Where - 1 Crockford Street, Port Melbourne
Price - $24
Website - https://www.thecornerstonepub.com.au
Reviewers - Lee & Nikki
This review is gonna start with an embarrassing admission. I’m not gonna sugar coat it, I’m not gonna dace around it. Deep breath. Here we go…
I watch The Bachelor.
To clarify, I don’t watch The Bachelorette, that would be ridiculous. However when Matt Agnew flashed those astrophysicist pearly whites of his in July last year I was enthralled. I could not tear my eyes from the TV, and when I sat in an emotional heap at the end of each episode I would need a few minutes to regain my composure, and some nights a second TV show would follow the Bachelor. A show made in Melbourne, starring Lucy Lawless as a spritely detective trying to balance the pressures of both solving horrific murders and being a mordern woman in 2019. The show was (is? I don’t think it has been cancelled yet) called “My Life is Murder”, and while not as enthralling as The Bachelor, sometimes I’d get roped into the plot and I caught a few episodes.
Now bear with me here, but in the show Lucy Lawless had a restaurant/pub she would visit a lot. She was friendly with the owner, she would discuss cases with Bernard Curry (who I had a theory was actually dead the entire time, but that didn’t actually pan out) and just generally hang out in this pub. Being someone who has visited a lot of Melbourne pubs it bugged the hell of me that I just couldn’t place where it was shot. It did look very “Port Melbourne” but for the longest time I could not place just where in Melbourne the My Life is Murder pub existed.
Then I was suggested the Cornerstone, I checked some photos and new instantly that we had found the MLIM pub, and there was no doubt that a parma there was top priority.
The pub is not exactly as it appears in the show, apparently since production the Cornerstone has added a row of plus booths by the window. A nice touch and definitely adds to the overall pub vibe of the place. It’s a spacious, open and well lit establishment with a great view of a bustling little Port Melbourne community out the window.
We grabbed a table, checked the menu and was greeted by one of the most delicious descriptions of a parma I’ve read in the longest time…
Doesn’t that just sound delicious?
We placed our order at the bar and grabbed some beers to go alongside. Not a bad selection at the Cornerstone, I posted the tap list below which doesn’t seem to be entirely up to date as I grabbed a pint of Blue Moon to accompany my parma, but everything else on tap seems to have been on the board…
The parmas arrived at our table about 15-20 minutes after ordering and at first glance it looked like we were on to a winner…
The schnitzel was absolutely outstanding, apart from being ever so slightly overcooked and a little dry, it was thick and plump, hand crumbed with strong garlic flavours throughout. To be honest eating the little edge chunks that didn’t have a lot of toppings on them reminded me a lot of tucking in to my second favourite chicken dish - Chicken Kiev.
An outstanding foundation to a parma and a very strong start to the dish.
The toppings were a bit of a mixed bag but mostly positive. Plenty of cheese grilled to a delicious golden brown (like I said, maybe a little bit too grilled, but that’s a minor quibble) and the Virginia ham was strong and flavoursome.
The napoli, while fresh and home made as claimed in the menu description, was in pretty short supply. Another spoonful or two and this parma would be in the upper echelons. It would have added an extra burst of flavour and even helped with the slight dryness of the chicken. It was still damn good, but it could have been outstanding.
After we de-parma’ed the chips we found a pretty generous serving hiding under the schnitzel. Like the parma a little overcooked but otherwise very tasty - Dusted with a seasoning reminiscent of BBQ crisps, very similar to the chips we had last year at Melba Social in Kensingon. Very tasty.
The salad was a dense little pile of leaves an onion slices. Very well dressed, and I think I detected a heavy helping of parsley throughout? Either way it was quite tasty and a great foil to the strong flavours of the parma. A fine side for a fine meal.
“Loved the schnitzel and chips, just could have used a little more napoli on mine and it would have been amazing. ”
I’ve got no issues shelling out $24 for the Cornerstone parma. Some minor complaints aside this was a delicious feed with top notch ingredients, if you are still on the fence Tuesday is $20 Parma & Pot night - A great value deal that would be hard to fault.
I enjoyed this parma immensely, the food was fantastic and the atmosphere of the pub is perfect for a modern backstreets local. So whether you love a good parma or are just a massive Xena: The Warrior Princess fan, the Cornerstone is definitely worth checking out.