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

The Queens Arms Hotel

On a rather pleasant winter's Saturday lunchtime we ventured off to The Queens Arms Hotel on James St in New Farm for lunch. Having never been there before I wasn't sure what to expect, but the restaurant section was very nice.

Already knowing what I was going to have made browsing the menu kind of pointless but they have a good selection of meals to choose from (unless your gluten intolerant, where we saw only one meal that could be eaten). Dave the Mega-Parm isn't gluten intolerant, so the chicken parm was what I had.

At $23 it's not the cheapest parm out there. It's also not the most expensive but it's certainly on the higher side of average. Here's the picture.

We ordered just after 12:00pm and our meal was out to us within 20 minutes. The staff were friendly and polite, and a bottle of water was brought out to the table as we sat down (I like that).

How was the chicken parm though?

Size: It's hard to tell with that picture, but the plate was massive and the meal took up a fairly large part of it. It was one of those funny shaped plates that is impossible to rest your cutlery on when you're having a drink or taking a break from eating. I was pretty full at the end of lunch though. No complaints, was worth the $23.

Chicken: My chicken was well cooked and juicy, though it was large in area it wasn't very thick. Some bites all I got was toppings. Not a bad thing, but one does want to taste chicken each bite. The crumbing was good but towards the end it was falling apart a little bit.

Cheese: Very tasty, though it could have done with a little bit more time under the grill to crust it up a little. There was a lot of it as well.

Ham: Nice pieces of shredded ham, a little bit more ham would have been good (or less cheese/sauce). When I did get a taste of the ham I was happy. Good ham is something that brings a smile to my face.

Sauce: Lots of sauce, and very sweet. Was a bit like tomato paste with its texture. Would have been more enjoyable had there been a little bit less. Or if it wasn't as sweet. 

Chips: Yum, beer battered chips that were cooked to perfection. Crisp on the outside and fluffy in the middle. They came out under the parm which made a few go a bit soggy, but not enough to cause any distress. The plate was large enough to be able to move the parm off them pretty easy.

Salad: One of the best parma salads I've had. Lettuce, cucumber (which I managed to avoid like a champ), olives and sun-dried tomatoes. Sun-dried tomatoes are one of the greatest inventions of all time and there was heaps in this salad. Perfecto!

All in all it was a nice meal at the QA Hotel. Would go back again to try the steak (saw two steaks go by to another table and they looked amazing). Plus the guy that brought us our meals carried all three of our plates like a boss!

Until next time.

Dave the Mega-Parm

Thank You International Hotel

Not a parm review, just a little story. Caught up with a bunch of mates last weekend for a round of mini-golf and some beers. After we finished our round we headed off to the International Hotel for lunch. My mates all know about this silly blog and a few of them hadn't had been there for lunch so it worked out great.

The only problem is we got there after 3:00pm and the lunch menu finishes at 2:30pm. One of my mates mentioned we'd all gone there for the parms and instead of shooing us away, they turned the deep fryer back on (or whatever they use to make the parms) and let us order.

Was a great afternoon, once again the International has shown me how great a place it is! Thanks guys!

Dave the Mega-Parm

ps. I had the Mighty Wangus Burger and it was very tasty.

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.

Elephant Arms - Parmageddon

It was blind luck that I found out about Parmageddon at The Elephant Arms, and I am glad so I did. For the low price of $5 (and any drink purchase) you can choose from six different parms. Only catch is you have to go there on a Thursday night. Not really the best night for us workers, but you only live once. So why not.

We crewed up after work and headed to The Elephant Arms on what was probably the coldest night ever in Brisbane. Got there about 6:00pm and headed to the outdoor area after ordering some drinks. After finally finding the parma menu we ordered our food. With six different parms to choose from it was pretty exciting.

1. Crumbed Chicken Breast with Ham, Cheese and Napoli Sauce
2. Crumbed Chicken Breast with Ham, Pineapple, Cheese and Napoli Sauce
3. Crumbed Chicken Breast with Chorizo, Olive, Fetta and Napoli Sauce
4. Crumbed Chicken Breast with Pumpkin, Chickpea, Cheese, Tzatziki and Tandoori Sauce
5. Crumbed Chicken Breast with Bean Salsa, Cheese, Guac, Corn Chips and Sour Cream
6. Crumbed Chicken Breast with Chefs Famous Gravy

Pretty cool. Enough there to have some important decisions to make. I went with the Chorizo parm while the rest of the crew had the Mexican and Indian parms. How was the Chorizo parm? Picture is below.

I can't really review this like a regular parm, but for $5 it was an absolutely ripping meal. The salad was tasty enough (for a salad). The chicken was really well prepared and cooked and the toppings were pretty good. It could have done with a more generous helping of toppings but really, for such a low cost the meal was great. The chips were pretty boring and there wasn't enough of them. But the quality of the chicken made up for it.

