Google street view saves me again. I’ve really gotta start getting to these places in daylight hours so I can take my own photo!
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When? - 8th of September, 2010
Where? - 1/344 Keilor Rd, Niddrie
Price? - ‘Parma O’clock’ Tuesday & Wednesday nights, whatever time it is, thats how much the parma costs. Other times, $17.90
Barry? - No
Website? - None
Reviewers - Bec, Brendan, Cale, Emma, Lee, Luke, Matt, Ness, Nikki, Tanya, Tony Q, Tony S[/info]
Bending an unspoken rule a little in this weeks review, at Parma Daze we more often than not go to Melbournes pubs to try and find the perfect chicken parma - this week however, we have gone for a café. Purely for their ‘Parma O’clock’ pricing gimmick and recommendation from a couple of friends.
Sams Café, hidden down the Niddrie end of Keilor rd always has a different variety of specials and deals to get you in the door, Tuesday and Wednesday are no exception, as they offer ‘Parma O’clock’ nights, at which the price of the parma you order is dictated by the time at which you order it eg. if you order at 7:00, the parma will be $7.00. if you order at 8:00, the parma will be $8. got it? good. The deal runs from 6pm to 9pm, so dont get any crazy ideas about going in at one in the afternoon and getting a parma for $1.
If we sold Parma Daze merch I would SO sell this clock. just sayin.
We arrived at Sam’s just after seven and were directed to our table … time was of the essence here as every minute we waited would cost us precious cents of the cost of our parma. But Sam’s are a devious bunch, We were given such a diverse variety of novelty parma choices it took a good few minutes for everyone to decide what they wanted!
I wasn’t prepared to write down every variety of parma they had, So I swiped the menu and scanned it (Im sorry Sam’s! I hope you can forgive my thievery). See below for the complete listing, be sure to take note of the additional charge per variety.
Parma with Banana chunks and Kahlua? hmmmmm
Nobody was brave enough to order anything too outlandish, In the end most people got a standard parma, about three went with the Californian, one went with Le Spinach, another with the Waltzing Matilda and one more went with Meat Lovers (because he, quote “Loves meat on meat action”)
Our orders went in at about 20 past 7, so the cost was $7.20 each (not including extras on the novelty parmas).
It’s hard to judge Sam’s alongside our other reviews, being a café there was none of the usual entertainment options we are accustomed to, no Barry, pool, jukebox or pokies to whittle the time away, so we had to resort to *shudder* conversation to pass the time (what fresh hell is this?!)
After a short wait our parma’s arrived - with the exception of Lukes Waltzing Matilda, which we watched sit under the heat lamps for a good five minutes after everyone else was served waiting for someone to bring it to our table, That is pure torture for a hungry parma goer!
My Regular parma, I didn’t get a photo of every variety, but I managed to get a shot of my neighbours Californian before he tucked in, see below.
Dream of Californicationnnn
The Schnitzel was big, covering a lot of the plate (and everything else on it) some people got two schnitzels crammed into one. mine was big and even curled around on itself in some places, making it seem like I had a double parma in some spots. No slice of ham to speak of and lots of nude schnitzel, but the chicken was thick enough with a tolerable crumb/chicken ratio. In my opinion it could’ve used more cheese and napoli, or some sort of spicing. Although it was a big parma, it was rather nothingness when it came to taste. Very bland and the fact it was only luke-warm when it was served didn’t help matters.
The Chips were McDonalds style fries, The serving differed from plate to plate and I think I did pretty well from the draw, the ones on the outer edge were crispy and salted well but their major failing was the size of the parma sitting on top totally killed them. By the time I got to the remainders in the middle they were practically soggy mush.
The salad was basically an afterthought, like the chips the size of the portion varied from plate to plate and this time I definitely got the short end of the stick. A couple of rocket leaves, a single slice of tomato, a single piece of onion, a slice of cucumber splashed with some balsamic. everything looked wilted and unappetising.
For the price of this parma you can’t really complain though, I left with a full stomach and a smile on my face. at only $7.20 it gets points for Value and the whole ‘Parma o’clock’ gimmick definitely adds to the fun of the meal. If I went back I would definitey try one of the novelty ones, maybe the meatlovers or the Parmarama, something to give it a little more taste - The regular was just a little too bland for my liking
Its amazing the wide array of scores this parma got, I don’t think we’ve ever had the group so divided on the score lines, be sure to check out the full run down in the link below the final score to see who scored what, and what variety of parma they ordered.
I have one request before I wrap this up, if anyone ever goes to Sam’s and orders the ‘Go Bananas Parma’ with Bananas and Kahlua, Take a photo for us and email through your thoughts. I Can’t imagine it possibly being good, but like the ‘Deep Fried Oreos’ I had in America, I’ve been fooled before.
Parma - 5.17
Chips - 5.7
Salad - 3.9
Value - 7.4
Total - 5.48
The search continues …
