[info]
When? - 25th of August, 2010
Where? - 593 Swanston St. Carlton
Price? - $15 for standard parma, $16 for novelty parma
Barry? - No
Website? - http://www.queensberryhotel.com.au
Reviewers - Lee, Luke, Nikki, Shanan, Tony[/info]
We came across The Queensberry Hotel just before last weeks review of Pugg Mahones. A few of the reviewers stopped into the pub for some pre-drinks before heading up the road to Puggs for the weeks review, and noticed the very appetising looking menu of parma varieties, the delicious looking parmas and the tantalising drink specials! A tick in every box in theory, so we decided to hit it up the following week to see what was on offer at the Queensberry Hotel.
The Queensberry is a great pub, just outside the CBD its definitely one for the Uni students in the area, with some amazing specials if you carry a valid Uni card, such as:
- $10 Parmas
- $10 Cheeseburgers
- $5 Pints of Carlton
- $10 Jugs of Carlton
- $5 Basic Spirits
- $4 House Wine
- $8 Jäger bombs
Available all day, every day - thats a damn good deal in my book! Unfortunately only a couple parma reviewers there that week carried a uni card, so we didn’t get to take advantage of the cheap parma’s, but we did get a couple of $10 jugs out of the deal - delicious!
The pub is well laid out, An open front bar area has a plethora of tables and stools available, as well as a great atmosphere set by about a hundred tea light candles scattered all over the place, walk around the side of the bar through a cosy little lounge area with leather couches, past that is a great looking beer garden with lots of heaters for those chilly nights and past that is the bistro, where we found the below note on our reserved table and took our seats.
I thought the note was a nice little touch that got the evening off to a good start, Myself and my happy little human friends sat down and perused the menu - The Queensberry has a regular parma, as well as a variety of ‘Novelty’ parmas to choose from, our choices were -
- Chicken Parmagiana - $15
- Aussie Parmagiana With egg and barbeque sauce - $16
- Mexican Parmagiana With chorizo, jalapeno peppers and salsa - $16
- Hawaiian Parmagiana With pineapple - $16
- Italian Parmagiana With olives and salami - $16
Decisions decisions! I normally don’t go for novelty toppings on my parma, but the mexican option looked too scrumptious to pass up, so thats what I went with. The other reviewers went for different varieties but I’ll cover those later in the review.
Warning - extremely petty complaint to follow - As the warning just stated, I am completely aware of how silly I am about to sound, feel free to skip to the following paragraph. Queensberry hotel, do you have to print everything, Your menus, your bar specials, every notification or sign posted is done in the font ‘Papyrus’. This is a terrible, TERRIBLE font and must die, there are even Anti Papyrus Websites about this very issue. Please Queensberry, change your font, I cannot stand the eye-rape of Papyrus any longer.
After a short wait our parma selection arrived - I took photos of all the varieties we had so you can get an idea of the difference.
Reviewer Nikki had the original
Both Myself and Reviewer Shanan had the Mexican
Reviewer Luke had the Hawaiian, with a side of BBQ sauce
Reviewer Tony had the Italian
Reviewer Carly had nothing, as she decided to eat before she came. Fail.
I was a little scared when the parmas first arrived, the schnitzels looked processed and the cheese looked rubbery and un-appealing.
But I must admit, my first impression was wrong! The chicken was a quality breast, not overly thick but thick enough. There was plenty of salsa on my mexican, a few areas of partial nudity on the cheese part of things, there was a good covering of chorizo under the cheese, but I couldn’t really detect the jalepenos. Unfortunately there was the slightest burnt edge around the side of the schnitzel, not a hellworthy sin but also not the best. All in all the parma was a great feed, Like I said before i’m not big on novelty parma toppings, but this one could definitely convert me, also, halfway through my parma looked like Africa, so I took a photo
The chips, although served under the parma, were crisp and nicely seasoned, I wouldn’t have minded a few more though, as the serving was a little small.
I was not a big fan of the salad. The other reviewers rated it higher but I think that was because they simply got more stuff in theirs than in my serving. My salad consisted of lettuce, a couple of slivers of cucumber and a single piece of onion, with some balsamic dressing. I am all for a simple garden salad with a splash of balsamic, but this was a little too simple for my tastes.
All in all the Queensberry served up a decent parma - Definitely worth the trip if you’re a Uni student and can get the discount to $10, Also, if you go on a Tuesday night, the Parmas are $10 for anyone with the purchast of a drink, or if you go on a Thursday night, the Parmas are $13, no drink purchase necessary.
One more thing I thought was worth a mention was this machine
Yum, I just love hot nuts in my mouth (You know that she said it, do I really need to point it out?)
Parma - 7.1
Chips - 6.3
Salad - 5.6
Value - 6.9
Total - 6.6
The search continues…
