli & ham underneath. The chips were pretty standard, not bad but in desperate need for some seasoning.

The coleslaw on the side was super creamy and accompanied the dish well (I'm always a fan of coleslaw with my parma), and really helped to hide the dryness of the schnitzel.

In the time we were in Byron I had this parma twice and it was pretty much identical both times. Worth a visit, especially on parma night when it's an absolute bargain.

PARMA #2 - THE RAILWAY FRIENDLY BAR

As soon as I saw the Railway I fell in love. A small, quaint bar inside is engulfed by a mammoth beer garden with every style of outdoor seating you can imagine. A small container kitchen tacked on to the outside of the pub runs the grub with a strong "food truck" vibe. The menu is simple - Burgers, pub classics and a selection of pasta dishes (interesting for a pub, but not unwelcome!) We ordered the parma and it was delivered to us post-haste...

This parma screamed freshness, the salad especially looked like it had been plucked from the garden moments before hitting the plate. The schnitzel was thick and juicy with a decent coverage of toppings, the napoli being quite flavoursome overpowered a lot of the other elements. The chips were pretty standard, although the dusting of chicken salt was much appreciated.

I'd say the Rails' parma was better than the Services Club's, but only slightly. The beers went down phenomenally as well.

PARMA #3 - THE BEACH HOTEL

The Beach Hotel is the big boy. The Main Event. Boasting stunning beach views it is absolutely massive both inside and out, and in the three or four times we visited over the course of the week (what can I say? I like beers!) I never once saw it quiet.

We ordered the parma, grabbed a pint and sat back in the sun, much like the bar the kitchen was going non stop so I settled in for a bit of a wait, however we didn't wait long as our boomerang buzzer rang no more than ten minutes after placing the order.

It was a weird looking parma, looking closer to a kiev than a schnitzel, but got damn was it full of flavour. Despite being a bit burnt on the underside the chicken remained juicy throughout (a byproduct of not being hammered thin I would imagine) and was surprisingly filling - although that may have been a result of the mountain of super creamy coleslaw the parma arrived alongside... They do seem to like their coleslaw in Byron.

The chips, again, were pretty standard, however the Beach had a full sauce and seasoning station to help bring them back to life a little. Decent parma, great pub.

I won't score these parmas as this is just a special attempt, but if I had to rank them I'd say the Railway delivered the best. Followed closely by the Rails and the Beach bringing up the rear very close behind. None of them were bad by any means and I'd gladly try them all again.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect when we booked the trip to Byron Bay, but I was pleasantly surprised. It's a great little town absolutely teeming with character, I don't want to make this sound like a travel blog but you have the opportunity to visit Byron Bay its definitely worth your time.

Oh, and we also did a brewery tour of Stone & Wood...

It was awesome.

#285 - 'The Standard Hotel'

Where? - 293 Fitzroy St. Fitzroy

Price? - $24

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

Reviewers – Lee & Nikki

It's no secret that I love a good backstreets pub, and Fitzroy's Standard Hotel might be the quintessential example (you might even say it sets the standard. Badum tshh).

Surrounded by a myriad of one-way streets that always seem to be driving away from the pub, it took a fair bit of focus on Google maps to find the Standard, but once I laid my eyes on it I knew it was my kind of pub.

Walking in the front door you get smacked in the face with the character of this pub. The walls are lined with an eclectic range of all kinds of paraphernalia, mostly music and Fitzroy Football Club themed, but there's a little bit of everything in there.

It's a laid back pub with a refreshing lack of pretentiousness and the clientele run the full gamut of Fitzroy millennials to retiree's propping up the bar.

Out the back is a beer garden that seems to go on forever, snaking back even deeper into suburban Fitzroy - It would have been my pick of where to grab a table for dinner however, as early as 6:30 on a Thursday afternoon, it was packed out there.

Luckily there were still plenty of open tables inside for us to choose from. We sat, checked the menu, ordered a cheeky entree of saganaki ($12), grabbed a beverage and soaked up the atmosphere.

The saganaki arrived and it hit the spot with gusto - I was surprised at how generous of a serve it was (you can't really tell by the below picture, but that is two full slices of cheese stacked on top of each other). Great starter to the meal.

After polishing that off we got on to the main event...

A bit of a novelty parma! Even though it's touted as "deluxe" there is no "regular" parma on the menu, other than an eggplant option for the vegetarians ($20) the deluxe parma is the only choice.

As to be expected from a Fitzroy pub the beer list was chock full of craft beer options. 11 taps offered everything from Melbourne Bitter to Stone & Wood to Hawkers to Moo Brew and more, definitely enough choices to wet any whistle.

Just as we polished off the last of the saganaki the main event arrived (surprisingly speedy service).

At first glance this parma looked damn impressive. Big on the plate and served mostly not atop the chips - We picked up our cutlery and tucked in.

The schnitzel was thick, white, juicy chicken breast. Cooked to perfection and crumbed just as well with what looked like a home made crumb blend. Quite thin on the crumbs and only slightly flakey, it was almost a near perfect foundation for the dish - However all of the parmas that arrived were served quite cold.

Not a huge issue as temperature can be chalked up to a momentary glitch in the kitchen and not a persistent issue, but I like my parmas piping hot when they hit the table, this one was only lukewarm.

The toppings were overall pretty great. The napoli sauce was very rich, almost too rich, but otherwise very tasty. The prosciutto was a welcome addition, grilled to a crunch and adding its trademark salty deliciousness throughout.

The flavour of the tasty cheese permeated all the other flavours well, the feta not so much... As much as I enjoy feta it was lost amongst the other flavours of the dish.

The chips were a triumph. Served piping hot, mostly away from the parma (with a couple of stragglers underneath soaking up the juices for those that swing that way). Well seasoned and even with a pot of tomato sauce thrown in for good measure, a fine accompaniment to the parma.

The salad ... not so much. With all the other elements on the plate kicking goals it was quite disappointing that the salad came off as a bit of an afterthought. Nothing but lettuce leaves with a couple of onion slivers, definite room for improvement here.

“Could have been great had it not been served rather cold. Delicious chips, basic salad and the feta cheese didn’t add much”

— Nikki

$24 for the parma we received? Yeah I've got no qualms paying that again. They didn't skimp on any of the ingredients (except the salad) and you can tell a whole lot of love went into its preparation. From what I can see online I can't find mention of any sort of parma night, but for the price they charge its an honest feed that I doubt you'll walk away from hungry.

Although not without its faults, the Standard offer up a pretty great parma. With a few tweaks here and there it could be a real contender. Definitely worth checking out if you're in the area. A great pub offering up a great feed.

Pros

• Great quality chicken
• Fantastic flavours throughout
• Top notch chips

Cons

• Served lukewarm
• Weak salad

Parma - 7.75

Chips - 8.50

Salad - 4.25

Value - 6.85

Total - 7.02

The search continues...

The search continues...

#284 - 'Albert and Sydney'

Where? - 382 Sydney Rd, Brunswick

Price? - $10 Thursday parma night, $21 normally

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

Reviewers – Lee & Nikki

I'm going to preface this review with two points. They might be a little spoiler-y to the rest of the review, however I need to make some things clear from the get-go.

1. This review is for the Thursday night $10 schnitzel & parma night at Albert & Sydney, not for the full priced parma.
2. I hate thigh chicken. I know some people are okay with the use of thigh, but there is a time and a place where its appropriate.

With that out of the way, let's begin.

New blood is rare on Sydney Road. Even with the multitude of bars and pubs that come and go from the stretch of businesses it's very rare that a new parma pops up for us to try - Which is why when one does appear we jump on it immediately.

Around the time we did our review of the Charles Weston I heard word of another cheap parma night in Brunswick, the place that used to be Albert Street Food & Wine had a new name and a new menu - parma included. I saw an advertisement for their $10 Thursday schnitzel night and locked it in for us to try.

Albert & Sydney is a very cool space. With a DJ cranking tunes on a Thursday night, sunny beer garden out the back and plush leather booths to sink into its the perfect vibe to grab a cocktail and a feed.

We sat at our table, ordered some drinks and checked the menu, a sheet clipped to the front of the regular menu listed the details of schnitzel night at Albert & Sydney...

After a quick giggle at "neapolitan" sauce (was it going to be chocolate, strawberry and vanilla flavoured?) we ordered our parmas, due to the $10 special we had to choose between chips or salad, so we split the difference and got a plate of each so we could properly review both.

The Hawkers Pilsners went down a treat, and at $5 they were an absolute bargain. Reviewer Nikki opted for the espresso martini ($13 during happy hour) and was exceedingly impressed. Everything about Albert & Sydney was kicking goals at this stage, before too long our parmas arrived...

The schnitzel was tiny. Amazingly tiny. Out of sheer curiosity of "how much do they charge for this on a regular night" I grabbed the menu and checked the proper listing. My heart sank.

They use thigh at Albert & Sydney.