It's probably only the second time I've been to the Elephant Arms (and the first time I've kept my shirt on) but I would definitely go there again. Monday and Wednesday is $5 steak night, and Tuesday is $1 tacos so we might be there again sooner rather than later.

Thanks for the great meal Elephant Arms. Brisbane needs more fun time parm joints, keep it up!

-Dave the Mega-Parm

Bitter Suite

I'm going to say this right off the bat, this isn't going to be a chicken parm review. "This is a parm reviewing blog though Mega-Parm, what's the deal with that?" Well, I figured anyone that is interested in reading about chicken parm is also going to be interested in roast pork sandwiches, and beer. So here it is.

It's Mothers Day here in Australia and seeing my birth mother is in another state we took Mrs Mega-Parms mother out for lunch to Bitter Suite in New Farm. We've walked/driven past it many times and I'm stoked to finally go there for a meal. We made a booking and got there a couple of minutes early. No problems though, we were pointed to our table in the corner and sat down. The waitress stocked with menu's came over a couple of minutes later, explained the huge selection of beers to us and left us to our devices.

I already knew what I was having, but I was surprised that both Mrs Mega-Parm and her mum also went with the roast pork sandwich. At $18 it's fairly well priced for someone looking for a nice meal, and there was plenty to eat. Not the largest meal I've ever had but certainly enough to fill me up.

The pork is absolutely amazing. Soft, juicy and succulent. Falls apart as you chomp into the sandwich. Sometimes with pork like this you have to tear the meat apart, or a huge chunk of it comes out when you bite, but not this. Historically I haven't been a huge fan of pork but this was perfect.

The roll was rustic and toasted nicely, and the 'slaw and lettuce was just what it needed. The chips were also pretty good but needed a bit of salt to draw their flavour out. We had a discussion about this during the meal though, it's probably better to be under-seasoned and have salt on the table, than to over-season in the kitchen. Great crunch to the chips too, they were fun to eat.

I also had a couple of beers with the meal, my favourite being the Fortitude Original from Fortitude Brewing. With 7 beer taps and over 60 bottled beers available it's definitely a place to check out if you're into beer drinking. Have a squizz at the beer menu.

We really enjoyed our meal at Bitter Suite and can't recommend it enough to anyone looking for a nice place to go for lunch. We'll be going there again (for either breakfast, dinner or a drinking session). Looking forward to it!

One last thing before I go, a huge Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers out there.

-Dave the Mega-Parm

ps. Mrs Mega-Parm is a Glutenoid. The bread they supplied with her meal looked pretty good and she was very happy it.

Koala Tavern

Who would have thought, that's a strangely named place called the Koala Tavern in Capalaba would do a nice parm, but they do.

After a morning of playing golf (very poorly) the In-Parms-Way team headed to the Koala Tavern for lunch and beers. The Koala Tavern is a strange little place, we walked around the building a couple of times before we found the entrance, and the setup in the main bar is like a massive lounge room with the UFC on a screen larger than the moon. Would love to have a setup like that at home.

We did however find where one orders food from, and at the spiritedly time of 11:30am we ordered our lunch. As you can see from the picture below, the Koala does a few varieties of parms.

After about 20-25 minutes our meals were delivered to our table. At $16.45 for the normal parm, and $17.45 for the BBQ parm that I ate, it's pretty good value. How was it though, picture is below.

Size: It was good value for $17.45, could probably have upped the price a dollar or two and made the chicken larger and thrown some more chips in there. Had no problems at all finishing the good stuff on the plate.

Chicken: Really nice, seemed like pre-made chicken before I started, but after eating some it was really succulent and tasty. I'd be surprised if it was pre-made. Really good and not a bad size either. Juicy on the inside, and crispy on the outside, can't ask for much more with crumbed chicken to be honest.

Cheese: Not much cheese on top, could have done with a little bit more.

Meat Toppings: The bacon was crispy but didn't have much flavour. The pepperoni on the other hand, was delicious, delectable and delightful. Gave the meal a really tasty BBQ meat lovers pizza kind of vibe. 

Sauce: As mentioned above, the BBQ sauce helped give the meal a nice BBQ meat lovers pizza feeling. Worked really well with the nicely cooked schnitzel.

Salad: Boring and uneventful. Didn't taint the meal in any way however, and was easy to push to the side. Which is a thumbs up to Dave the Mega-Parm.

Overall, the Koala Tavern experience was a good one. Plenty of parms to choose from and $13 jugs of beer, there isn't much to not like. If this was my "local" I wouldn't complain.

Another at the table had the regular parm. Said it was pretty tasty.

As a quick aside, In Parms Way is now on Facebook. If you're a fan of parm (and who isn't), click the Like button.

Looking forward to the next meal!

-Dave the Mega-Parm