Where - 250 Cooper St. Epping
Price - $26
Website - https://republictavern.com.au
Reviewers - Lee & Nikki
When I first heard about Republic Tavern my initial thought was “Epping … Where is Epping again?”
Then after a quick trip on Google maps I realised its actually not that far, and a trip to Epping might be a great idea for something different, and I can renew my Costco membership while I’m there because who doesn’t need a 5 kilo pack of cream cheese.
So on Thursday we loaded into the car and headed out to the Republic Tavern.
We parked in the carpark for the Mantra hotel, which looms over the pub (it’s actually a nice looking hotel) and headed inside - The first thing that hit me was the sheer size of the place - Absolutely huge with multiple seating options, a pool table and even a little beer garden out the side.
We grabbed a seat and checked the menu -
Now as you may have guessed Republic Tavern is a brewery as well as a pub, offering up a full selection of brews from both the Beer Republic line of beers, as well as a full range of non Beer Republic beers, which I thought was nice. A lot of brewpubs lock you into one brand of beer, so it was nice to have the option to stray from the flagship a little.
Too many beers to mention by name, but just know that there is a top notch craft beer selection on offer. The Passionfruit Twist and Raspberry Sour were both fantastic.
About 15 minutes after ordering (it was pretty quick) our parmas arrived…
The schnitzel was top quality. A little overcooked and the advertised “parmesan crumb” wasn’t really detectable, they just tasted like standard crumbs to me - But otherwise this was a quality schnitzel.
Pure white chicken breast, juicy enough and although the crumbs weren’t particularly parmesan-y they had a solid crunch. A fine foundation for a parma.
The toppings were a bit of a mixed bag. Plenty of cheese, well grilled and gooey along with some smoked ham, I just wish a bit more flavour shone through. It was all good, but it just didn’t have any kick.
The biggest downfall of the toppings was the napoli - There just wasn’t any. I investigated under the cheese & ham and there were some remnants of tomato paste but we couldn’t really taste it at all amongst the massive serve of cheese atop the dish.
But overall a good dish, quality ingredients and (mostly) expertly assembled, just look at that cross section up there, isn’t that a nice looking cross section?
I’m not normally one who enjoys shoestring fries, but the chips offered up at Republic were nothing short of outstanding. Yes, they fall into the standard trappings of shoestrings (ie. they go cold in minutes), but other than that they were well seasoned, there were plenty of them and the aioli that was served with the chips for dippage was an almost exact replica of McDonalds Big Mac sauce. Absolutely delicious.
The salad was also pretty good. Heaps of it, plenty of stuff going on inside (especially if you are a cherry tomato fan) and tossed in a heavy pour of dressing. The leaves felt a little bit wilted but not insanely so, all up a quality side to the parma.
“Good chicken, good toppings, great chips. Could have been a fantastic parma had they not been so tight with the napoli!”
$26 is a bit on the pricey side for what we received but I’m not too distressed. If I had to price it I’d say it was a $22-$23 parma (the schnitzel was a bit small all things considered). I can’t see any parma nights on the books but that doesn’t mean there isn’t one on the way for this relatively new spot.
The Republic Tavern is a few tweaks away from being fantastic, just crank up the “parmesan crust” advertised to be in the crumbs and switch up the napoli to something chunkier and they are well on their way to a top tier feed. Keep the Big Mac sauce with the chips though - that is a winner.
Republic is a good spot, a little bit far out for me to visit with any regularity (other than stopping in for a quick pint after a trip to Costco), but definitely a worthwhile watering hole for those out that way. Give it a crack if you are in the area.