We have covered this before on a previous review, but there is a time and a place for thigh, and a chicken parma is not one of them. I picked up the cutlery, tucked in and the grey chicken that greeted me confirmed my suspicions. Crap.

It was a damn shame too, as the crumbing used on the thigh was absolutely fantastic. Crisp, flavoursome and a fantastic crunch, however it was all spoiled by the chicken underneath. The schnitzel, although small, was not hammered too thick.

The toppings were decent. Good coverage (although it was a pretty small target to hit). The cheese was flavoursome and the napoli fresh. I think a shave of ham would have helped as well, something from the full priced parma that was absent on the parma night variety.

The chips, while looking quite lonely on the massive plate, were pretty good. Beer battered, served piping hot and well seasoned - Definitely the best thing on the plate.

The salad over on Reviewer Nikki's plate was adequate, but not much more. Mostly lettuce with a few slivers of onion and tomato, she was definitely envious of my chips. It was fresh, but underdressed.

“So disappointed they used thigh as the crumbs were beautiful. Chips and salad would have been nice as well”

— Nikki

Our rule of thumb with judging value at ParmaDaze is "Would I happily pay the price I paid to have it again", and although it's cheap my answer to that for the parma here is a definite no. Price isn't everything.

We've had a lot of discount parma nights in the time we've been reviewing, but none have felt as cheap as this one. It looked minuscule on the plate, only giving the option of chips or salad, stripping out the ham that is normally on the menu and using the cheapest cut of chicken you can find. Yeah $10 is insanely cheap for a meal, but to be honest I'd rather pay $15 and get a parma with two sides, a slice of ham and a chicken breast. The $5 stubbies of Hawkers would be enough to get me in the door alone if they served a quality meal alongside it.

I know some people swear by the use of chicken thigh, I am not one of those people, maybe my bias against thigh has made this review harsher than it should be but in my opinion there is just no place for thigh in a chicken parma, no excuses.

Other than the parma Albert & Sydney is a cool venue with super friendly staff, amazing cocktails and a really chilled out vibe. If I'm welcome back I could definitely see ducking back in for a few lazy hours of cocktails in the sun. Just get rid of the thigh.

Parma - 2.00

Chips - 7.00

Salad - 4.00

Value - 3.00

Total - 3.60

The search continues...

#283 - 'The Grandview Hotel: Redux'

Where? - 47 Pearson St. Brunswick west

Price? - $15 Wednesday parma night. $23.50 normally

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

Reviewers – Carly, Kim, Lee, Nikki, Pat & Shanan

It's redo week! The week we revisit a pub that has already been reviewed due to changes in the menu, recommendation that it has improved or gotten worse since our last review, or for pubs that we feel just didn't get a fair shake the first time around.

Brunswick's Grandview Hotel has been on our redo list for quite some time - Pretty much since we walked out the door the first time we reviewed it.

Back in 2013 I was contacted by a group of Swinburne Uni students who were filming a documentary about parmas, we arranged to meet up at the Grandview, grab a parma and have a chat. It was a fun night even though in the end we hit the cutting room floor of the documentary. However to get permission to film at the Grandview we had to break our golden rule of reviewing - We had to let the pub know ahead of time that we were coming.

The parma was delicious (You can check out our original review here), looked beautiful and was presented perfectly - a little too perfectly, and it always niggled me that we might not have received the same level quality parma as anyone walking in off the street would have received. 3 years later redo week rolls around and I hear that the Grandview is now offering a $15 parma night with free trivia and $15 jugs of Hawkers IPA, that's all the push I need to load up the parma bus and head back to the Grandview!

The Grandview is just how I remembered it. A cosy backstreets local with friendly staff, fun atmosphere and a spacious dining room to the side. The trivia was being held in the front bar this week so we pulled up a chair and prepared ourselves for the quizzing of a lifetime.

This is normally where I'd show a grab of the menu, but as we're here for parma night and parma night alone this is the only information we were interested in...

Although, for the curious, the parma on the non-parma night menu clocks in at $23.50.

We ordered our meals, grabbed a couple of jugs and discussed funny sounding team names. As I've mentioned the beer of choice for the night was Hawkers Pale Ale, but the Grandview also has quite a decent tap list if you feel like something a little fancier...

I love when pubs have boards with their available beers like this, it makes my job so much easier.

Our parmas arrived shortly before the trivia kicked off...

For $15 this was a quality bit of schnitzel. Biggest gripe is that it was a little overcooked and slightly dry, but other than that this was a damn tasty bird. Pure chicken breast, well crumbed and thick enough that you wont walk away hungry.

It would seem that a few parmas around the table spent a little time under the heat lamps as the others were prepared, as there were a couple of complaints about being served a lukewarm parma, hopefully that was just a once off glitch.

The toppings were plentiful and flavoursome, despite some minor coverage issues (there was a bit of nude schnitz around the edges) they weren't at all tight with the quantity of ham, napoli and cheese. The napoli was much richer than last time around, 2013's napoli had more of a soupy texture while 2016's was much heavier on the tomato paste.

The cheese was tasty and well cooked, it slipped around the parma a little bit while eating, but it was manageable. The leg ham made itself known with slight smokey flavour. For $15 parma night? Definitely a satisfying meal.

The chips were outstanding. Beer battered, piping hot and well seasoned - just the way we like 'em. I was a little disappointed to see that the garlic aioli wasn't included like it was in 2013, however I'm not sure if we should attribute that to the doco crew or the fact that we were eating in the front bar as opposed to the dining room. It was a bit of a mixed bag with serving sizes for the chips. Everyone got a decent serving, but some lucky ducks definitely scored the lions share with a massive pile accompanying their parma.

The salad was okay. Plenty of it with fresh ingredients, however a little more dressing would have been nice. Acceptable, but didn't blow us away.

“Could have been great except my parma was served on the cold side”

— Nikki

“Great value on parma night”

— Pat

“A little chewy and the cheese kept falling off the parma - But it was tasty! Chip lotto with the varying number of chips on each plate, deliciously beer battered none the less”

— Carly

“come for the parma, stay for the trivia”

— Shanan

“Parma was okay, not a massive amount of flavour! The chips were my favourite part of the meal. Great pub, good atmosphere, will definitely be back!”

— Kim

$15 with $15 jugs and free trivia? Value this week is off the charts. The trivia alone kept us wildly entertained until nearly 10pm (the Funky Bunch definitely know how to put together an entertaining quiz), and the cheap beers were just icing on the cake.

From what we saw last night I had been worrying about this review for the last three years for nothing - The quality of the parma at the Grandview is just as good now as it was then, There were some slight inconsistencies and issues that could be chalked up to an insanely rushed night in the kitchen - but nothing too terrible. In the end we wound up coming in 2nd in the trivia (ironically to a team calling themselves "The Parmy Army" who came in first) and took home a $30 voucher for our next visit, which won't be too far in the future I'm sure.

Oh, and be sure to book in advance if you intend to join the trivia night - The joint was packed to capacity on the Wednesday we visited.

I can definitely recommend the Grandview's parma night, It was an amazingly entertaining night with good grub, good beer and good people - What more can you ask for?

Parma - 7.5

Chips - 7.75

Salad - 5.42

Value - 8.50

Total - 7.33

The search continues...

#282 - 'Carmine's Bistro'

Where? - 234 Lygon St, Carlton

Price? - $26.50 for Traditional, $28.50 for novelties

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

Reviewers – Daniel, Ella, Fridge, Kim, Lee, Nikki, Pat & Shanan

When Instagram shots of Carmine's parmas started popping on to my radar I knew it was one we had to try. Massive schnitzels covered in mountains of toppings of all different shapes and sizes and absolutely beautifully presented. We normally avoid Italian Restaurants as they tend to lean towards the really traditional (Bolognese sauce with really thin schnitz's), but from what we could see of Carmine's they really hit the nail on the head.

We ran the gamut of oh-so annoying spruikers on Lygon Street, headed into Carmine's and grabbed a table. It was relatively quiet inside, but we were pretty early and Thursday night isn't exactly the hippest night to hit the town.

Being quite new compared to some of the other Lygon St. establishments (opened in 2014), the interior of Carmine's is a fun mix of eclectic and traditional. Past the full sized horse sculpture with a lamp on its head you'll find comfy overstuffed leather chairs, checkered red and white tablecloths and a very professionally made cocktail or two.

The service at Carmine's is absolutely stellar. Every person we dealt with gave the vibe that they would bend over backwards for anything we needed. Beers were never left empty for more than 20 seconds and it never seemed as if any of our whims were a hassle - If we gave a score for service Carmine's would easily be a 10 out of 10.

We grabbed some menus, as there were some novelty options to choose from.

Normally with novelty toppings for parmas pubs/restaurants will pretty much pull out their pizza menu and chuck that on top of a schnitzel (the toppings listed in the menu, not the menu itself. That would taste terrible) - Carmine's has done something different, in that it seems that their novelty varieties are based on pasta sauces and not pizza toppings. A slight change, but definitely something we haven't seen before. Points for originality.

