The Groove Train - King George Square

Last night the better half and I went into the city to see a few bands play. We decided to get dinner in the city and after some umming and ahhing picked the Groove Train in King George Square. It was a stinking hot day in Brisbane and where the Groove Train is situated is just perfect, a beautiful breeze blew through the restaurant  Cooling us down nicely.

There is a lot to choose from on their menu and of course, there was a chicken parm. So how did it look? Picture below.

At $23.90 it wasn't the cheapest chicken parm I've ever had, but the meal came out very quickly so one can't complain too much there. Having said that though, the chips were on the cold side and while the chicken was cooked, it wasn't that hot. Also, the meal came out well before the drinks did. I like to have a beer in the background of all my pictures but it wasn't possible this time.

Size: On the large side, the chicken was very thick. The layer of mozzarella cheese (which you can't see in the picture) was also substantial and there was a ton of sauce. I did eat all the chicken, but only just. It was a lot.

Chicken: Cooked well but as mentioned above, not overly hot. The crumbing was also rather plain and didn't have anything going for it to make it memorable.

Sauce: A huge amount of sauce, and it was very sweet. I had to put a fair amount of salt on it to suit my tastes. Not bad, just very sweet.

Ham: No ham on this parm. I think it would have made a bit of a difference too.

Cheese: Probably the best part of the meal, the Parmesan cheese on top worked well with the mozzarella cheese under the sauce. No complaints about the sauce at all.

Chips: Unremarkable chips that were cold. Didn't finish them. Plus some were tainted by the dressing from the sauce.

Salad: Boring. With the dressing I would have appreciated it in a separate bowl. And way too many of those stalk things. Left nearly all of it on the plate.

All in all it won't be a parm that I'll remember in years to come. It was serviceable and I was full at the end but a lot of little things could have been done better.

-Dave the Mega-Parm

What could have been!

A few weeks back I went out drinking with a few mates with the plan was to get a chicken parm for dinner and post about it on here. It was going well and to plan, except that a lot of beers were consumed before chicken parm time. So I don't really remember much from the night, other than that my beer tasted like cucumber...

Here's a pic however of the Parm from Irish Murphy's.

Lesson was learned, chicken parm reviews need to be done with less than 10 beers in the belly.

In the famous words of Arnie, "I'll be back, to Irish Murphys to eat another parm".

-Dave the Mega-Parm


Woolloongabba Hotel

Last weekend there was an international rugby league match between Australia and New Zealand (GO AUSTRALIA!!). If there is a list of good reasons to go out and eat chicken parm and drink beer, this has to be one of them. So we headed out to the Woolloongabba Hotel in Woolloongabba (duh) for beer, parm and rugby league.

Here is a picture of their chicken parmy.

So how was it?

Size: Medium to medium large, with a good serving of chips. The salad was also on the larger size (if that's a good thing to you, then you're not a friend of the Mega-Parms).

Chicken: Well cooked chicken, no problems with it's flavour or thickness. The crumbing was also of good quality. No problems here.

Sauce: A huge amount of sauce, and it had a very Napolitano (is that the right spelling) taste to it. Not a bad thing though, quite tasty.

Ham: If there was ham on this parm, I didn't see or taste it. Could have been in the sauce but I'm not playing Where's Hamdo (Where's Waldo) with my parm.

Cheese: A lot of cheese and it was slightly under cooked. Well it was cooked but could have used another minute under the grill to give is a bit of a crust. Was nice though, no other complaints.

Chips: Good chips, nice and crunchy. And as mentioned before there was a good amount of them. Nothing amazing as they were fairly standard pub chips, but they were good.

Salad: Un-interesting and boring salad. Not a fan. And not in a separate bowl so got a little bit of salad taint on the chips and parm. If my mantra wasn't that I wouldn't change the parm in anyway I would have ordered it without.

All in all the meal was good, and for $19 it was good value. I've been told they sometimes do a two for one special. I'd certainly recommend it at two for one and would also recommend it at regular prices.

Dave the Mega-Parm

The Colmslie Hotel

Does it get any better than this? First day of a week long holiday and out to The Colmslie Hotel for a few beers and chicken parm. It was a great day for it, nice and warm outside with a nice breeze blowing through the outdoor garden. Here's the parm.

At $26 it is the most expensive parm I've ever eaten, but the food came out very quickly and while the Colmslie looks a little divey from the road it's actually quite nice in the beer garden and inside. All three of us had the chicken parm and aside from a few chips on one plate and some salad we finished it off. So how was it?

Size: Medium small to medium sized meal. The chicken parm wasn't enormous and neither were the chips. The salad bowl was quite stacked but that's not why we're here.

Chicken: Well cooked chicken. A uniform thickness throughout. The crumbing was spot on. Only small fault would be the size, but it was enough to be full on at the end of the meal.

Sauce: An interesting sauce, it wasn't just sauce but also had chunks of onion, tomato and capsicum. There was a fair amount of it on the plate, but that was good because it wasn't a richly flavoured sauce. Normally I'm not a huge fan of chunks of vege's in the sauce but they did it really well here.

Ham: Just a thin layer of ham between the chicken and the sauce. Very mild ham and only just noticeable.

Cheese: Great cheese, a lot of it and cooked just right. Also, it covered the whole piece of chicken. This is something every chicken parm needs to do.

Chips: Nice beer battered chips, crunch on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Didn't get enough though, and the chips at the bottom were all small. Chips on the top were great though.

Salad: Really nice dressing on the salad but way too much cucumber and tomato. So only ate a couple of small bites.

