The Normanby Hotel

When I started this blog last week I was very excited. I had a Friday/Saturday night combo planed with a chicken parm to be eaten and blogged about after each. Friday night there were no problems getting a chicken but Saturday was a bit different. We had organised to catch up with some work friends that we hadn't seen in a while at The Normanby Brisbane but it didn't quite go to plan. When we got there at 6:00pm we were advised that we had to eat and be out by 7:00pm, and the menu had only three items we could choose from. The chicken parm wasn't on the list so I had a steak and we quickly moved on to a nice cafe on Park Road in Milton.

Now, while the one hour limit wasn't the best, the steak was awesome. One of the best steaks I've had this year. Couple that with The Normanby doing a deal where everything on their menu is half price for July, we had to go back and I had to get a chicken parm, so that's where we went for lunch today.

Below is a picture of The Normanby's chicken parm.

We got there very early, about an hour before the kitchen opened but the waitress let us sit at our table and wait. When the kitchen opened they were quick to take our order and about twenty minutes later I had my chicken parm. Lets break down the different elements of the dish.

Size: On the large size, the picture doesn't do justice to the size of the plate. I ate all the chicken and half the chips and I was completely full. This is the only meal that I am going to eat today and my stomach is not complaining.

Chicken: Well cooked, nice and moist inside and a consistent thickness. The outside coating was a little overcooked but it tasted delicious and didn't detract from the meal in any way.

Sauce: Nice, but not enough. No noticeable chunks of tomato, was a good tangy sauce, just needed more of it.

Ham: This is the only part of the dish I didn't like (aside form the salad). It was one piece of ham and was in between the sauce and the cheese, so anytime I went to cut through the ham would slide around on the chicken. It wasn't that hard to do and it tasted great but it would have been more enjoyable had the ham been cut up.

Cheese: Good cheese, cooked very well. Just the right amount of it too.

Chips: Very crispy, seemed like I got the bottom of the bag chips, not many of them were of any real size. The ones in the picture cover all the tiny little chips at the bottom. They had a nice batter on them however and were a good addition to the meal.

Salad: Too much cucumber. Couldn't see any sauce that looked appetizing. Didn't eat any.

In contrast to our visit last weekend, we had a really good time this week. The food was nice and the staff were prompt and helpful. The chicken parm was good and I had no problems eating it all. Outside of half-price July it would be an expensive chicken parm. Unsure if I would order it again or go with a better priced steak. The Normanby is also tricky to get to with its tiny carpark but we all had a good time though and left with full belly's.

-Dave the Mega-Parm