I opted for the Amatriciana parma, normally I would go the traditional but as my go-to pasta sauce is Amatriciana I just couldn't pass that up.

No beers on tap but plenty to offer in bottles. A full list of both imported and local beers. Nothing too crafty, but enough to appeal to most sensibilities

We ordered our parmas and waited. and waited. and waited a bit more. They say good food takes time to prepare but at the 40 minute mark there were quite a few worried glances towards the kitchen. But eventually our meals did arrive...

The Traditional -

The Carmine's -

The Amatriciana -

Points for presentation as these parmas looked outstanding on the plate. The schnitzel was big enough on its own, but then an extra half-schnitzel was thrown in to the side for good measure, melded together with the toppings.

First thing of note was that the crumbing on the parma was sheer perfection. Thin, great flavour and had the perfect crunch. The chicken beneath it was also top quality. Not too thick, but lovely and juicy. Definitely a solid foundations for the toppings above.

Speaking of toppings, they weren't tight with them at all. I think half a pig's worth of pancetta wound up atop my parma. I was expecting a little more punch from the chilli napoli but unfortunately it failed to delivery, offering only the faintest hint of chilli oil on the palate.

I enjoyed my parma and walked out satisfied, opinions around the table were mixed. Those who had the Carmine's parma echoed my sentiment of expecting more of a kick to the chilli, saying it came off as a little bland in practice.

Oddly enough those to have the least complaints about the flavour were those who opted for the traditional parma, claiming that there was a delightful smokiness permeating the dish that really brought it to life.

It's no surprise at ParmaDaze that we aren't a fan of french fries (aka Maccas chips), but at least when they're done at Carmine's they're presented in style. The tipped-over-paper cup is a unique and eye catching way of presenting fries which (for fries at least) weren't that bad, and the pot of sauce delivered to the table without request was definitely appreciated.

In a very controversial move the parma at Carmine's is delivered with no salad whatsoever. Quite a disappointment, as with the sheer size of this parma it needed something fresh to break it up. Fried chicken upon cheese upon pancetta with a side of fried potatoes is a lot to handle at once without the ability to take a breather and grab some fresh cucumber. I know quite a few of our readers couldn't care less about the salad, however in our opinion a quality salad would have really brought this parma to life. The previously established "You don't win friends with salad" rule has been invoked for this review.

“Parma was nice and had a lovely crumbing. Fries were good, would have loved a salad on the side to finish it off”

— Fridge

“Enormous but unfortunately quite bland. Feels like not much effort goes into the dish other than the size of the schnitzel. Service was great though”

— Pat (Carmine's)

“Great woodfire smoked taste, great crumbing, not enough cheese or napoli sauce. Maccas chips. Would have been much better with a salad”

— Ella (Traditional)

“Big feed but the napoli needed more flavour ”

— Shanan (Carmine's)

“Decent size, but a little bland”

— Daniel (Traditional)

At $26.50 for standard and $28.50 for novelty this isn't exactly a cheap parma (if you're after a discount parma option on Lygon check out Universal up the road). Is the Carmine's parma worth the price tag? Maybe. The ingredients were all top notch, they weren't at all tight with the toppings and everyone walked away clutching their stomachs as they were so full - Yet the lack of even a hint of salad definitely hurts, especially at this price tag.

I had a lovely evening at Carmine's, and if you find yourself on Lygon street then it is definitely a restaurant to consider if you feel like a classy night out. The service was outstanding, the restaurant was lovely and the parma, while missing the mark on a couple of small points, and taking a pronounced hit in score due to lack of salad, was extremely enjoyable. I'd definitely go back, but would probably stick to the traditional parma over the novelties, as that appeared to be the best of the bunch. Worth a crack if you're in the area.

Parma - 7.25

Chips - 5.50

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

Value - 5.71

Total - 6.14

The search continues...

United States of America #4

You may remember that I disappeared for a while last month. It wasn't much of a secret, the website stopped updating and the ParmaDaze Instagram became a travel site for a while.

If you missed all the hoopla, in a nutshell Myself and a few mats hired a car and drove from Louisiana to Cincinatti, then hit Los Angeles and Las Vegas on the way out. Many spectacular (and not so spectacular) meals were had on this trip, and I also managed to track down a couple of parmas.

We'll be here forever if I go through every meal we had, but here are some highlights and I'll bookend the non-parma stuff with a parma at the start and a parma at the end. Enjoy!

SAL & MOOKIES. Biloxi, Mississippi

If you ever watched the reality TV show "Party Down South" Then you know about Biloxi. It's a party and casino town where the sun is shining and the drinks flowed freely (literally, at the casino we stayed in you didn't have to pay for drinks over the bar). Biloxi is Vegas for rednecks, and after much alcohol consumption we stopped into Sal & Mookies New York Pizzeria & Ice Cream for a feed.

We grabbed a table, checked the menu and I shed a tear as I spied the first parma of the trip -

I was surprised to see it actually listed as a "Parmigiana" as every other time I've been in the USA it has been pretty much exclusively referred to as a "Chicken Parmesan".

The others ordered a pizza, I ordered the parma.

The Pizza looked absolutely phenomenal...

Goddamn food envy...

The parma? Not as phenomenal...

Food envy ... increasing!

The parma was okay, as usual with parmas in the US it is considered more of a pasta dish than a pub feed. Rather than one big schnitz my bowl of spaghetti was topped with a few smaller chicken cutlets. It was tasty, a little dry, could definitely have used much more sauce (especially when I finished the parma and was essentially left with a bowl of dry spaghetti). The garlic bread failed to impress.

It was tasty, and much more filling that the photo would lead you to believe. But holy crap that pizza looked good.

BIG PIE IN THE SKY PIZZERIA. Kennesaw, Georgia.

Clearly I had pizza on the brain after Biloxi as a few days later I routed our road trip past Big Pie In The Sky pizza, A pizza joint in Georgia so famous for their giant pizza's they appeared on the TV show Man Vs. Food.

Why? This is one of their pizzas...

I found this photo online. That's not me, I'm not that brave.

It's known as the "Carnivore Challenge" - $50 to attempt, $250 if you finish it between two people in an hour. Unfortunately if you want to participate in the challenge you have to call and schedule in a time, we weren't nearly that prepared, so instead we just opted for pizza by the slice.

Even in slice form its friggin' massive, that tray you see the slice sitting on is what we would normally call a "medium" sized pizza. It was delicious, fresh, crispy and satisfied my pizza cravings perfectly. Would definitely recommend if you find yourself nearby!

HUBBA HUBBA SMOKEHOUSE. Flat Rock, North Carolina

We stumbled upon Hubba Hubba purely by accident. Driving the back roads of North Carolina we stumbled upon a town that reminded me of Hepburn. Small, quaint and trees everywhere (a welcome change from the hours and hours of generic concrete freeway we had been driving on to this point. We got out of the car to stretch our legs and the smell of smoked meat attracted us like one of those cartoons where the wisps of smoke form a giant hand beckoning to come closer.

This place was awesome! Simple and rustic. Place an order at the window and wait for it to be called. The menu was quite extensive for a lover of BBQ...

I opted for the brisket plate with vinegar slaw and cornbread.

Holy jesus this stuff was good. Hands down the best brisket I had ever eaten in my life. So tender it was almost a liquid and absolutely bursting with flavour. The vinegar slaw was different, not exactly to my taste. The cornbread was out of this world, I never knew cornbread could be that tasty.

We left Hubba Hubba satisfied and with full stomachs - quite possibly the best meal we had on the entire trip, discovered completely by accident.

Kentucky Fried Chicken. Louisville, Kentucky

It had to be done, right? We only spent a night in Louisville so we didn't get to see as many of the sights as we would have liked, but one thing we made sure to do was to pay our respects to the master.

Followed by a trip to the first KFC we could find to see it was any better straight from the source.

Verdict? It was pretty much the same. Although a chocolate chip cookie with my crispy strip combo was a welcome addition.

Hang Over Easy. Cincinnati, Ohio

Hang Over Easy is one of those places that makes you think "Why don't we have this in Australia yet?!" It is a hybrid cafe/pub fully licensed that specialises in one thing - Hangover food.

Plenty of taps of craft beer so you can get your hair of the dog, coupled with a menu of items such as Bread Pudding French Toast, Scrambled Eggs with fries and double chocolate chip pancakes. I opted for the Chicken & Waffles...

... And holy crap did it hit the spot.

Someone with money, make this happen in Melbourne and send me an invite.

Buca Di Beppo. Universal City, California

After a day hanging out at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and beers with these blokes at Universal Studios...

Our tummies had the rumbles, so we decided to stop in at Buca Di Beppo.

If you are unaware, Buca is an Italian restaurant chain in the USA that serves all their meals "Family Style", meaning if you order a serve of pasta you get enough pasta to feed the whole family ... and the same goes for their parmas.

