The Morrison Hotel

Anyone that's lived in Brisbane for more than six months knows about the Morrison Hotel in Woolloongabba. Great steaks and a great atmosphere. So when it was suggested we go there for a mates birthday I was over the moon. If their steaks are this good, then how good will their parm be?

The Morrison Hotels parm is below.

Size: Medium sized chicken parm with a good helping of chips. Salad was on the larger side but that wasn't too bad (you'll see below).

Chicken: Well cooked, crumbed quite nicely. A consistent thickness all the way through.

Sauce: There was very little sauce on this chicken parm. What was on there was nice. Not tangy or like a pizza sauce, but tasty enough.

Ham: The ham was delicious, big chunks of tasty ham that stood out with each mouthful.

Cheese: While the ham was delicious, the cheese was the highlight of this chicken parm. Multiple types of cheese added a depth and complexity to the meal that I haven't experienced with a chicken parm before.

Chips: Good chips, cooked nicely with a good crunch.

Salad: This is the first salad I've had since starting this blog that was actually good. Caesar sauce, lettuce and croutons. Plus the sauce wasn't runny so didn't taint the chips or the the parm.

All in all, the chicken parm from the Morrison Hotel was a good meal. I would have it again over one of their steaks so they are doing something right. I'd also like to apologise to the people on the table behind us. I'm sure we were loud :)

-Dave the Mega-Parm

Lord Stanley Hotel

Two chicken parm reviews in one week, does it get any better? Last nights venture was to the Lord Stanley Hotel in East Brisbane. It's a bit out of the way being "about" 500 meters from the Gabba (its not) and when we got there the place was rocking (it wasn't). Not to worry though, we're going to watch the footy, eat parm and drink beer and the Lord Stanley Hotel has all three.

Chicken parm picture time!

The chicken parm was delivered about 15 minutes after ordering. Service was good and the seats were comfortable.


Size: Chicken was on the larger size Much larger than the toppings. Not too many chips compared to other chicken parms out there.

Chicken: Slightly over-cooked. The crumbing was darkened on the edges and the chicken was a little dry. Not by much but enough to be noticeable.

Sauce: The sauce was the highlight of this chicken parm. Was tangy and zesty and reminded me of a good pizza sauce. There wasn't enough of it to cover the whole chicken but it didn't matter, it was really good.

Ham: Nice ham, except it was one large piece of ham with the sauce and cheese on top. It kind of slid around on the chicken parm making it much harder to get a balance of chicken, ham, cheese and sauce onto the fork each time.

Cheese: Not too bad, cooked well and was tasty.

Chips: Not the best chips I've had with a chicken parm. Could be crispier, could be cooked a bit more. Plus there just wasn't enough for a parm of this size.

Salad: Tasted it, was unexciting and didn't go back after the taste.

I'd say the dish was overpriced for $20.95. It was a serviceable parm but not one that I will go back exclusively for (unlike The Moray Cafe from earlier in the week). Would go back to watch the footy and drink beer though.

Lastly, the men's toilets at the Lord Stanley are a bit strange. You can see in to and out of the area where the urinals are. A little odd in my book, but I sit down anyway so it doesn't matter too much to me, haha.

-Dave the Mega-Parm

The Moray Cafe

There's not many online resources out there for chicken parm aficionados but parma.com.au is one that stands out. Many thanks to parma.com.au as they are the catalyst for tonight's venture to The Cafe Moray. If you head to parma.com.au and click on the picture of the chips (in the shape of the great state of Queensland) you'll see that The Cafe Moray is number one on their list of chicken parms in Queensland.  New Farm is only a short drive from where I work and seeing that Tuesday night is their "Tight Arse Tuesday" it just had to happen. The better best half was to be preoccupied with Yoga so it was a great time for a few beers and chicken parm with some mates from work.

Here it is, The Moray Cafe chicken parm.

We arrived at about 6:00pm and each ordered a chicken parm and a beer. The drinks were on the table a couple of minutes later and the parm followed about 20 minutes after that.

Size: Medium large sized chicken breast. The photo doesn't do it justice as it was hanging slightly over the edge of the plate. The number of chips didn't quite match the size of the parm however.

Chicken: Well cooked, very tasty. Mine was much thicker one one side than the other, was very flat when I got to the last bits of chicken. The other guys had pieces of chicken that were uniform in thickness however. The crumbing was spot on and golden brown.

Sauce: Tangy sauce but not overly so. No large chunks of tomato either (which is good in my book). Looked like the sauce would be really runny but that wasn't the case. Could probably have used with a little bit more sauce but not by much.

Ham: This was a ham free chicken parm. No complaints from me, I can give or take the ham. I'll eat it and enjoy it but if the other elements are done well it's not required.

Cheese: Great cheese, melted nicely on top and covered the whole parm. Which is quite impressive considering the size of the parm. If you were lactose intolerant you'd be popping off all night after eating this meal.

Chips: Crunchy and delectable chips.This is how chips should be done with a chicken parm. Lightly seasoned and sitting under the parm, soaking in some of the heat and juices. a couple more chips would have rounded out the meal nicely, but that's only a small complaint.

