Credman

A strange one where the actual parmi was the weakest part of the plate here. The size was respectable, but unfortunately the taste was quite bland and a touch on the dry side, which is a shame because the rest of meal was pretty good. The chips were the standout, perfectly cooked with great crunch and a well salted. Also came with aioli which was a nice addition. The salad was more of a coleslaw, reminiscent of the og KFC coleslaw, super creamy and much better than undressed leafs we commonly see around these days.

I thought I’d do something rogue for lunch and get a parmi from a seafood place, what could possibly go wrong? Well, surprisingly not a lot. My main concern was the chicken tasting like seafood, because you would assume it would’ve been fried in the same oil that the seafood was, but thankfully it didn’t taste like it was. The serving size was the highlight of this one, a genuinely huge parmi, with nice thickness and juiciness. Unfortunately everything was just kinda okay/average. The chips were okay but nothing special, not your typical fish and chip shop chip, and the salad, which thankfully came in a separate container needed dressing. As you can see it needed more cheese and didn’t come with ham (this is a requirement imo) the sauce was very basic and lacked flavour. Did it scratch that itch of having a parmi for lunch? Yeh Would I have it again? Nah

It takes approximately an hour to fly to Melbourne from Hobart and the distance is about 617 kilometres. 10 minutes east of the Melbourne CBD lies the Carlton Brewhouse and in my humble opinion, one of, if not the best parmi/parma/naarmigiana I have ever had the pleasure of consuming. Everything about this plate of goodness ticks the boxes, juicy chicken, chips well cooked and NOT underneath the poultry, Ham on the breast and a sauce to die for. Accompanied by mozzarella that wasn’t burnt. For $25 including a pot of mothers milk (Carlton Draught Tank Beer) This could be the holy grail. I don’t know how this hasn’t been rated until today.

I didn’t realise I was part of the royal family until I was served this last Friday night, it was a feast fit for a king. The Mornington inn, or affectionately known as the Blood Valley, has come a long way in the last few years since the new owners took over. It’s no surprise as they are the same people that own the Shamrock in town. The Monster size ‘Break The Fast’ parmi which consisted of 2 proper sized parmis, topped with eggs, hash browns, bacon, cheese and of course, hollandaise sauce. It’s essentially having eggs Benedict on a chicken parmi. Now I know what you’re thinking, where the hell are the bloody chips? Under the parmis unfortunately, but I’ll let this slide, because there isn’t anymore space on the plate. Don’t let the Price tag scare you, this was worth every cent, the parmis and everything on them were delicious and well cooked, the chips were perfectly salted and fluffy inside, and the mushroom gravy was the perfect, thick consistency, none of this runny broth that so many pubs are serving these days. Did I finish the whole thing? No. Did I take the rest home and have it for brunch the next day? Maybe. Will I return? Yes.

They say good things come in small packages, or something like that, they also say you can have too much of a good thing. Well, whoever ‘they’ are, were wrong on this occasion. For $34 (without the ‘gravy’) one would expect a plate dominated by the parmigiana with a hearty serving of chips, accompanied by a well dressed salad, right? Wrong. I’ve told many people in the past that things look bigger in person compared to a photo, the same can’t be said here, in fact, quite the opposite. A parmigiana no bigger than one’s palm of their hand was laid infront of us. ‘Maybe there was a second plate with the rest of it to come’ I thought. Keeping in mind this was the ‘main’ serving size. I shiver to think what the ‘entree’ size would’ve been. Despite being slightly overcooked, the taste was almost there, with hints of tandoori in the sauce, it was quite pleasant and something different. The chips were decent without being spectacular, however the salad left much to be desired, with minimal dressing. If price and size doesn’t worry you, then by all means, but I’ve been alive long enough to know that both of those things matter.