"Parmigiana" again! Maybe the yanks are finally coming to their senses. 

We ordered our family style parma and, as expected, it was a lot of food...

Basically one serve of chicken parmigiana at Buca is three parmas on a plate and a bowl of spaghetti (we ordered the garlic bread separately ... rookie mistake when only two people are eating).

The schnitzel was much better than at Sal & Mookies, Decent size but hammered a little thin for my taste. The problem with the Buca parma is that all of the napoli was on the spaghetti, meaning you had to combine it all on the plate to get anything but schnitz and cheese.

It was tasty, no Aussie parma thats for sure but definitely the best we had on the trip.

We got through two of the parmas, most of the spaghetti and a bit of the GB before giving up, finishing the meal looking not unlike the bloke from Monty Python's Meaning of Life

Pretty much sums up our entire trip to the states actually!

#281 - 'Horse Bazaar'

Where? - 392 Little Lonsdale st, Melbourne

Price? - $18

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

Reviewers – Lee, Matt, Nikki

From the moment I picked Horse Bazaar I knew it was going to be a unique experience. "Parmas at a Japanese cocktail bar" doesn't exactly roll of the tongue, yet in my research of places to try on the north side of the CBD, Horse Bazaar kept appearing.

How weird could it possibly be? We loaded up the parma bus and headed to Little Lonsdale street to find out.

Horse Bazaar is definitely not our usual kind've place, although it was far less "Japanese" than I was expecting - Other than a few flourishes of anime on the wall of projected images that ran constantly it was pretty much your standard CBD cocktail bar. The menu had a definite Japanese bent (other than the parma, of course) but Horse Bazaar had already subverted a lot of my expectations.

We arrived early, about 6:30 if I recall, to a virtually empty pub (this changed as the night wore on, by the time we left it was relatively busy) We pulled up a pew and checked the menu -

$18 for the parma (or チキンカツ, as it is translated on the menu) with your choice of original, curry or minced pork varieties. Having enjoyed the curry parma at St. Kilda's The Wee Chief immensely I opted for the curry variety tonight while everyone else went with the original. It's also worth noting that Horse Bazaar also has both a vegetarian parma and a parma burger available.

Four beer taps at the bar had a respectable range. Kirin, Southern Bay, a Temple beer and a cider, nothing too fancy but enough to wet any whistle with a couple of more bottled options in the fridge. Horse Bazaar is primarily a cocktail bar and it seems to be what they do best as some of the drinks we saw getting whipped up as we ate looked damn good.

With a lightning quick turn around of no more than 7 minutes, our チキンカツ were out of the kitchen

The Original チキンカツ -

The Curry チキンカツ -

That ... actually didn't look too bad! Different, but tasty.

Without hesitation I tucked in and instantly knew what they had done. If you've ever had a chicken Katsu Don, swap out the rice for some chips and salad and you've got yourself Horse Bazaar's curry チキンカツ, in fact a quick google tells me that "チキンカツ" does not translate to Chicken Parma, but is in fact the direct translation for "Chicken Katsu". I see what you did there, Horse Bazaar. Very sneaky.

It wasn't a traditional parma, but it was good! The schnitzel is exactly what you would find on a chicken katsu. Rather than one piece of schnitzel the parmas foundation was made of a few smaller chicken pieces, held together with toppings and sauces. It was a little thinner than I would normally like, but perfectly crumbed and delightfully crispy.

Flavour-wise all I could taste was curry sauce, it was delicious, and exactly what I had ordered, but it absolutely annihilated every other flavour on the plate. The cheese was light sprinkling of shredded parmesan, the "napoli" was an almost salsa-like mix of freshly diced tomatoes, onions, sesame seeds and other ingredients that reminded me more of a bruschetta topping than anything else.

Mayo is an interesting addition to parma topping that I honestly didn't hate. After this I'd be interested to try a more traditional parma with a splash of mayo included.

I enjoyed mine immensely, but the rest of the table that ordered the original チキンカツ did not share my enthusiasm. The general consensus on the original being "It tastes good, but it isn't a parma", to which I'd be inclined to agree.

The one thing everyone could agree on is that the chips were a surprise highlight. Beer battered, well seasoned, crunchy and piping hot ... A fine addition to the チキンカツ, and went very well with the curry sauce.

The salad was okay, a similar bruschetta style topping that was on the parma was also on the salad. It was fresh and tasty. Nothing to write home about but nothing to complain about either.

“The chips were the star of the dish for me. A little small, but quite tasty”

— Nikki

“Hard to rate this one. A unique Japanese look and taste, but not familiar enough to be really enjoyable as a parma. Chips were surprisingly tasty”

— Matt

For $18 I walked out satisfied. It was a little smaller than we would normally expect but any price tag under $20 these days is a win in my book. I think there are some lunch specials on the website but not sure if the parma is included - might be worth a gander.

If the bastard lovechild of a chicken katsu don and a chicken parma sounds like something you might be interested in then Horse Bazaar may be worth checking out. I don't think I can give my seal of approval to the original variety, however in my opinion the Curry チキンカツ was delicious and I'd have no qualms getting it again. Judged strictly as a parma it was a little wanting, but judging it as its own thing it was a very tasty dish.

Pros

• Inexpensive
• Flavoursome
• Fresh toppings

Cons

• Not a parma
• A bit small

Parma - 6.50

Chips - 8.67

Salad - 4.83

Value - 6.83

Total - 6.67

The search continues...

#280 - 'The Charles Weston Hotel'

Where? - 27 Weston St. Brunswick

Price? - $12. Only available Thursdays

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

Reviewers – Daniel, Kim, Lee, Nikki, Pat

I'm gonna admit something from the jump this week - I love the Charles Weston. Even though it isn't quite on Sydney Rd. I'd still consider it the best pub on Sydney Rd. It has a great backstreets local charm coupled with multiple open fireplaces, friendly staff, live music, board games and a solid craft beer list, I'm not ashamed to say that I've spent many a Satuday and Sunday arvo wasting away the hours playing Jenga by the fireplace.

There was only one problem with the Weston. They didn't do a parma. Every time I arrived I'd check the menu in the hopes that they decided to add some cheese and napoli to their schnitzel and coleslaw but my heart was broken time and time again, until this week when I checked the Charles Weston Instagram and noticed an addition to their weekly "What's on" post...

Holy crap they're doing a parma night. They're doing a parma night on our review night. There was no debate, this week we were loading up the parma bus and heading to the Charles Weston.

I pretty much described everything I like about this pub in the opening paragraph, but here's some more. Along with the fireplaces, board games and beers the Weston also boasts a surprisingly spacious beer garden out the side, a full sized ping pong table indoors and a very cosy, dimly lit dining room out the back, which is where we set up shop for the evening.

Now one thing I want to make perfectly clear - As it stands there still isn't a parma on the standard menu at the Charles Weston. The parma we partook in last night is currently a Thursday night thing only, so be sure to mark your calendars as such.

Approaching the bar to order I was surprised to see a few novelty options thrown into the mix...

Although that Mexican parma looked mighty tempting I'm a parma purist at heart and opted for the original. Orders were places and we returned to the dining room to await the arrival of our dinner.

It makes my job of listing the beers on tap so much easier when a pub just has a board with a list of everything they serve...

I stuck to the Steam Ale all night but there's definitely enough options there to keep everyone happy.

About 15 minutes after ordering our parmas arrived.

When the plates fell to the table I thought the parma looked a tad small, however on cutting in it was revealed to be quite a plump, hearty bit of chicken. The crumbs were a tad thick, but the thickness of the chicken led to a perfectly fine chicken to crumb ratio. It was pure chicken breast, served piping hot and well cooked.

For $12 I had a horrible fear we were going to get a processed, heart shaped, supermarket deli window schnitzel - I was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case.

The toppings were plentiful. The cheese could have used a bit more time under the grill to be perfect but it was otherwise quite tasty.

The napoli was present, but a little lost under the massive slice of smoked ham that had a succulent smokey flavour that permeated the entire dish. If you like your parmas with a smokey flavour then this is definitely one for you. If that isn't your bag the Mexican parma might be more up your alley, which from what I saw looked quite good.

Unfortunately this marks the second consecutive week of Maccas chips. I know some people may like them but to me they have no business being served with anything other that a large quarter pounder meal. As far as shoestring fries go they were okay. Well seasoned and they kept their temperature a lot better than last week. Other than my irrational hatred for that kind of chip I've got nothing major to complain about.

The side of coleslaw got mixed reviews from around the table. I enjoyed it, it was nice to have a coleslaw that wasn't absolutely drowning in mayonnaise. I always thought coleslaw was a universally loved side to a parma but I was surprised to learn that some of our reviewers would prefer a more traditional salad. Weirdos.