All in all, a pretty good meal. Was it worth $26? Probably not. Would I go there again? I would, but I'd order something else. The table next to us got a massive toasted sandwich platter with chips that looked awesome.

I just noticed, in the menu on the website the chicken parm is only $21.95. I hate it when the menu online is different to the restaurants price :(

-Dave the Mega-Parm

Waterloo Hotel

Last night we went to the Waterloo Hotel for dinner and drinks to celebrate a colleagues birthday. Plenty of beer was consumed and of course, a chicken parm was devoured. Picture below.

Sorry about the picture quality, it's a rather atmospheric place with quite dim lighting.

The Waterloo Hotels chicken parm comes in at $18.95 and is served with the standard chips and salad. The other menu offerings also looked pretty good with an interesting Tapas menu and dessert pizza also being consumed by our table. But anyway, how was the chicken parm?

Size: Medium sized dish, probably more salad than would have been liked, and not too many chips. I was full at the end though and even left a few chips.

Chicken: Nice chicken, slightly overcooked on the outside but the inside was just right. The crumbing was good and the chicken was juicy. A good thickness too. Aside from the outside being slightly overcooked it was pretty damn good.

Sauce: Not much sauce on this chicken parm and it wasn't overly memorable. Was serviceable enough though.

Ham: Great ham, tasted like that really good ham you get from the deli. Sizable slices that sort of fell apart as you cut into them. Very impressed with the ham.

Cheese: Good cheese, cooked to very nearly a chicken parm perfection. Only gripe is there wasn't enough. The cheese I think needs to cover the whole of the chicken.

Chips: Not too bad, they were thick cut and quite heavy. Good seasoning.

Salad: Boring and unexciting. One mouthful, then didn't go back. The dressing didn't taint the chips or chicken though.

All in all, a pretty good chicken parm. I would have it again. They do two for one pizza's on Tuesdays with Trivia, so might try and get some people for that for a laugh.

-Dave the Mega-Parm

Hoggs Breath Cafe - Carindale

This weekend my Fiance, her sister, her mum and I went to the The Hoggs Breath Cafe in Carindale for lunch. We wanted to go somewhere for lunch and it had to be close to home because I was on call for work. Westfield Carindale is only a stones throw away and I've already reviewed the Carindale Hotel previously so why not visit Hoggs Breath?

Hoggs Breath are somewhat famous for their steaks, they are a chain of restaurants all around Australia (and even a few in New Zealand). Their steaks are cooked for at least 18 hours and are always delicious. So how well do they do a chicken parm? Lets see.

Our meal was delivered to the table about 20 minutes after we ordered it. This parm was also on the expensive side at $22.95.

Size: Medium sized. And I ordered the larger of the chicken parms on the menu (they also do a lite version). I was content at the end but definitely not full.

Chicken: The chicken was well cooked. Not over done and was a good thickness. The crumbing on the underside stuck to the plate a little but it didn't detract from the chicken too much.

Sauce: The sauce was the main flavour here. It was a nice but there was just way too much of it.

Ham: No ham. Was asked if I wanted bacon on it, which I am sure would have been nice. But it would have been an extra $3.50. Plus I order my parms as is, no extras and no taking anything off.

Cheese: Parmesan cheese, which is strange for a chicken parm. It was interesting, but as you can see in the picture there was hardly any cheese compared to sauce.

Chips: Hoggs Breath curly fries are always good, no complaints here except I could have done with more.

Salad: Uninteresting and boring. It's supposed to have dressing but I didn't see it. What isn't there cannot taint chips or chicken though, so that's a good thing.

Hoggs Breath Caraindale is a funny place. It's really hard to see in there if you're facing the window with the bright light outside and the darkness inside.

If we went there again I'd get a steak.

-Dave the Mega-Parm

Chalk Hotel

I'd only been to the Chalk Hotel in Woolloongabba once previously and the visit last weekend was the first time I had walked in sober. It's an enormous place with about 50 screens all dedicated to different types of sport, which was great because we had gone there to watch the football. Plus the $3.50 Carona's between 3pm and 7pm didn't hurt either. It's quite funny to see pretty much everyone drinking Carona, and why wouldn't you?

They also have a restaurant there and guess what's on the menu? Chicken parm! Picture below.

At $16 I believe this is the cheapest parm that I have ever eaten (other than the heavily discounted parm from the Cafe Moray). So what was it like?

Size: Medium sized parm that was quite thin. Not too many chips or salad either. Enough to be full at the end of the meal but there was no stopping early.

Chicken: Mine was slightly burnt around the edges, and the chicken itself was very thin. In some spots it felt like there was more coating than actual chicken. What I could taste of it however, was nice.

Sauce: Very little sauce, didn't have any tang to it. Felt like a bit of an afterthought.

Ham: The Chalk Hotels chicken parm should really be called a ham parm. The dominant flavour of the meal was the ham. It was the small bits of shredded ham and while it was tasty, it isn't what I look for in a chicken parm.A little bit to add to the flavour is good, ham being the strongest element, not so good.

Cheese: The cheese was good, not anything to write home to mum about (I don't think she reads this blog, or even knows it exists) but it was serviceable. Wasn't over or under cooked.

Chips: Pretty ordinary chips, and no where near enough of them. Just your standard boring pub food chips.

Salad: Dry and plain, one bite and I wasn't going back.

As you can probably see, this wasn't my favourite parm. I would definitely go back to the Chalk Hotel as the place was really good, but not for chicken parm. I think I'll try the 350g grain fed rib eye next time.

-Dave the Mega-Parm