Salad: Salad to me is usually an uneventful afterthought and it was the same here. Standard garden salad with dressing, had a taste and it was ok but that's all I had. I could see it being serviceable to someone into their greens.

Overall The Moray Cafe was a great place to eat, with the delicious chicken parm, interesting selection of beers and great ambiance. Plus their "Tight Arse Tuesday" turning a higher quality chicken parm into a $15 meal means it's great for those of us with girlfriends that like to shop (I'm going to get in trouble for that one, haha).

Highly recommended.

-Dave the Mega-Parm

Carindale Hotel

Tonight we went to the Carindale Hotel for dinner. It was a rather impromptu outing which was planned only a few hours earlier, but that didn't reduce the excitement. Plus the Carindale Hotel has only reopened quite recently after the huge refurbishments at Carindale shops and we were excited to get in there and check it out.

So now what you came here for, the parm review. Below is a picture of Carindale Hotel's chicken parm.

We ordered at about 6:30pm and by 6:45pm our dinner was on our table, service was great and the parm was well priced ($17.95).

Size: Medium sized chicken breast.

Chicken: Solid thickness, not thin but not too thick. Was cooked perfectly and the crumb on the outside was tasty and crunchy. Can't fault the chicken in any way.

Sauce: Very sweet sauce and there was a lot of it. Its sweetness became the dominant flavour on some mouthfuls but it wasn't horrible. Just could have done with a little less sauce.

Ham: The ham was nice, however some sections had a lot of ham. Unlike the chicken parm from the Normanby the ham was cut up into small pieces. What was strange is the way it was haphazardly thrown together on the parm. Some bits had no ham, others had 5 or 6 slices all on top of each other. Nice ham, just not consistent.

Cheese: Good tasty cheese that was also cooked well. Just the right amount of it too, covered the whole parm.

Chips: Crispy chips cooked perfectly with a nice batter. Not too many of them on the plate (a lot are covered by the parm in the picture) but there was enough to be full at the end of the meal..

Salad: Salad was good, didn't eat much of it however it had a very tasty balsamic dressing on it. Once I ate the bits that had the dressing on them I ate no more salad. Putting the salad in a separate bowl is something that I appreciate too.

Overall a good chicken parm. The plate was clean at the end of the meal and the good came out quickly at a good price. I was so close to ordering dessert too, green jelly with a chocolate frog in it.

-Dave the Mega-Parm

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

Easts Leagues Club

First chicken parm off the block is Easts Leagues Club. We had only signed up as members of Easts Leagues a couple of weeks ago to watch the league on a Saturday afternoon and I had the parm that night. So the plan was to visit the club again on Friday night, get some dinner and then watch the footy. My meal of course, was a chicken parm. Photo is below.

I was a little disappointed with the meal when I picked it up from the counter and even more so when halfway through the meal I got to an under cooked part of chicken. Most of it was cooked pretty well but it mustn't have fully thawed before they started cooking and I had to eat around it. I took it back at the end and they offered to make another meal for me which I declined (was already full) but I did get another jug of beer, so I am not too upset.

Size: Mid. not a huge parm, definitely nowhere near covering the whole plate, but was filling enough. Was quite thick in parts.

Chicken: Nice crumbing but under-cooked and inedible in the middle.

Sauce: Very nice, highlight of the meal. And lots of it too.

Cheese: Nice cheese, I'd prefer it cooked a little more but complimented the sauce.

Chips: Middle sized helping, but not as crunchy as I would like.

Salad: Didn't eat much of it but a good sized helping. Nice dressing and good that they put it in a separate bowl. No salad dressing cross contamination.

A few others at the table also ordered the chicken parm and they were all different. Wemade our orders separately so maybe they had different chefs preparing each one. I said last night and again this morning that I probably wouldn't eat there again but to be honest I think I will, and I'll order the parm, just going to cut it up first before eating.

Easts Leagues is a great place, I love being able to watch the footy, with the sound on out in the back room.

-Dave the Mega-Parm

ps. got some better photo's on the proper camera, will post those as soon as I can.

An Introduction

Hi Everyone, I'm Dave and I love chicken parm. There is something about the combination of chicken, cheese, tomato sauce and ham combined with chips (and maybe salad) that just sings out to me. And that's what this blog is going to be, a celebration of the great pub/club meal from my vantage point in sunny Brisbane. I'm going to sample them all and post the results here.

Before we start though, what makes a good chicken parm? First of all, the chicken, it has to be cooked well. Slightly crispy on the outside but not too much, and inside needs to be just right, not too moist and definitely not dry. Then there is the cheese, I prefer it well cooked and browned, and covering the whole parm. The tomato sauce has to be tangy without sizable chunks of tomato and let them add to that whatever they want, ham, onions and anything else to give the parm a some zing.

As far as sides go. Chips, the more the merrier. And served under the parm, letting them absorb the heat and juices from the chicken. Salad, I won't eat much of it but I'll never ask them to take it off.

Size. A chicken parm is a mans meal. It's not supposed to be dainty or hoity toity. I want a enormous plate, with a huge piece of chicken and a mountain of chips.

This is going to be great!