“Surprisingly great quality for a parma special. Can’t ask for much more for the price”

— Nikki

“Chicken was good, coleslaw was alright (considering coleslaw is the worst of all sides). Meal was small-ish but definitely worth it for twelve clams”

— Daniel

“Great breast, great value. Chips and salad were a let down but definitely a good bargain”

— Pat

“Parma was tasty, chicken was thick! The smokey ham was a bit overpowering for me. I’m a fan of maccas chips, however in this case in the parma had been served with some beer battered chips and a decent salad it would definitely score a bit higher”

— Kim

For only $12 this is a parma you should be checking out. If you live in the Brunswick area you've got absolutely nothing to lose. It bums me out that parma night at the Weston is only on Thursdays as it means I won't be able to take advantage of this fantastic deal again.

The parma at the Charles Weston isn't perfect, but for the price you can forgive a lot of its sins. If you're after a no nonsense, honest feed in a fantastic atmosphere at bargain basement prices then Thursday night parma night at the Weston is definitely one to check out.

Pros

• Fantastic for the price
• Thick chicken breast
• 3 varieties available

Cons

• Maccas chips
• Slightly heavy on the crumbs

Parma - 8.20

Chips - 4.80

Salad - 6.00

Value - 9.00

Total - 7.24

The search continues...

#279 - 'Transport: Redux'

Where? - Federation Square, Melbourne

Price? - $22

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

Reviewers – Lee, Matt, Nikki, Stefo, Tony

Well, last night was a bit of a disaster, as Eric Bana would put it if you watched Full Frontal in the 90's, it was a complete shemozzle.

The night started with a solid plan, Head into the city to Sand Hill Road's newest creation The Garden State Hotel. Sure they don't take bookings but we'll get there early and secure a table... She'll be right!

Incorrect. Apparently I didn't get the memo that the Garden State is the busiest bloody pub in Melbourne right now, and if we wanted to snag a table in the public bar we should have headed in at about 5:30am. The place was shoulder-to-shoulder packed from the time we got there (6ish) to the time we gave up (7:30ish). Those that had booths weren't moving and those that needed a booth were circling like velociraptors. On the rare occasion some seating did open up it was snatched away in milliseconds (thats when the attack comes - not from the front... but from the sides. The other group of people scoping out the booth you want, you didn't even know were there).

So we bailed on the Garden State, vowing to return once the hoopla dies down, and went to our backup spot Hairy Little Sista on Little Collins, but wouldn't you know it... They've taken the parma off the menu!

Okay, lets try Beer Deluxe. Shit. Only the Hawthorn Beer Deluxe has a parma on the menu, not the Fed Square one.

By this point we were cold, we were hungry, and we could see Transport in the distance. What the hell, it's been four years, let's give them a redo.

I don't think I've been to Transport since the first time we reviewed it back in August 2012, and to be honest I don't think the concrete monolith has changed one iota since then.

The indoor seating at Transport is weird. The area around the main bar is propagated with one or two extremely long concrete slabs with fixed wooden chairs that are a pain in the arse to get into and out of, rather than bother with those we opted to sit outside under the umbrella and by one of the many gas heaters.

We checked the menu...

Ordered our meals and grabbed a pint.

On our last visit I praised Transport's use of the Boomerang ordering system (It's the thing where you get a little buzzer that flashes and vibrates when your food is ready to be collected). This time around however, the Boomerang failed us.

Between the review team we had three Boomerangs. Two of them chimed 10 minutes after ordering, the third stayed silent. Three of us tucked into our parmas while two of the group looked on with puppy dog eyes. It wasn't until we were nearly finished our meals that they checked on theirs at the bar only to discover that the order hadn't been put through the system, and the Boomerang they were given was about as useful as a rock.

Some complimentary pints were handed out for their trouble, but I think the damage was already done.

Anyway, lets check out the parma, before and after

2012 -

2016 -

First up, I was ecstatic to see that they had gotten rid of the teardrop shaped plates that were almost impossible to eat off without spilling your parma everywhere.

The schnitzel was decently sized, you definitely aren't walking away from this parma hungry. The crumbs were crunchy but quite thick, I didn't manage to get a cross section this week as it had gotten too dark outside but the crumb to chicken ratio was way out of whack.

The chicken was cooked well, slightly dry but not criminally so, and gone was the weird flour taste that it had last time.

The toppings were average all round. The cheese needed more time under the grill, the ham was absolutely tasteless and the napoli, while no longer tasting pasty and burnt, tasted quite sweet - almost sugary, and it overpowered pretty much everything on the plate.

Gone are the super oily crinkle cut fries and in their place was a serving of what we all know as "Maccas chips". Never been a huge fan of Maccas chips with a parma unless they are done exceptionally well, which these were not. They were warm when arrived but turned stone cold and hard about 7 seconds after starting to eat them. A standard pub chip would have been a much better addition to the parma.

Salad was a mixed bag. Fresh and crisp ingredients no longer coated in oil, however I feel that they've gone too far the other way as it was almost entirely undressed and dry.

Lets play a little game, I call it "Guess which of the four reviewers giving quotes had their order lost and had to wait 45 minutes for their parma". It's a working title.

“Decent size but faltered on the execution. Thick crumbs and overly sweet napoli weren’t the best, and what happened to my crinkle cut chips?!””

— Nikki

“Not much to say on this one, all around average. Chips were very thin cut fries, such that they became dry & hard very quickly. Good sized portions - Good value”

— Matt

“Processed parma, chips had no flavour and the salad had no dressing. Extremely disappointing”

— Tony

“Where to begin? The chips were dry, hard and considering Maccas is walking distance I would have been more pleased if they just walked up there and dished them onto my plate. The parma had flavourless ham and the only taste that did resonate was the bland napoli. The salad was dry and boring. To top it all off they use the Boomerang system which, to me, just spells complete laziness, especially when the pub is barely busy. Not to mention we were lucky enough for them to lose our oder. The best thing of this whole experience was standing up and leaving after drinking the free pint for losing our order somewhere in their apparent “system”.
Avoid at all costs”

— Stefo

It's not often the price of a parma drops between a first and second attempt, but the last time we visited Transport we were stung $23.90, last night it was a much more tolerable $22 even. I won't be running back to Transport any time soon but it's nice to know I'm not being gouged on price.

This is a tough parma to sum up. Since 2012 they have definitely made some improvements and overall I think it was a better parma than it was - But I still wouldn't call it good. Average at best, but if you find yourself with no other options (as we did last night) you won't be too offended.

Pros

• Quite big for the price, very filling

Cons

• Thick crumbs
• Overpowering and overly sweet napoli
• Boomerang system forgot two of the five parmas we ordered

Parma - 4.80

Chips - 3.00

Salad - 3.00

Value - 5.20

Total - 4.16

The search continues...

#278 - 'Crème'

Where? - 2 Keilor Rd, Essendon North

Price? - $24.90

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

Reviewers – Adam Y, Ashley, Lee, Nikki, Stefo

Our first attempt to visit Essendon North's Crème was back in April this year, however when I called on Thursday afternoon to make the booking we were turned away - Booked solid at 7pm on a Thursday. We made a switch at the last second and thats how our "Sporting Globe: Addendum" special attempt came to be.

This time around I was ready for them, calling in the booking on Wednesday morning for dinner on Thursday night - I wasn't taking any chances. With a confirmed booking we loaded up the Parma Bus and headed to the extremely busy Crème cafe.

We arrived at Crème a little around 6:30 and it was already filling up - This is a spot extremely popular with the "lets grab a coffee and have a chat" crowd, and after a quick glance at the mammoth glass cabinet filled with amazing looking cakes it's easy to tell why. We grabbed our seat and checked the menu...

Perfect. After a slight wait to get service (like I said, they were busy) we placed our order.

As for beers I was very surprised to see that Crème seem to have some sort of partnership with Holgate, their beer list being exclusively Holgate beers...

Not that there's anything wrong with that, I love a Holgate from time to time, it was just something I wasn't expecting to find in a suburban cafe.

After about a half hour wait our meals arrived from the kitchen.

Well. This looks surprisingly good!

Apart from some slightly soggy crumbs this schnitzel was hard to fault. A decent size, thick, served piping hot and the purest white chicken breast you ever did see. I don't have much more to say ... A tick in every box.

The toppings were pretty solid as well. A near 100% level of cheese coverage, grilled to a perfect golden brown hue. It was a little light on napoli, some chunky onion through the mix would have done wonders.

The pancetta was ... odd? Don't get me wrong, the slice of crispy pancetta on the top of the parma was a perfect addition, however as you can see from the photos this addition covered about 50 percent of the parma itself. It was a small disk of deliciousness floating amongst a sea of cheese, I found myself having to ration out bits of the pancetta to make it last longer. A great addition, but with another slice or two it would have been perfection.

The chips were pretty standard, ho-hum chips. As pretty much everyone said in the quotes below some proper beer battered fat chips would have been fantastic. The unsolicited pots of sauce for chip dipping were a nice touch though, always appreciated.

The chopped salad was fresh and crisp, chock full of the onion chunks I was wishing were in the napoli. I quite enjoyed mine but reception around the table was mixed - Some reviewers reporting a lot less "stuff" in their salad than I received.

