Palmerston Hotel - South Melbourne 12/11/2010

"Voted Victoria's number One Parmagiana", a placard on the side of the building proclaims. The printed menu also proudly carries this testament to quality. Unfortunately upon sampling the famed number one parma, the sad reality came crashing down around us. While the fillet was well cooked and the parma had a good overall flavour, the ham was barely noticeable, and inspection by a fellow diner confirmed the "napoli" to be nothing more than a thick smear of tomato paste. Points also lost for the crumbing not fully covering the fillet, which was noted on several of our parmas.




Note: parma ordered without salad.

Why?
Excellent fillet.

Why not?
Average chips.
Smear of tomato paste instead of Napoli.
Soggy fillet base.

3/5
$18

K on Hay - Perth CBD 4/11/2010

Now this was a fantastic surprise. I didn't have very high expectations for this room service parma from the hotel restaurant when ordering, and upon arrival its appearance didn't thrill me on first sight. Cutting into the fillet for the first time howeve revealed a moist, perfectly cooked chicken breast, with the added extra of the coating appearing to be actual chicken stuffing mix! Ham, napoli and cheese were top notch, rather than just attending to make up the numbers. Perfectly balanced layers of each ingredient. Despite the parma on chips placement, the chips were still crisp and fresh.

Had the chips been given some special garnish, and the meal been plated according to the no parma on chips rule, this would have earned a 5/5.

Why?
Salad isolated from the main meal, amazing stuffing style coating, great fillet, great balance of ham/napoli/cheese.

Why not?
The chips were just chips, time consuming trip to Perth required for one parma.

4/5
$24

Feinans - Perth CBD 2/11/2010

Should you be in the centre of Perth and feel a craving for a slab of processed chicken (possibly fresh from the microwave), then this is the place to be. There was no real flavour to the chicken nor the Napoli; in fact it was really just a chicken fillet with a layer of cheese on top, and the cheese was really the dominant flavour here. As for the Napoli, the cook may as well have rubbed half a tomato across the fillet before sending it out, such was the lack of impact from it's flavour.

Why?
Decent chips

Why not?
Processed fillet, flavourless Napoli, too much generic tasting cheese.

2/5
$20