International Hotel - All Parmed Up!

A couple of weeks ago I learned that The International Hotel has done a revamp of their menu. A fair bit has changed but what excited me most is that they've gone from three parms to a whopping eight different parms.

We went there for lunch today. Having already had The Original, The Ploughman and the Parmigiana previously there was a bit of a decision to make. In the end, I went with The Smoking Hog (what a freaking cool name too).

As far as chicken schnitzel meals go, the Smoking Hog was awesome. The BBQ sauce was sweet and tangy and the bacon was thick and delicious. Chips and salad were standard International Hotel fare and were enjoyed as always. And the chicken was thick and succulent.

Halfway through the Smoking Hog!

Aside from the Buccaneer (not much of a seafood eater), I've got another three parms to check out (though I've had the Mexican before it was taken off the last menu, so I'll have to have it again). As always, the pints of Indian Chief were awesome and the service was good. Will be back again soon.

-Dave the Mega-Parm

The Smoke BBQ - Authentic American BBQ

No one can accuse Dave the Mega-Parm of not taking one for the team. Instead of getting a sweet and juicy pulled pork sandwich while out for lunch today at The Smoke BBQ, I had to get the delicious and tasty pulled chicken sandwich. Ok, so it wasn't much of a sacrifice as the chicken sandwich was awesome and something that is deserving of all the praise I can heap upon it.

Being our first trip to The Smoke BBQ we had to start with an entree; I present to you, The Smoke Onion rings.

I've had a few onion rings in my time but these were really good. They'd just come out of the deep fryer and were hot and crunchy. The flavour was spot on though they could have done with thicker bits of onion in the middle. The dipping sauce was pretty damn tasty too.

After the onion rings and a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (which was nice but nothing to write home to mum about) our meals came out.

The chicken was amazing, tasted really smokey and was juicy and flavoursome. There wasn't a huge amount of St Louis sauce but there was plenty of garlic mayo, that's not an issue though as it was really good. They're not lying when they say "soft bread roll", soft and delicate but kept up to the moistness of the meal and didn't fall apart.

One small gripe with the sandwich though, too much spinach.

Probably the highlight of my meal though, were the chips. They were as good as any I've had from a regular pub type place while out parming. I shouldn't be surprised though, this is an American BBQ restaurant. They're going to get fries right aren't they?

What got us keen to go to The Smoke BBQ was a segment on an episode of Food Safari from 2008 where the host went to The Smoke BBQ (I think it had a different name at the time). Wow it looked good on TV and the food was amazing in real life too. Will certainly be going back!

-Dave the Mega-Parm

ps. In Parms Way has its 1 year birthday today. Actually it's one year since the first review type post. The site was created a couple of weeks before them. Thanks to everyone who's reading this!

KFC - The Parmy

It's with interest and reservation that I head to KFC to get lunch today. A Parmy burger, from KFC. Can it be good? Can it live up to the high standards of a real chicken parma? At $6.95 for the single fillet it's not too bad value, and as always the service at KFC was fast (though I did get there at 11:00am).

I unwrapped it and this is what looked back at me.

The chicken was fairly thin and looked quite processed. Not to say it didn't taste good though, it was enjoyable. And the crumbing was good too. There was a lot of sauce on the burger too, and it was rather sweet. Close to being to sweet for my liking, but not sweet enough to take it too far.

The cheese and lettuce was unexciting but something that did surprise was the oatmeal bun. It was as sweet as the sauce however it worked much better and probably made the meal as enjoyable as it was.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Parmy burger at KFC. I don't think I'll go back again for one but I would recommend that anyone out there who likes KFC and Parmas should give it a go. There's also a double fillet version for the hungrier people out there.

-Dave the Mega-Parm

ps. no ham, but you can have bacon on it for 80c extra.

In Parms Way on Facebook

Not much of a post here, but In Parms Way is now on Facebook. Get all your Brisbane/South East Queensland Parma information on Facebook as well as from this little blog.

https://www.facebook.com/InParmsWay

Looking for recommended parms too. Leave a comment or message on Facebook if you know of a good one somewhere.

-Dave the Mega-Parm

Shafston Hotel

Mrs In-Parms-Way and I used to live in East Brisbane, but for some reason during the year we lived there we never visited The Shafston Hotel. That changed today as we visited for a Parma for me and a Roasted Lamb Rump for Mrs In-Parms-Way.

We got there at about midday and inside the place was already pretty busy. Not sure if it's because there was some sort of UFC fight on the pay per view or if it's because Sunday Crafternoon had begun.

What a great little pun.

Either way it made for a nice and lively atmosphere (and for a cheap James Squire 150 Lashes). We made our way to the outdoors dining room with drinks in hand, passing a cozy looking couch setup facing a good sized TV (prime real estate for a Sunday footy and beer session) and ordered our meals. I liked the ordering process for two reasons, the first is that if the server/order taker doesn't ask you if you want a garlic bread, then you get one for free, the other is that you pay for your meal as you order. I hate when we go out and have to wait for the bill. Granted, that doesn't happen very often when ordering Parms at pubs but I don't eat Parms for every meal (unfortunately).

So, about the Parma.

About 25 minutes after ordering our meal was brought to our table. Here's the picture.

Shafston Hotel's Chicken Parma, see the sprig of Rosemary?

Size: While the picture doesn't show it, the plate was fairly large. It's certainly on the larger size of average, and excellent value at $15.90. There wasn't too many chips sitting under the chicken there, it's just the chicken was really thick. The salad was quite large, I didn't eat much of it.

Chicken: Cooked well and was tasty. Juicy and succulent though the crumbing was a bit soggy. Only the last couple of bites had any crunch to them.

Closeup of the chicken. How succulent is it?

Sauce: Nice sauce, had the taste of a few different varieties of tomatoes in it. Or it could have been the little bits of onion that were in there. It could have done with a bit more sauce to bring its flavour higher in the mix, but it was good.

Cheese: A good amount of cheese, very tasty and cooked really well. No qualms or issues with the cheese in any way.

Ham: Really tasty ham, only problem is that it was only covering half the chicken and on the half it was covering, it was doubled over. My favourite bites of the meal came right at the end as I was having crunchy bits of chicken, cheese, sauce and ham all in one bite. If the whole parma was like those last few bites it would have been amazing.

Chips: Good pub chips. Nice and thin and were fluffy on the inside and had texture and crunch on the outside. Needed salt, but that's a minor issue and really doesn't matter when they put salt on the table. Better to add your own salt than to be saddened with too much. The crunch of the chips kind of helped the chicken.

Salad: In a separate bowl, which is always a massive boon. Had a few bites and took the bowl off the plate. What I had was nice, a good tangy dressing on it too.

All in all, we had a great lunch experience at The Shafston. The service was excellent, the meals were well priced and filling and the atmosphere was nice and relaxing. Perfect kind of place to kick off an afternoon session. Planing to go back some time just to do that ($5 beers and pizza). Very happy we finally made our way to The Shafston.

Mega-Parms plan is to go back on a Wednesday for the Monsta Parma experience.

Lastly here's a picture of the Roasted Lamp Rump. I had a taste, it was pretty awesome! I'm not really a lamb man all that much but I would have scoffed this down without trouble.

Thanks Shafston Hotel, we'll be back.

-Dave the Mega-Parm