“The parma was quite tasty however I would have loved more coverage of the pancetta. Combine this dish with some chunky beer battered chips and it would be amazing”

— Nikki

“Quite honestly the best parma I’ve had in a long time. Chips could be improved and a better coverage of pancetta would be appreciated”

— Stefo

“Very tasty. Wish the chips were beer battered and the pancetta should have covered the whole chicken. But all in all, delicious! ”

— Adam Y

“The parma was delicious but not enough pancetta and my salad was just lettuce and one piece of tomato”

— Ashley

$24.90 is on the pricey end of the spectrum for a parma these days, however you've got to remember this is at a cafe, not a pub, where prices for big mains are usually a little inflated. As its a cafe I couldn't see any parma specials around, although you do get the Herald Sun for free if you go in for breakfast ... Kicking goals.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed the parma at Crème. Normally a parma at a cafe is asking for mediocrity but this one was absolutely delightful. There were a couple of issues with it, sure, but when your next closest option is The Linc directly across the road you take what you can get. Would definitely check it out again.

Pros

• Delicious, piping hot chicken breast
• Great coverage of toppings, tasty pancetta
• Holgate craft beer list

Cons

• Not enough pancetta
• Chips seemed phoned in for such a quality meal

Parma - 8.40

Chips - 6.40

Salad - 6.80

Value - 6.90

Total - 7.38

The search continues...

#277 - 'The Palace Hotel'

Where? - 505 City Rd, South Melbourne

Price? - $21, $15 parma night on Mondays

Website? - http://www.thepalacehotel.net.au/

Reviewers – Cale, Carly, Lee, Nikki, Shanan, Stefo, Tony

...And we're back!

Three weeks off was just what the doctor ordered (although he isn't happy with the damage to my liver that no doubt occurred), but travelling through the states there is one thing I just couldn't seem to nail down ... A decent parma.

I wanted a good one for the first one back, luckily, while we were abroad, someone brought my attention to this article published by Time Out Magazine, listing their picks for Melbourne's top five parmas. I checked the list and we had already been to four of the five, but one on the list we had not yet visited. South Melbourne's Palace Hotel. If you can't be bothered clicking the above link (or its five years after posting this article and they've taken down the site) this is what their write up looked like -

Sounds good to me! We brushed the leaves and bird crap off the parma bus, loaded it up and headed over to the Palace to see what all the fuss was about.

As soon as I walked through the door I knew I was gonna love this pub. This joint is just dripping in old school cool. You could visit the Palace every night of the week and still find something new to catch your eye. The staff were super friendly and keen to chat, and the Palace's claim of having Melbourne's best pub dog isn't that far from the truth as this bloke...

Is an absolute champion.

There's a beer garden out the back for summer nights (and it has heaters for when it gets chilly) A pool table beside an open fireplace, and a spacious bistro (also complete with fireplace).

We have a handy barometer at ParmaDaze to tell if a pub is going to be quality - If a pub has (1) Coat hooks, (2) A pub dog and (3) a fireplace, it's going to be an awesome pub. The Palace Hotel is a tick in every box.

We settled in the bistro and checked the menu - Thursday night is Pie Night at the Palace and hot damn did the pies coming out of the kitchen looked phenomenal. Matter of fact all the food coming out of the kitchen looked great - From burgers to chicken tenders I didn't see a single thing that didn't look delicious.

Top billing. 6 of the 7 of us opted for the Chicken parma while Reviewer Carly had to be different and went with the Eggplant - Check her quotes below to see what she thought of it.

On top of an awesome atmosphere, the Palace backs it up with a solid rotating tap list. Plenty on offer to tickle your fancy - Having just spent three weeks stuck with Miller Lite and Budweiser I was happy to stick to my old favourite, Stone & Wood.

Before too long our meals arrived from the kitchen -

I don't normally do this, but before we get to the chicken I've got to make special mention of the garlic bread you can see pictured behind the parma - It was amazing! I've never had garlic bread like it in my life. Hot, flavoursome and topped off with what I think were mustard seeds - This isn't your usual Woolworths $2.50 wrapped in tinfoil number, this was quality garlic bread that was a fine addition to the meal, Highly recommended.

Anyway, to the parma.

The schnitzel was top quality. Cooked to perfection, pure white juicy chicken breast. It was plump where it needed to be and the crumbs that weren't covered by cheese carried an outstanding crunch. Other than some slight crumb sogginess underneath this schnitzel is really hard to fault, definitely a fantastic start to the Palace's parma.

The toppings were mostly good. lashings of delicious, smokey ham alongside plenty of perfectly gooey-yet-golden-brown cheese. There was one failing with the toppings and we all pretty much said it at once ... Where was the napoli?

The time out review we posted above absolutely raved about the "best sauce they've tried full of rich onion sweetness" - Unfortunately that was nowhere to be found on our parmas. I'm not sure if the kitchen ran short or what happened but the parmas we got on review night barely had any detectable napoli. A damn shame as this parma probably would have scored perfect marks otherwise. Without the napoli it was still a damn tasty feed, but I can't help but imagine what might have been.

The chips were pretty good, nothing spectacular but a decent serving of fries, lightly salted. There were plenty of them, would have really come to life with a dipping sauce. They were okay.

The salad, like the parma, was also pretty fantastic. Heaps of crisp ingredients bursting with flavour and topped off with a delicious honey mustard dressing - Exactly what a side salad should be.

“Very nice parma, chicken was perfectly cooked. Toppings let this one down”

— Cale

“Loved the taste & quality of the parma - My only improvement would be the addition of some chunky napoli”

— Nikki

“A bit more napoli please”

— Stefo

“Definitely a bar you could have a good session at”

— Shanan

“Had the eggplant parma. Small but filling and very tasty. Crispy cheese was extra tasty. Decent amount of chips however scarce in the salt department. Overall left satisfied”

— Carly

“Good parma, average chips and great salad. Solid meal”

— Tony

For $21 I'd be back any night of the week for this parma, Even better Monday nights at the Palace is parma night, where you can get this bird for just $15. If you live anywhere in the vicinity of South Melbourne (and even if you don't) this is a parma worth trying for $15. It's worth trying for $21. It's worth trying.

The Palace is one of those pubs that has you checking the real estate listings so you can make it your local. Soaked in atmosphere and good times, I'm already trying to work out when I'm free to go back and have another sesh there. I want to try the pie, I want to try the burger, I want to try the chicken tenders, I want the garlic bread again and most of all I want to give the parma another crack - I hope the lack of napoli was just an isolated incident and we can give the Palace's parma the top 10 score it possibly deserves.

Pros

• Amazing pub, inside an out
• Awesome pub dog
• From garlic bread to parma the food was top notch

Cons

• Very little to no napoli on the parma

Parma - 7.83

Chips - 7.25

Salad - 8.00

Value - 7.50

Total - 7.68

The search continues...

#276 - 'The Linc: Re-Redux'

Where? - 1 Keilor Rd, Essendon North

Price? - $23.90

Website? - http://www.thelinc.com.au/

Reviewers – Cale, Lee, Nikki, Stefo

Oh, The Linc. What a love-hate relationship I have with this pub. On one hand it has been a solid watering hole and post-parma review hangout for many years. On the other hand it has been our lowest rated parma since 2011, with a total score of just 1.65 on our first visit, and 2.74 when it had it's first redo, exactly 99 parma attempts ago.

To be honest I was done with the Linc - But a couple of weeks ago after grabbing some dinner nearby I dropped into for a beer and a quick $20 in the pokies. I walked in to the front bar and my jaw dropped ... It was unrecognisable.

The front bar has had a complete overhaul. It's bright, it's roomy, its extremely inviting! I was sitting, partially in shock, sipping on my pint when I saw some parmas go past. I didn't get a great look (some people find it off-putting when strangers stare at their food), but I could tell something was different - Namely that they were no longer layering the napoli sauce on top of the cheese, as they did for our last two reviews.

If they have changed that ... Maybe they changed something else? Could the new look Linc be home to a new look parma?

I scheduled the re-review. There were complaints from the review team but I convinced them it'd be worth another look. Last night we loaded up the parma bus and headed back to the Linc.

I was a little disappointed to see that the Bistro at the Linc still had the same look as it used to, I'm hoping there is a plan to extend the new vibe to the rest of the pub that just hasn't been executed yet. We checked the menu, spied our target...

And visited the cashier to take our order. The parma at the Linc comes with a choice of chips, veggies or both - and a side salad is an extra $3.50. Nobody opted for the side salad this time around and just went with what came included.

First up were the always included hot bake-at-home rolls. Always a favourite. We followed that up with a couple of serves of cheesy garlic bread. I maintain that The Linc serves up some of the best garlic bread in Melbourne - and last night did not disappoint.

