Where - 200-202 Buckley St. Essendon
Price - Standard parma - $20.90, novelty toppings - $22.90
Website - None that I can find, but they do have a Facebook page
Back in my day this end of Buckley Street had one restaurant and one restaurant alone - Goofy’s Pizza. They were dirty, they were oily, but they were open ‘till like 3am and I’ll be damned if telling the cab driver to stop off for a quick Goofy’s on the way home wasn’t an integral part of the Prince of Wales Friday night experience.
Now luckily Goofy’s still stands, but now they have a bit of competition. The ill fated but delicious Dude Food Man moved in across the road for a while, I noticed last night that there’s a place called “Indian Tukka” that, while a little culturally confused, seems to be pretty good and two or three doors up from Goofy’s themselves is tonights target. Godfather’s Pizzeria.
I remember Godfather’s as a pretty prolific pizza chain when I was a kid. There were never any within delivery range to me so I don’t really remember their pizza however I do remember them being “around” a lot in the late 90’s early 00’s before kind’ve disappearing? I may be wrong but until I was recommended Godfather’s for review a couple of weeks ago I had kind’ve forgotten they existed all together.
If you cast your memory back to the last time we did a Crossing the Road, you’ll remember that in a fit of disappointment at the parma delivery systems offered by Menulog and Uber Eats I kind’ve denounced the whole idea of home delivered parmas, and to be honest I wasn’t planning on doing another one for a long time, so when I heard about Godfather’s actually looking relatively decent I decided we would try a new tactic this time around. Rather than leave the fate of our parmas in the hands of a random Uber driver we would place the take away order, then go and pick it up from the store ourselves. A little bit more effort, but hopefully then we can treat our dinner with care before we get it home.
In a very retro feeling move I called them as we got in the car and placed our order. Now Godfather’s offers quite a range of novelty options …
Feeling a bit spicy this week I went for the “Hot n Tasty Parma” (although the Sujuk parma sounded mighty tempting) while Reviewer Nikki opted for something a little bit simpler with the Aussie Parma.
When I called through the order we were told the parmas would be 15 minutes, it took us about 12 minutes to get there and I had to wait 3 minutes once arriving before the parmas were ready, so their 15 minute estimate was pretty spot on.
We grabbed the parmas, hurried to the car and rushed them home, taking about another 12 minutes to get home with the parmas warm on my lap.
We got home and quickly unpacked our parcel on the coffee table.
Now in a normal “Crossing the Road” I would take the time to plate up the parmas for some good glamour shots, however this week our focus was about getting those parmas into our bellies while they were still piping hot and un-tainted by the delivery process, so rather than faff about we did what had to be done and tucked straight in.
I think we did pretty well! Other than the chips being a tad soggy the parmas were still nice and hot when we cracked open the foil containers and tucked in.
The schnitzel was super crispy - Other than the crumbs being slightly thicker than what I would like on a good parma the thicker crumbs lended themselves to a strong crunch with each bite, and I think actually helped retain the freshness in a parma that had to travel. The chicken was big enough, a little dry but not overly so. Pure chicken breast, nice and thick - Definitely tasty and as far as take away parmas go one of the better schnitzels we have had.
As far as the toppings go I can only speak for the Hot n Tasty parma, but I will say that the title of the dish is not false advertising as this parma was both Hot “n” Tasty. They weren’t at all tight with the salami or the jalapeños, plenty to go around throughout the entire meal. Not a parma for the feint of heart either as they definitely brought the heat.
Reviewer Nikki seemed satisfied with her Aussie, other than the egg being slightly smooshed during transport (nobody to blame but myself on that one) it definitely hit the spot.
As I said earlier the chips were a little soggy after transport, but looking past that there was quite a hefty serving. That is one thing I’ll give take away parmas over pub parmas - More often than not they’ll cram that foil tray with chips, many more than you’d get at a pub feed. They were well cooked, well seasoned and flavourful.
Are salads from pizza joints ever any good? I mean, this one wasn’t bad by any means, but after marinating in the hefty pour of dressing for a good 20 minutes by the time I got to it the leaves were hardly at their freshest. It was fine, but nothing to write home about - definitely would have been better fresh.
I’d happily shell out another $22.90 for this parma on a lazy night. I can’t see any official parma nights advertised on their facebook site, but as they only opened in November last year I wouldn't rule out something going on the books soon!
As the photo I snapped of the interior above shows there are tables and chairs available at Godfather’s so the option to eat in is there if you want it, and to be honest I don’t think that would be a bad option. As much as I talk up the ease of picking up a parma on the way past there’s no way what we had last night could top eating it fresh in house.
That being said, if you live close to a Godfather’s, can’t be bothered cooking dinner and feel like grabbing a cheeky parma on the way home from work you could do a lot worse than what they have on offer. The novelty toppings kept things interesting on what was a quality foundation to the dish.
I’m still mad at home delivered parmas and doubt I’ll be firing up the Uber Eats app to grab one any time soon, but I think making the effort to pick it up myself then enjoy it on the comfort of my couch is a good compromise, and something I would definitely try again.