Archive Beer Boutique

This isn't the first time we've been to the Archive Beer Boutique, but it's the first time we've gone there with a plan for lunch. For those that haven't heard of the Archive Beer Boutique, well it's as great as it sounds. A fairly large size pub found halfway down Boundary St in West End. What are they known for? Beer of course. With 14+ (constantly rotating) on tap and over 400 in bottles it's where you go if you like beer.

Bridge Road Bling IPA (with the food menu)

They also however, do a pretty tasty lunch. And on Sunday they rock out with $10 schnitzels and live music. We didn't stay long enough for the live music (getting there at 12:15pm and leaving by 1:30pm) but the meal was amazing. $10 is pretty cheap for a schnitzel of this quality. It was fairly sizable and came with a generous serving of chips.

chicken schnitzel 

w beer battered fries, house salad, sauce

The sauce was a really tasty gravy with hints of pepper. The chicken had a delicious crumbing on it and was cooked to perfection. Chips were crunchy on the outside and fluffy in the middle.

The Archive really know their Sunday lunch patrons as you have to pay $2 extra to get it with a salad . A year ago I would have not ordered salad and had been cheering they give this option. Now I am just cheering they give us the option. The salad was good, ate it all (except for the cucumber and tomato that was pinched of my plate, no complaints there though).

We had ordered pretty much as soon as we got there and the food came out soon after, about 15 to 20 minutes after ordering. The ambiance of the place is great too. All the tables outside were taken but there were heaps of tables inside for us to sit at. It's not always like that at the Archive though, been there on Friday nights where the place is pumping and you couldn't squeeze another person in.

Mrs Mega-Parm had the Pork Cutlet which she kindly let me have a taste. If this was "In Porks Way" I'd be writing a pretty favourable review of her my dish.

pork cutlet

w roast potato, apple, fennel, mustard, sage butter

Lastly, I am a big fan of wheat beers and when getting a second drink I asked the barman what he would recommend. After he suggested a few things I went with his last, which was the Moo Brew Hefeweizen. I really can't recommend this enough, it was smooth at first, nice going down and left no bitter aftertaste. Went to the bottleshop there (Next Door Cellars) to see if they have it for take-home sale, and they do!!

I've never had a bad time at the Archive Beer Boutique and once again it was great. I'm thinking of reasons to go back next Sunday...

Dave the Mega-Parm

Vroom Bistro

Having been to Vroom Bistro a few times for breakfast and enjoyed our meals, it was good to get there for lunch this weekend. They don't have a parm on the menu but I saw this last time we visited.

I was intrigued as to how a panko schnitzel would taste. As it turns out, pretty damn good is how it tastes. The chicken was a little thin but it was cooked to perfection. And the panko crumbing was far from plain, there was all sorts of other herbs in there, dancing on my palate  As far as chickens schnitzels go, Vroom's offering could not be faulted in any way, shape or form. It was also quite large on the plate.

That picture really doesn't do it justice, but that drink in the background is a 660ml Lick Pier ginger beer, it's a big bottle and looks kinda small.

The coleslaw was a bit of a surprise too, I'm not usually a 'slaw man but it had a really nice flavour and worked perfectly with the chicken. The salad didn't excite, fairly boring and not much of it was eaten.

The Chicken Schnitzel at Vroom doesn't come with chips so they were ordered on the side for $4. The chips were great. Beer battered, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Also came with a little tub of spicy mayo type sauce that was awesome.

Love you Lick Pier!!

I've read some bad reviews of Vroom in the past but I really don't see it. The food was great, the service was good and for what we ate, was priced very well. I'd recommend Vroom to anyone.

Dave the Mega-Parm

ps. if you sit outside you'll get to watch patrons drive around looking for a car park. It's fun (in a schadenfreude kind of way) to watch the trendy type think they have a park only to have it taken by someone else.