It has been a hot minute since we have ventured down to Tasmania!
Our last visit was back in 2014, when our first Tour De Hobart took place, and I was definitely curious to see how the Tassie parma scene had changed in the nearly 6 years since we last set foot on ol’ Van Diemen’s Land, so last Friday (chucked a sickie for an extra long weekend) we boarded a ridiculously early Jetstar flight and headed down south to see what Hobart had on offer once again.
Parma #1 - The Shamrock Hotel
I’ve got a soft spot for the Shamrock. I would say its my second favourite pub in Hobart (behind the Shipwright’s Arms Hotel). It’s a cozy, friendly local that gets surprisingly packed at lunchtime.
Now this is already gonna be a long post so I’ll try and cut down on the fluff. We grabbed a seat at the Shammy and checked the menu -
Just look at those prices. Absolute bargain, although I’m not quite sure what makes a seafood basket “Turbo”.
Our last visit to the Shamrock I was accidentally served a pepperoni parma. Well, might as well make it official this time around and actually order a pepperoni parma. We placed our order at the bar, waited for our parmas to arrive and about 15 minutes later the meals appeared from the kitchen…
Starting off strong! The schnitzel was home made, thick and super juicy. The second I saw it I did regret not shelling out the extra cash to “monster size” this one as it was a little bit small, however for only fifteen freakin’ dollars I’m not complaining in the slightest.
The salami was a welcome touch however I was yearning for a little bit more heat - And here is something I noticed this weekend - Tasmanian pubs love hot sauce. Every pub we visited this trip (both the ones we had a parma at and the ones we just stopped in at for a beer) had a large selection of hot sauces sitting by the bar. I’m talking 5 - 10 bottles minimum. Its one of those things that you don’t notice until you notice it - but every Tassie pub seems to have a treasure trove of hot sauce, and the Shamrock had at least twenty.
I grabbed a bottle of Frank’s Red Hot that was sitting amongst the collection and it really brought the pepperoni parma to life. Absolutely delicious.
Chips were hot, well seasoned and crispy however the serving size was pretty minimal. Definitely could have used another handful.
The salad was middling, I appreciated the seperate bowl and beetroot slice however I could have used a lot more dressing. It was fresh, just uninspired.
All of my above criticisms of the Shamrock parma can be negated by the statement “It was just fifteen dollars”. If you don’t feel like pepperoni on your parma the traditional is just $12.50. Absolute bargain and I can now see why the place gets so packed out at lunchtime.
I’ve been before and I’ll definitely stop in again.
PARMA #2 - THE BOARDWALK BISTRO @ WREST POINT
So for our weekend in Hobart we stayed at Wrest Point Casino. Our last visit to Wrest Point we tried the once-great-now-horrible parma at their upstairs restaurant known as The Loft (you can read about it here).
Well (unsurprisingly if the quality of the parma we had last time was any indication … I’m not bitter or anything) The Loft is no more. Ditched for a Chinese Restaurant, leaving the waterfront bistro known as “The Boardwalk” as the only spot in the complex one can get their parma on.
It was lunchtime on Saturday and after a big breakfast at the buffet and with dinner plans at a decent nearby restaurant (Ristorante Da Angelo - Highly recommended) I just wanted to grab something small to fill my tum tum between meals.
As I didn’t want too big of a meal I opted for the “regular” sized parma, and after being bamboozled into signing up for membership on check in (it was free, just time consuming and no doubt I’m gonna get swamped with spam emails in the future) I managed to get parma #2 the $19 price tag. Also I went with the Chips & Slaw option, so the exact nature of “new potatoes” will forever remain a mystery.
Okay so even though it was under twenty bucks I feel like the “its okay because its cheap” excuse can only be stretched so far. I know I ordered the “regular” sized parma but this thing was tiny, about the size of a McCain personal pizza. The schnitzel was pretty bad quality, Dry and cheap with a seam of gristle running up one side that was a bit of a stomach-turner
The toppings were fine, nice browning on the cheese and the slice of ham was appreciated but overall it all felt pretty cheap and phoned in.
The chips were actually a high point. Served out from underneath the parma (it’d actually be impressive to see them try and get all the chips under the parma, considering the size of the thing) they were hot, crispy, well seasoned and plenty of them.
It was cheap, over-mayo’ed and a pretty small serve but I didn’t hate the coleslaw. If anything a bit of the coleslaw on the same fork as a slice of parma helped to lift a quite shitty parma up into mediocrity. I think I just like coleslaw with parmas so I am a little biased.
As you would expect from a casino the parma at the Boardwalk is the cheapest thing they could possibly throw together and still call it a parma. I reckon all up there is about $2.50 worth of ingredients here that they are peddling for $19. I think you can earn a free parma by accruing enough membership points - and “meh, its free” would be the only condition under which I’d recommend this parma.
Go to the Shippies instead - It’s nearby, $2 cheaper and much, much better.