Despite the renovations the beer list is the same as it ever was. Lazy Yak being the craftiest beer on tap. The Linc seems to be putting all its weight behind its spirit and cocktail range, the new bar sporting industrial size dispensing machines for both Jägermeister and Fireball.

Shortly after polishing off our GB the parmas arrived. Lets take a look at the past vs the present before digging in.

2011 -

2014 -

2016 -

The chicken schnitzel is was pretty much the same as the Linc parma's 2014 counterpart. Reasonably big, real chicken, hammered a little bit thin for our liking but not criminally so. I could see some herbs through the crumbs but they didn't add much to the flavour profile of the parma. The crumbs were a little thicker than we would normally like and flaked away from the chicken when lifted from the plate - but nothing too offensive about them overall. Everything on the plate was served absolutely piping hot. The parma, the chips, the veggies - Everything was toasty warm. Definitely a plus.

As suspected, the cheese/ham/napoli layering has been changed to something a little more standard, and as a result the pools of oil that plagued this parma on our last two reviews were no longer an issue. The cheese was fine, well grilled (a little flavourless) the ham was there but also didn't add a whole lot and the napoli was virtually nonexistent this time around. This was close to a ham and cheese schnitzel than it was a parma. It may have been the two pints mixing with the cold & flu medication I was on at the time, but I honestly didn't hate this parma. It wasn't great ... But it wasn't terrible either.

The chips were back to a standard pub chip. As I mentioned before they were served piping hot, crunchy and fresh. Gone was the overly starchy taste that they were afflicted with last time - They were just desperate for a bit of seasoning. A dipping sauce wouldn't have gone astray either.

Its possibly the weirdest thing about the dish, but the Linc's parma comes with veggies over salad by default. I'm not against veggies by any means, but it just strikes me as such a weird choice that they seem determined to stick to. The veggies were fresh and hot. Zucchini and a massive slab of pumpkin went down quite well. The weird pile of mystery garnish was also back. The less said about that the better.

“Definitely improved from the last time, but definitely needed more napoli”

— Cale

“It has improved, although it’s still very pricey and could be a lot better”

— Nikki

“Let’s be honest, it hasn’t really changed much. Was an okay feed, but they need to change it dramatically if they want it to be decent”

— Stefo

The parma at the Linc is still quite pricey at $23.90. The included bake at home rolls do help heal the pain, but I wouldn't be racing back to shell out another $24 for the parma that we had.

The parma at the Linc is better than it was, and they definitely don't deserve the title of "lowest rated parma of all time" any more. It's still not great - but it's getting there. Throw in a fresh chunky napoli (under the cheese, of course) and a side of gravy for the chips and you're looking at a decent feed!

I don't think we'll be broaching Re-Re-Redo territory for quite some time so you will have to investigate yourself to see how it goes, but if you're a local it's definitely worth popping over to the Linc to check out the new vibe in the front bar. Grab yourself a serve of garlic bread or fried chicken sliders from the bar menu (they looked pretty good!) and see what you think. As I mentioned earlier I really hope they take the leap and extend this style of renovation to the rest of the pub - It's a winner.

Parma - 4.75

Chips - 4.63

Salad - 5.31

Value - 3.75

Total - 4.64

The search continues...

#275 - 'The North Fitzroy Arms'

Where? - 296 Rae St. Fitzroy North

Price? -  $20

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

Reviewers – Al, Janet, Kim, Lee, Nikki, Pat, Shanan, Stefo

As my odometer clicked over to the big "33" last week, we decided to push our Thursday parma review to Friday, Affording us the ability to kick back and enjoy a few pints in celebration without having to worry about being seedy for work the next day. Our target location for this salubrious event? The much recommended North Fitzroy Arms.

We walked into this quaint backstreets local and after a few minutes of conversation with the review team a question came up ... Why are we reviewing this pub again?

"Again?" I queried ... "What do you mean Again? We've never been here before".

"Yes we have" another reviewer piped up. "We sat in the beer garden out there"

This sparked a long debate as to whether or not we had visited the North Fitzroy Arms already. I searched both the website and my memory ... Have we been here and I've forgotten? I just turned 33, Am I finally losing my mind?

Then it dawned on me. I wasn't here.

When I organised a holiday last year I put one of our review team in charge of writing the review for the week. He organised a session out with the lads and took everyone to the North Fitzroy Arms. Then, lazy prick that he is, never bothered to write the review that accompanied the visit - And thus it was lost to the sands of time.

"Was it any good?" I asked one of the reviewers that had been here on the first visit.

"I can't remember ... I think we had too many beers"

Probably for the best that review never got written.

Once all that nonsense was sorted, I took in my surroundings ... This was a damn nice pub! The quintessential backstreets local. Footy on the TV, Amazingly friendly staff behind the bar, a Friday night meat tray raffle doing the rounds and no less than five seperate fireplaces pumping out the heat, turning this pub into a cosy paradise on a chilly Friday evening.

We grabbed a seat out in the bistro, checked the menu...

... and ordered our meals.

There wasn't a huge array of beers on tap, but they made great use of the taps they had. Ranging from the crafty to the not-so-crafty there'd be something there for everyone's taste, and the chalkboard over the bar with the current offerings on tap listed would lead me to believe they get at least some level of rotation.

After we scoffed off an entree of house made popcorn chicken (delicious), our parmas arrived from the kitchen.

The schnitzel was the definite star of this parma. Big, thick, plump, piping hot, deliciously juicy with a crunchy crumb. Do I need to say more? That's a tick in every box as far as I'm concerned, however I do like my shnitty on the thick side - If you prefer your parma flattened out a little more then this might be bordering on a little too thick for you. In my opinion this was a stellar foundation for a meal.

Compared to the great schnitzel, the toppings were lacklustre. The trinity of napoli, ham and cheese failed to excite on all fronts.

Don't get me wrong, none of them were bad, But the ham (while generous) didn't carry a whole lot of flavour, the cheese needed another few minutes under the grill and the napoli was a bit lost amongst the other two - With such a great foundation in the schnitzel the toppings needed a little extra kick to get them going.

I don't normally do this, but one note on the presentation - I've never been big on the "parma on chips is a cardinal sin!" school of thought. I figure I'd rather have more food on my plate than have less so it all fits, and a seasoned parma eater can extract the chips from underneath before any real damage is done... However when the parma comes out like this:

Part of me has to wonder what's going on. There was almost more empty space on the plate than there was food, and yet they still chose to stack? Such an odd choice. Not to worry though, after a quick extraction the plate looked more like this:

Much better!

Unfortunately, after extraction, the chips were the weakest part of the dish. Lukewarm, soggy and look as if they'd been sitting for a while. They were edible (especially for those who saved the delicious garlic aoli from their popcorn chicken) but not great by any stretch. Especially when the entree menu has this on the menu-

They have Bad Boys?! A regular reader would know that Bad Boy chips are our absolute favourite. We've stumbled upon them quite a few times over the years and they have always been absolutely phenomenal. Knowing there are Bad Boy chips in the kitchen while we were served what we were just made it all the more disappointing.

The salad was good. Fresh and crisp with just enough balsamic for the serving size. A fine addition to the meal.

Enough of my blathering, lets see what everyone else thought (hopefully they remember eating it this time!)...

“The parma was decent; however it needed more seasoning, and too much cheese. Chips could’ve been crunchier”

— Al

“Parma was decent, sides needed a lift- Great pub though!”

— Shanan

“Nice warm parma, however the sides let it down”

— Stefo

“The thick breast was the best part, disappointing chips and salad”

— Pat

“Nice piece of chicken but the parma lacked flavour, chips and salad very average ... Good pub though”

— Kim

“Chips were average, Parma was decent!”

— Janet

“Lovely thick chicken but I would have liked it slightly thinner. Could have used more flavour in the toppings. If this was paired with the bad boy chips from the menu it would be amazing”

— Nikki

$20 in this day and age is cheap for a parma, and even though this one had its failings I'd be happy to pay it again. I may have had a bit of a whinge about this parma but it comes from a place of love as I really enjoyed this pub and the people in it.

It's times like this I kick myself that we don't get a score for the venue itself, as this pub would get top marks - definitely one of my favourite pubs that I've visited all year. The quotes from everyone else echo my opinion that this parma had a great foundation but was let down by some disappointing sides.

With a few tweaks this could be a phenomenal bird. Spice up the toppings a little, stop hoarding the bad boys and we would be in business! My complaints aside It's definitely a venue worth checking out, If you live locally and have yet to try the North Fitzroy Arms you are definitely missing out on your home away from home.

Pros

• Fantastic pub, possibly the best venue we've been to this year
• Top notch schnitzel, very hard to fault

Cons

• Disappointing sides
• Toppings needed more flavour

Parma - 7.14

Chips - 4.14

Salad - 5.29

Value - 7.00

Total - 6.14

The search continues...

#274 - 'The Junction Club: Redux'

Where? - 740 Mount Alexander Rd, Moonee Ponds.

