Where - 225 Canning St. Carlton
Price - $22 for Chicken, $20 for Eggplant
Website - https://www.thedan.com.au
Reviewers – Adam T, Cale, Fridge, Lee, Nikki & Stefo
It was quite a while ago that we first visited the Dan O’Connell. The original review has a rare photo of the review team in action and I can’t believe how young we all look. It was 2010 when that photo was taken and our visit to the Dan was our 16th review. My memory of the parma is a bit fuzzy (as fuzzy as the photo of it that was posted in the review). I remember that we had a fantastic night, splitting the large review team into two and battling it out at the Dan’s Wednesday trivia night, however my recollection of the parma was that it wasn’t great. Thin, processed, an all around cheap, low quality job.
I always loved the Dan O’Connell, their yearly Saint Patrick’s Day parties in the neighbouring park were a highlight of my youth, so when I heard that the lads behind the fantastic Catfish and Northern Git had taken over my interest was certainly piqued, so we loaded up the parma bus and headed back to the Dan O’Connell Hotel.
It’s been a while, but St. Paddy’s at The Dan was once the highlight of my year.
The Interior of the Dan hasn’t changed a whole lot from what I remember, it’s still the poorly lit, slightly dank, cosy bar that I had grown to love. From the open fireplace to the stack of well worn board games by the door its a pub that I’d love to term a “backstreets local” if it wasn’t sitting on Alexandra Parade, arguably the busiest street in Melbourne’s North.
We grabbed a table and checked the menu…
We’ve yet to do an eggplant parma on ParmaDaze but I will make note of it in case we get a vegetarian reader. Also, mentioning eggplant in the text and not just the image means I’ll be able to do a search for it if someone asks me for a recommendation for an eggplant parma in the future. Eggplant.
(side note: Nobody got the eggplant, we all went with chicken)
Possibly the biggest change at the Dan O’Connell is what’s going on behind the bar. Gone are your standard CUB or Lion taps and in their place is a wondrous selection of craft beers. Keep an eye on their Now Tapped listing for more up to date details as I feel like anything I list will be out of date by the time I hit “publish”, but I was super impressed by the selection (The Citray Sour by La Sirène was a personal favourite.
About 25 minutes after ordering our parmas arrived from the kitchen. As is tradition with revisits, lets compare the 2010 parma to its 2018 counterpart…
The 2010 Dan O’Connell Parma
The 2018 Dan O’Connell Parma
Right out of the gate its a massive improvement on the 2010 parma. The schnitzel was insanely plump. Perfectly cooked, super juicy and a top quality chicken breast. in 2010 we questioned if we had received a store bought deli-window schnitzel, well those worries were out the window the second we cut into this beast.
It’s been a few weeks since we had a parma served as piping hot as this one, super fresh and flavoursome with a perfectly crunchy crumb. Yes, it was served directly on the chips, which required a bit of plate-fu to quickly re arrange things before the chips got too soggy under such a steaming hot parma, but we managed to get everything out of the way before too much damage was done.
As far as toppings go the napoli sauce was the star. Fresh and light, not nearly as tomato-pastey as we would expect on our parmas. The smoked ham added some complexity and, even though the cheese could have used an extra 30 seconds or so under the grill, had great coverage, nice and sharp with plenty of stretch.
Also, I’m not sure if it was in the napoli or throughout the crumbs, but the Dan’s parma had quite a unique savoury flavour. We discussed it around the table and the closest thing we could compare it to is the herbs they use in the stuffing of charcoal roasted chickens. It was subtle, but it was there. Quite unique and enjoyable.
I’m struggling to find a critique of this parma. It was pretty much spot on. An amazing improvement.
The chips that arrived with the parma were … fine. They were well cooked and plenty of them, but they were a little boring. Could have used some more seasoning, the offer for tomato sauce on the side when the parmas were delivered was greatly appreciated.
The salad was fresh and crisp. A garden salad with some shredded cabbage thrown in for good measure. It was very strong on lemon juice, giving it a strong citrus punch that worked well as a palate cleanser, however was a little too much by the time we got through it all.
“The Parma itself was delicious, had a nice garlic hit through the crumbs. The chips were ok. Good price for what it was.”
“A very flavoursome parma with decent tasting sides as well. The chips required rescuing from under the bird which is not everyone’s cup of tea. To be honest I don’t remember the last parma we ate here but I’d say this is a vast improvement.”
“I really enjoyed the Parma at Dan’s. I had trouble faulting the Parma, it was real chicken breast, great crumbs, succulent & juicy. It even had a light taste of chicken stuffing, the like that comes from a charcoal chicken, very nice.
The chips were pretty plain but cooked well, a little crunchy and nicely seasoned. The salad, was tasty and fresh always great to break up a heavy meal. It was a finely cut green salad however it had cabbage thrown in for good measure and the fresh addition of parsley, the only negative, it did have the strong taste of lemon but not a massive complaint.
At $22, it’s not the cheapest Parma but then nor was it the most expensive. I felt that it was good value for money. The pub itself has a cosy Irish pub feel, a great selection of beers on tap and the rest of the menu looked good also. I would definitely order it again.”
“Parma was piping hot, napoli was good but the onion was a little over the top. Standard chips.
Great cosy pub!”
“Loved the beautiful Parma, it was definitely the highlight of the dish for me. The sides were okay but could definitely use some love.”
At $22 I’m calling this one a bargain. The chicken quality was top notch and didn’t all feel like they were trying to make a buck off this meal (especially considering we had a $32 parma last week that wasn’t nearly as good as this one). If $22 is too rich for your blood the Dan offers up this same parma for just $16 (chicken or eggplant) on Monday nights. An amazing deal and one I whole heartedly recommend you check out.
The parma at the Dan is an astounding improvement on its 2010 counterpart. Do yourself a favour and drop in for a feed, or even just a beer - You won’t be disappointed either way.