PARMA #3 - HOBART HISTORIC CRUISES
Our mighty vessel
Okay so I know this one isn’t technically a parma, but in the world of novelty parma toppings what is a parma if not chicken schnitzel with some sort of flavour sauce dumped on top. It’s a bit of a stretch, but we’re doing this.
There’s a long story on how we ended up on this dinner cruise that I won’t bore you with, but the main points you need to know are this - It’s $59 per person for a 3 course meal and a drink (1st course is a choice between garlic bread and spring rolls, dessert is a choice between chocolate pudding and lemon tart and main is a choice from the below menu -
We boarded our swift vessel and headed off into the bay.
The garlic bread was standard bake-at-home roll fare, It’s cheap and nasty but it kept us happy while the beers flowed.
Shortly after our mains arrived and, well …
Okay I’m not gonna rail too hard on them as the meal isn’t really what you are there for. The cruise itself was actually a lot of fun. The guy on the loudspeaker narrating points of interest as we passed was pretty entertaining and with an on board bar I could think of a lot worse ways to spend two hours.
Okay I’ve gotta talk about it a little bit.
The schnitzel was standard Coles/Woolies deli window fare, chucked in a fryer and on the plate. Nothing more, nothing less (and to be honest it was slightly better quality/bigger than the one from the casino).
When we placed our order for the schnitzel before boarding we were given the choice between “Gravy” and “Pepper Gravy”. The only difference being literally some cracked pepper on top of the pot of gravy before being served. But ya know what? It worked.
The potatoes were fine, I appreciated the butter on the side. The garden salad was not fine. No dressing, dry leaves, at least the Shamrock put it in a bowl.
Then after the schnitzel the lemon tart with ice cream came out as we were finishing up the trip and I’ll be damned if it wasn’t delicious.
It might have been the 5 or 6 stubbies of Cascade we downed over the course of the trip but, low quality schnitzel aside, I had a fun time on the cruise. It was charming. Keep your expectations low and you can be nothing but pleasantly surprised.
PARMA #4 - THE CUSTOMS HOUSE HOTEL
Monday rolled around and because someone decided that a 9:45pm flight out of Hobart back to Melbourne was a not at all dumb idea we had an afternoon to kill after our 11am checkout from the hotel.
Our original plan was to visit the famed Brunswick Hotel and their Wallaby parmas, however being the Australia Day public holiday at the time the Brunswick had opted not to open, so the next best thing we could find was the Customs House.
Situated directly across the street from where we boarded the dinner cruise, the Customs House is in a great spot to watch the comings and goings of Sullivans Cove.
We grabbed a seat in the bar and checked the (once again fantastically priced) menu…
I ordered a side of gravy with my parma and it still wasn’t over twenty bucks. Tasmania is doing something right when it comes to the pricing of their pub feeds.
Well we are definitely leaving things on a high note. The Customs House parma was absolutely fantastic.
First up the schnitzel was super thick, pure white chicken breast and cooked to utter perfection. Not overly crumbed and grilled to a spot on golden brown.
The toppings were plentiful, the napoli sauce was fresh, flavoursome and applied in abundance. A good, chunky sauce which I’d be very surprised if I discovered wasn’t made in house. Cheese melt was great too, good stretch and plenty of it, However I reckon this parma would have been an absolute killer if they had added a slice of ham. I know some corners would have to be cut to keep a parma like this at just $17, however even the option to add a slice of ham for a buck or two would have been greatly appreciated.
Yet another treasure trove of hot sauces greeted us at the Customs House.
The chips were great. Beer battered, crunchy, just how we like em. My only mistake was ordering a side of gravy as well as the included aioli because I just had too many dipping options and too few chips to dip. My ratios were all off and another handful of chips would have solved all my problems.
As for the salad, well now I know where the dressing from the previous two garden salads went - The Customs House stole it all. The garden salad was absolutely drenched in dressing, which is exactly how I like it, however I can see it being a little bit much for others, could probably back it off a little to find a happy medium.
The Customs House is a great spot to pull up a pew and watch the world go by, which is exactly what we did until our time in Hobart was up,we headed to the airport and back home to Melbourne.
Not counting the boat trip every parma we had in Hobart was at least under twenty bucks. Sure they varied in quality but it seems to be a bit of a rule of thumb to keep the prices low when it comes to bar meals.
As this was a Special Attempt we won’t be scoring these ones, however the Customs House was definitely the best of the weekend, followed closely by the Shamrock. There was entertainment value with the dinner cruise, cheap parma aside I actually had a great night. The Boardwalk at the Casino however had little to no redeeming value, of all the parmas we tried I’d say that is the one to avoid unless absolutely desperate.
Oh, I posted the above images on our Twitter earlier this week which friend of ParmaDaze @thebeerzilla turned into an image that I just have to share -
Spot on.
All up this was a fun weekend away, and just driving through the streets of Hobart I spotted so many more pubs I would love to try on a future trip. Fingers crossed it’s not another 6 years before we get back.