Manly Hotel

I knew this was going to be a good lunch when I went up to get drinks in my awesome Broncos jersey and the barmaid said "cool shirt mate". Awesome.

So this weekend we traveled to the Manly Hotel for lunch. We've passed this place many times going to the Manly Markets and always wondered what it was like inside. It was good to finally check it out. We got there just as the restaurant opened and about 10 minutes later the place was packed. Is it because the food is good? Or could it be the $12.90 roast dinner lunch they do? All I can really talk about is how the chicken parm was. Picture is below.

Coming in at $21.90 it's on the more expensive side of average, but the service was good and the meals came out quickly. The drinks were also quite cheap, which is always a plus in my books.

Size: A thin piece of chicken but it was quite large in area. Also a solid serving of chips and the salad was packed right into the little salad bowl.

Chicken: Very nice chicken, cooked just right with a slight bit of charring on the edges. Nothing to detract from the flavour. It was a thin but consistent thickness all over.

Sauce: Very sweet sauce and not a huge amount of it on the meal. In one section it had pooled a little bit, but once again it didn't detract from the niceness of the meal.

Ham: Thin layer of ham, covered nearly all of the parm though and was noticeable yet not overpowering.

Cheese: Very good cheese, runny in parts and crispy in others. Good flavour and covered the whole piece of chicken. A bit had fallen off and looked like it was cooked on the hot plate, was a great little bonus. They also sprinkled a little parsley on top, fancy!

Chips: Fairly ordinary chips, but the kitchen had cooked them pretty well. Needed salt to get flavour out.

Salad: Not a bad salad, and extra points for being in a bowl. Lots of lettuce too (which is good).

All in all the Manly Hotel was a great place to go for a Sunday lunch and I would certainly recommend the chicken parm for anyone even remotely interested in parms. And to be honest, everyone should be interested in parms...

There was also a meat tray raffle, but since it was real meat and not prawns I had no chance of winning.

Dave the Mega-Parm

In Parms Way, now on eParmony

Quick post to say a huge thank you to the people at eParmony for adding my little blog to their site. I highly recommend checking it out, not only if you're looking for Parms in areas other than Brisbane* but because all the blogs on there are good reads.

In other Parm related news, today we're off to the Manly Hotel for lunch. Looking forward to it! Review to come this afternoon.

-Dave the Mega-Parm

*In Parms Way is where you go looking for Brisbane Parms :)

Brunswick Hotel

Part two of an awesome Parm weekend. Usually what happens is I drink beer while eating and am somewhat sober when I write the blogs but this post is a little different. Is that good or bad, I don't know. Does it really matter?

Today we went to the Brunswick Hotel for lunch. The plans were actually cancelled until AU decided to message me at 12:15 asking when we'd get there for lunch. So we changed out plans and went into New Farm for lunch.

The Brunswick hotel has been on my radar for a while. I've heard lots of talk of their round pool tables (which makes no sense to me), but recently a colleague said their better half went to the Brunswick and didn't enjoy the parm very much. So I had to see (and eat) it for myself.

How was it? Let the picture do the talking.

First of all, when this chicken parm came out I thought I was in a pizza parlor. It smelt exactly like a neapolitana special from New York Pizza Slice.

For $19.50 it was pretty good value and the meal came out within the allowable time frame (within two pints of beer). But what about the different components?

Size: Medium small. Not enough to be full as a car boot at the end of the meal, but it wasn't tiny like a fun size Mars bar. Oh, imagine that, a fun size parma. Hmm.

Chicken: Well cooked, the meat was very thin all over but there was no problems with it. Slightly over-cooked on the edges but not enough to detract from the tastiness of the meal.

Sauce: Pizza sauce. It smelt and tasted like pizza sauce. But it was pretty nice and kind of worked quite well.

Ham: Solid slices of ham, was a strong taste on the parm. And the cheese and sauce slid all over it. Tasted like a pretty high quality ham though.

Cheese: Not very much cheese, but what was on there was cooked well and tasted good. It kind of slid over the ham layer though so felt like a bit of an afterthought from an eaters point of view.

Chips: Standard pub chips, not beer battered but were cooked well and fluffy on the inside. I don't think there were enough of them on the plate.

Salad: Boring, flavorless and unexciting. Looks like there is a dressing on it but I couldn't taste it.

All in all it was a solid parma effort, definitely good value and it seemed like a pretty nice place for lunch on a wet Brisbane day. Beers were pretty cheep too.

