When? - 15th of September, 2011
Where? - Prince Alfred Hotel. 191 Grattan St. Carlton
Price? – $17.00 (with $10 Parma Mondays)
Barry? - Yes
Website? - None
Reviewers – Adam, Cale, Carly, Grace, Lee, Stefo, Tony
The Prince Alfred Hotel fell on to our parma radar rather organically, In February next year Reviewer Nikki and myself are getting married (naww parma love) and the location for the wedding ceremony and reception is just around the corner from the Prince Alfred. After a few sessions with our wedding planner we have wound up having a pint at PA’s afterwards, and it has always seemed like a friendly pub, it has friendly staff, a great vibe, and real Barry - Definitely one for review!
So on Thursday night we loaded up the parma bus and headed to Grattan st. Before I get into the review I will mention that on arrival I ordered a pint of Mountain Goat Steam Ale - this is the first time I have tried Steam Ale and I must say I was impressed. A delicious drop that I stayed on for the rest of the night, definitely recommended!
While waiting for the entirety of the review team to arrive we ordered a bowl of wedges - these were fantastic, massive bowl with an abundance of sweet chili and sour cream, a great starter.
We ordered our parmas in the quiet pub and took our seats (greeted with bottles of sauce on the table, a great sign), before too long the plates of deliciousness began filing out of the kitchen and falling in front of us
The schnitzel was big enough, different shapes of schnitzel around the table meant real chicken was used, and not processed garbage. They all had a decent thickness and It was a quality schnitzel that carried its taste quite well. The crumbing was a little soggy and let down the chicken a little unfortunately. There was minimal schnitzel nudity with a good covering of toppings, with the exception of the napoli - the soggy crumbs meant that the parma wasn’t at all dry, however the appearence of napoli was minimal at best.
The chips were standard fries (or ‘Maccas Chips’ as they have come to be known) There was a rather large serving however the parma was sat directly on top of them, causing major chip-sogg to those at ground zero, bringing ‘Pretty good’ chips down to ‘okay chips’
The garden salad consisted of lettuce, cucumber, tomato, onion, carrot and dressing, it was a large serve that accompanied the meal quite nicely - Reviewers Adam and Carly opted for vegetables instead of salad, and both gave glowing reports on their quality as a side as well.
After our meals we headed around for a game of Barry, we didn’t win anything but its good to see classic Barry still exists in Melbourne pubs!
Reviewers Stefo and Adam, apparently not doing to well from the expressions on their faces.
The Prince Alfred is a great little pub, It’s got pool tables, TVs everywhere, a fireplace and (I’ll say it again) Real Barry. The staff are friendly, always keen for a chat, the selection of beers is decent and I’ll definitely be seeking out another steam ale.
As for the parma its … middle of the road. It’s not bad by any sense of the word, but its not great. I noticed advertisments for a $10 parma night on Monday - this is worth seeking out, as the parma we got was a decent feed, and at $10 that would be amazing value and something definitely worth giving a shot.
Parma - 5.57
Chips - 4.71
Salad - 6.43
Value - 6.64
Total - 5.79
The search continues…