Price? - Thursday parma night - $15.90 with pot

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

Reviewers – Carly, Fridge, Kim, Lee, Nikki, Pat, Shanan

We first visited the Junction back the year 2010 - it was our 32nd review, which you can refresh your memory on here. From memory it was a decent enough parma - Didn't blow us away by any stretch, but for a $12 parma & pot special six years ago it was okay.

Then, a few weeks ago, I was tagged in an Instagram photo and the following exchange ensued...

I've gotta admit, that parma looked good! I checked the website for the menu and found this description -

I'm an absolute sucker for a parma with prosciutto, so I was sold. We set the location, headed to the Junction, grabbed a table and were greeted by a surprising development when we sat down...

It was parma night again! How fitting that the two times we visit the Junction its on Parma & Pot night. I was a little thrown, as the "traditional" parma on the menu didn't come with the aforementioned prosciutto, but we decided to jump into parma night menu none the less. I opted for the traditional but the Mexican was also a popular choice, with a bolognese or two thrown in for good measure.

Beer selection at the Junction hasn't improved much since 2010 I'm afraid - If you're not a fan of VB, Carlton Draught or Pure Blonde I'm afraid you're out of luck. Bulmers pints were on special for $8.50 each so that was the drink of choice (aside from the pot of draught included with the parma)

About 20 minutes after ordering the meals started arriving from the kitchen. As is tradition with redo's, lets first take a look at the 2010 parma before jumping over to last night's...

The 2010 Junction parma night parma -

The 2016 Junction parma night parma -

I'm gonna start with a negative, but first up the schnitzel was rather small - Definitely smaller than the full priced parma featured in the Instagram pic, but the chicken was good quality. Pure chicken breast, thick enough, but not overly so, and coated with a solid layer of crumbs, without overcompensating. All up it was quite a decent foundation for a budget parma.

The toppings on the traditional were tasty, however those who indulged in the novelty varieties seemed to be happier with their choices. The napoli was fresh and flavoursome, there was a great coverage of cheese with a tasty blend, the ham was ... there, but didn't do a whole lot for the flavour profile, something smoked, with a bit more punch (like prosciutto, maybe?) would have really helped this dish along.

The chips were fantastic. Beer battered but thinner than your common steak chip (but still thicker than fries) these chips were on point. Crunchy on the outside with pillowy goodness inside and thoroughly seasoned. Definitely the star of the dish and almost worth the price of the parma alone.

The salad was okay. Nothing to write home about but not offensive by any means - A garden salad of lettuce, cucumber, tomato, onion and grated carrot in a splash of balsamic dressing. I could have used some more dressing and some more "flair" overall with the greens - But they did their job.

“The Mexican parma had plenty of topping and the chips were awesome - A quality feed”

— Shanan

“Great chips, decent parma, average salad”

— Carly

“Good feed, comes with a pot as well... Happy days!”

— Fridge

“Chips were awesome, parma was tasty... Great value for money”

— Kim

“Bolognese sauce was delicious”

— Pat

For only $15.90 with a pot this was quite a tasty meal for the price - and even more so if you indulge in the novelty toppings. Thursday parma nights are quite rare these days (They usually only appear Monday - Wednesday), so if you're on the hunt for a decent feed that won't break the bank then this is definitely one to consider.

This review was pretty firmly just relating to the Thursday night parma night at the Junction, which I think is pretty fitting as the first time we visited was also for their novelty parma night. After being suitably impressed with their discount option my curiosity has piqued as to what the full priced version is like... Definitely one to try another time.

In the meantime though, we were all quite happy with the Junction's parma night special, a marked improvement on its 2010 counterpart and a great cheap feed on a Thursday night.

Pros

• Quality parma for a great price
• Free pot
• Novelty options

Cons

• Mediocre salad
• Traditional parma could use a little more punch

Parma - 7.21

Chips - 7.71

Salad - 4.57

Value - 8.57

Total - 7.06

The search continues...

#273 - 'The Maori Chief Hotel'

Where? - 117 Moray St. South Melbourne

Price? - Traditional starts at $21

Website? - http://maorichief.com.au

Reviewers – Fridge, Lee, Matt, Nikki & Stefo

Of all the parmas on our "To Try" list, I think the Maori Chief has been there the longest, so long I have forgotten how it got there in the first place - part of me thinks it made it there after a Facebook poll asking for suggestions for pubs with good beer gardens, but who knows. Most importantly last night we loaded up the Parma bus and headed to South Melbourne's Maori Chief Hotel.

I'm tempted call the Maori Chief a "backstreets local pub", however being only one block from Clarendon street I don't think it quite qualifies as such - Yet it definitely has the vibe of a friendly, local watering hole. The Chief has the feel of a pub that could become your home away from home. Friendly staff, cosy fireplaces and (from what I hear) a damn fine beer garden to drink away the afternoon.

We arrived at the pub on Thursday evening, grabbed a pint, cosied up in front of the open fireplace in the dining room and checked the menu... What's this? We have some novelty options -

Normally I'm a Parma purist, but god damn I can't say no to a Mexi-Parma. Reviewers Nikki and Matt went the Traditional route as our control group. Reviewer Stefo got the Aussie, I got the Mexican, and Reviewer Fridge was oh-so brave and got himself the Chilli Parma. We placed our orders at the bar (with sides of gravy for chip dip) and awaited the arrival of our meals.

For a locals pub such as it is I was pleasantly surprised to find a tap list as crafty as it was. Nothing too fancy, but a  selection of eight taps running the gamut from Carlton Draught to Mountain Goat. Something for everyone.

After a quick pre-game of cheesy garlic bread, the different parmas starting appearing from the kitchen. Let's take a look, shall we?

The Original -

The Chilli -

The Aussie -

The Mexican -

First up lets talk schnitzel. This was a quality bit of bird. Pure white chicken breast hammered to a medium thickness. The crumbing was light (chicken even showing through in some spots) but I'd rather an under-crumbed schnitty than an over-crumbed one.

Well cooked, juicy and served piping hot. No matter what novelty toppings got piled on top, this was a quality foundation for a Parma.

Now on to the toppings discussion - Remembering that my experience was for the Mexican Parma, I'll get to everyone else's experience afterwards.

Hoo boy - was this ever a Mexican Parma. Atop the chicken was a healthy layer of hot salami, on that was plenty of spicy Chilli con carne, on that was the cheese, on that was the guacamole and on that was was a handful of corn chips.

First up - Although they look impressive, I don't think the corn chips are necessary on a mexi Parma. They only serve to slow me down from getting to my chicken and/or waste the guacamole that is reserved for my Parma.

Other than that, the toppings were damn tasty. The guacamole was fresh, the salami hot and the chilli con carne extremely flavoursome. To be honest, while I thoroughly enjoyed this dish, all I could really taste while eating it was salami and chilli. Overpowering, but in a good way.

As for the others, Stefo seemed very pleased with the Aussie, noting that the egg was perfectly runny and the bacon was a fine addition.

Nikki and Matt both enjoyed their traditional parmas, commenting that the Napoli sauce had a unique but unidentifiable flavour.

Fridge seemed underwhelmed - Apparently the "If you dare" promise of an insanely hot Parma was a cheque  that the Chiefs chilli Parma didn't cash. He said it was fine, very tasty - but not the explosion of heat that the menu promised.

Looking at the above photos I wouldn't blame you for thinking these parmas didn't come with chips. Other than them being served directly underneath (which Isn't a hell-worthy trespass in my book, a pro can extract them before any damage is done), it was only a small serving - A handful at best.

Other than that they were great. Hot, crispy with pillowy potato inside. The side of gravy for chip dipping was a wise choice, the gravy thick and rich with a heavy red wine flavour.

The salad was perfectly fine. Fresh cucumber, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, carrot, onion and mustard seeds. Very flavourful and a fine addition to the meal.

“Got the Chilli Parma - Was very nice but was expecting a little more spice. Chips and salad were quality”

— Fridge

“Such a cosy pub! Loved the open fireplace. The traditional parma was tasty and held its own against the novelty varieties”

— Nikki

“A great, friendly pub and a very decent meal”

— Stefo

“Quality chicken breast. The napoli sauce was a standout. Tasty and a generous serving”

— Matt

I'd have no problems coming back to the Maori Chief and paying $23 for another Mexi-Parma, Hell I'd even travel out of my way for the privilege. As icing on the cake the Chief runs a $15 Parma night, which (as far as I can tell) covers their novelty varieties as well. I'm telling you it's good, but if you're unsure this is definitely the night to come and dip your toe in the water.

I enjoyed the Maori Chief. It's a laid back pub in an area that you wouldn't expect to find a laid back pub. Good vibes, good people, good grub - Definitely worth a visit.

Pros

• Some great novelty options
• Traditional stands on its own

Cons

• Small serving of chips
• "Super hot" Chilli Parma doesn't deliver

 

Parma - 7.40

Chips - 6.90

Salad - 6.40

Value - 7.00

Total - 7.02

The search continues...