[info]When? - 31st of October, 2013
Where? - Grand View Hotel. 47 Pearson St, Brunswick West
Price? - $20.00
Website? - http://grandviewbrunswick.com.au/
Reviewers – Dale, Kylie B, Lee, Riley, Shanan, Stephen [/info]
**UPDATE** We revisited the Grandview in 2016 for their $15 parma, $15 jugs and Free Trivia Wednesday! Check out our updated thoughts here.
Last night's parma was an interesting one.
A few weeks ago we were contacted by a group of Swinburne students who are making a documentary... about parmas! Seeing as the only thing I like more than talking about eating parmas is is actually eating them we jumped at the opportunity to have a chat with these guys, So last night we headed down to The Grand View Hotel in Brunswick West and experienced what life would be like if we turned Parma Daze into a reality TV show.
We arrived and met up with the crew, along with Stephen and Riley who would be joining us for our parmas...
When we visit pubs for review we do our best to remain anonymous - We want to get the same parma that everyone else does. For the most part we are pretty successful with this, we might get some strange looks when we order 15 parmas for the table, but other than that people rarely catch on. Accomplishing this with a film crew following us is a bit more difficult, especially since they needed to advise the pub we were coming beforehand to get permission to film ... We kept this in mind when it came to the meals we got served, but more on that later.
The Grand View is a local's pub through and through. As it was October 31st it was "Halloween Night" at the pub, the staff were dressed up and there were kids walking around trick-or-treating, it was a fun atmosphere and you could tell everyone involved was there to have a good time.
We started with a few games of pool and a couple of pints Brunswick Bitter while the crew set themselves up, The front bar is understated but carries a subtle charm. The bistro out the back was packed with parents and kids for the aforementioned halloween night, and (according to the website) there is a decent looking beer garden tucked away somewhere that we neglected to track down, but from this picture it looks quite cosy -
After a couple of pints we were good to go, some of the Halloweeners had cleared out by this time so we moved in, attracting inquisitive looks from those still remaining. The menu is mostly traditional pub fare (burgers, steaks, bangers & mash) but with a surprisingly impressive tapas menu that I'd be keen to go back and investigate.
But we weren't there for tapas, we were there for parmas!
We placed our orders and chatted to the lads on camera about all things parma while we waited. It's a tough life being a celebrity, stay tuned to our twitter for news of our signature fragrance releasing soon, I think 'Eau de Parma' has a nice ring to it.
There was a bit of a wait for our food, not sure whether this was from the kitchen being extremely busy when we rocked up or them putting extra effort into our parmas as they knew they were up for review - maybe a combination of the two. But after about a pint and a half our parmas arrived.
Quite an impressive stack, We quickly rescued the chips from under the pile and tucked in. The schnitzel was top quality, the crumbs carried a sharp crunch while still remaining insanely juicy. The schnitzel was big enough, but not massive - You won't walk away from this meal hungry, but you wont be stuffed either - perfect if you want to start off your meal with a few selections from the tapas menu. The chicken was pure white breast, well cooked - and (re-iterating for effect) it was so damn juicy. You can see from the cross section pic below that it was practically dripping.
The napoli on top was thick, fresh, plentiful and carried a strong flavour, there might have been a little bit too much tomato paste in it for my liking but thats a very minor complaint. A thick slice of ham sat atop the napoli that complimented the juicy chicken perfectly, its flavour not lost amongst the tomato paste. Finish that all of with a healthy dollop of gooey cheese and you've got yourself a winner of a parma from the Grand View Hotel.
Apologies for how small the cross section is, I actually forgot to take a pic until I was about to eat the final bite of the parma
I can't complain at all about the chips, after we rescued them from beneath the parma they served their purpose with gusto. Beer battered, well cooked and seasoned, with the added kicker of a pot of garlic aioli (you all know I have a weakness for aioli, if you hadn't noticed from my last post)
The garden salad was great for what it was, fresh ingredients and plenty of dressing. It worked well with the dish, however I'm getting bored of basic garden salad ... One of these days I want to be wow'ed by salad! Pubs of Melbourne - get on it!
Now I'm going to say what we were all thinking - This parma was good, a little too good! Everything was great right down to the pot of aioli - but I just couldn't shake the feeling that we got something special. I have no proof to back up these claims, and people behind the bar confirmed that we got the same parma that everyone else gets - If that is the case then this is a great parma, no doubt about it, and we scored the meal as if the pub had no prior knowledge of our arrival.
But watch this space, Some time in the next few weeks I'm gonna drop into the Grand View to see if what we got was legit, and I'll keep you updated with my findings, If you try the parma at the Grand View (and it definitely gets my recommendation) then shoot me a picture on facebook or twitter for comparison.
I'd be more than happy to shell out another $20 for the meal we received, it was a damn tasty parma that I'd be happy to try again any day (plus I'm keen to check out the beer garden once spring kicks in). On a Wednesday night they run a parma, pot & quiz meisters trivia night for $15 - definitely worth checking out for a cheap feed and a laugh, the Quiz Meisters trivia nights are always quality.
The Grand View offered up a great parma and a great experience, massive thanks to the pub for having us and to Stephen, Riley and the crew for coming down and having a chat! I'm not sure when the doco is gonna be done but hopefully the guys can put it up on YouTube or something at some point so I can share it will you all, keep an eye on the usual social media spots for updates.
Check out the Grand View if you're in the area, its a laid back backstreets Brunswick local that serves up a top notch parma in a down to earth atmosphere, worth a gander.
[pros]
- Quality, unbelievably juicy schnitzel
- Garlic aioli chip dip
[/pros][cons]
- Well made but uninspired salad
[/cons]
Parma - 7.67
Chips - 7.04
Salad - 6.25
Value - 7.58
Total - 7.24
The search continues...