-Dave the Parm-Minister

Eatons Hill Hotel

This is one of those great weekends where there will be two chicken parm reviews. Today (Saturday) the plan was to go into the Valley and check out Fringe Bar. I'd heard (read on the net) from a reputable source (a comment on urban spoon) that someone from Melbourne said they do a great parm, and that's enough for me to want to check it out. So we get to Fringe Bar after a monster flash storm care of QLD's weather only to find it is closed for lunch on Saturdays.

So, after walking around like lost sheep for a while we decided to get out of the Valley and go to Eatons Hill Hotel for lunch. Eatons Hill came onto my radar a few years back (before this little parm blog) because a work colleague said they had 100 beers on tap. Turns out it's 100 beer taps (slightly different) but it's enough to keep it in the back of my mind as somewhere to go.

We rocked up to the bistro and I ordered the chicken parm. What was it like?

For $22 it was on the higher side of average priced but the service was great and the meal came out relatively quickly. Can't fault the ambiance of the Bistro either, overlooking a golf course and a big grassy photo area (for weddings and crap).

Size: Large chicken parm, was thinish on the outside but the middle was a solid piece of poultry meat. Not many chips but the salad was quite large. Definitely enough food though, I failed to finish the parm with a small square of chicken left over.

Chicken: Well cooked, juicy and succulent in the middle. The crumbing was great, it even had some herbs on there. I am pretty sure I tasted sage (or my better half point out it was sage, one of the two). It was a bit tricky to cut and a steak knife would have made it easier to eat, but that's a minor issue.

Sauce: Sitting on top of the cheese, which was a little strange. The sauce was very sweet and there was a lot of it. But that's not a bad thing, it was nice and suited the meal well.

Ham: A couple of thin slices of ham under the cheese, didn't really get much of a ham hit while eating it. Could have done with another layer all over.

Cheese: Best cheese I've had on a chicken parm so far. Went to the edge of the chicken pretty much all over, and was cooked perfectly. Golden all over, and crispy on the edges. This is what made the meal. Though I left some chicken at the end I didn't leave any cheese and had one big mouthful of cheese and sauce by itself.

Chips: Standard pub chips here, nothing to raise the desk over. They were cooked well and were nice, could have done with a few more though.

Salad: Boring. Way too much cucumber and the dressing was unexciting.

All in all, this is a great chicken parm and I would highly recommend it to anyone in the area. Definitely in my top three since this blog was started.

-Dave the Parm-Minister

I Have A Dream!

And it is to one day have this shirt!

-Dave the Parm-Minister!

Broncos Leagues Club

A few months ago a few mates and I decided to go to Broncos Leagues Club to watch the footy and have a few beers. Something happened and we didn't quite make it there that night (we went to Easts Leagues instead).

But this weekend we finally made it!

After a few games of Keno, beers and the winning of a prawn tray we went to the 88 Restaurant Bar and Cafe and I ordered the chicken parm. So how was it? Picture below.

Size: Medium small, there was enough on the plate to be satisfied but if it wasn't for the pie from Rock N Roll Bakery beforehand I would have been hungry at the end.

Chicken: Very well cooked chicken, crumbing was tasty and the chicken was juicy. Can't fault the chickens preparation in any way.

Sauce: Not a huge amount of sauce, but what was on there was tasty.

Ham: Didn't see any ham on mine.

Cheese: Nice cheese, very well cooked. Melted with a good crusting.

Chips: Standard pub chips, but that's not bad. They were cooked just right. Crunchy on the outside and fluffy in the middle.

Salad: Boring. Had one bite and left it all. If there was dressing on it I didn't see it. As you've probably read in my previous posts I prefer the salad to be in a separate bowl.

For $18.90 (members price) it was a very good parm. Plus it was great to walk through the hall of fame at the Broncos Leagues. Shame the place was so quiet and filled to the brim with pokies. Would definitely go there again for a meal but not to drink beer.

-Dave the Mega-Parm

ps. go the Broncos! 2013 is our year!

Home Made Parm!

We went to my awesome fiance's mum's house for dinner last night and guess what she cooked for us? Chicken parm, oh yeah! She is an avid reader of this blog and made it pretty much to my specifications. So good. Picture is below.

I'm not going to review it because it's not a parm you can go out and buy, but it was delicious and I want to say thank you for the lovely meal :)

-Dave the Mega-Parm