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When? - 01/01/2012
Where? - The Old Hepburn Hotel, 236 Main Rd, Hepburn, Victoria
Price? - $22 for Traditional, $24 for Aussie and a $15 parma Monday
Website? - http://oldhepburnhotel.com.au/
Reviewers - Grace, Janet, Lee, Nikki, Pat, Shanan, Tony[/info]
I’ve been sitting on this review for a while now, waiting for a time when I needed a week off from the parma hunt, That week has arrived and I think I’ve got a damn good reason. “I’m getting married this weekend” is an excuse I hope to only give once in my life, and in the ranking of acceptable excuses I think it ranks pretty high up there, probably just below “I was kidnapped, buried alive and I’m using what battery life I have in my phone to let you know I can’t make it” and just above “A badger ate my foot”.
So cast your minds back to the first day of 2012, On the first of January after a night out at The Palais I awoke to a hangover only a parma could cure, and seeing as I was up at Daylesford with a pretty decent chunk of the Parma Daze review team we headed to the Old Hepburn Hotel try the first parma of the new year.
To give you an idea of the state we were in I have prepared a collage of photos, taken on my phone, on the 31st of December 2011.
Nerf machine guns, moths the size of my hand and a lot of inappropriate podium dancing while much alcohol was consumed, it was a big’un.
Early in the afternoon a very seedy group of people wandered into the Old Hepburn Hotel and took a seat in the bistro, the bold amongst us ordered an alcoholic beverage while the rest stuck to soft drink and water - A parma was set in my mind as my cure-all, then I noticed that, other than a regular parma, an Aussie novelty parma was available with bacon and egg in place of ham, now I am not normally one to indulge in novelty parmas, but my body needed bacon more than it ever had before, so I went with the novelty and the others opted for the original.
The wait for our meals was filled up with the usual ‘morning after’ conversation - lots of “I did shots?”, “What time did we get home?” and “where did you disappear to for 2 hours in the middle of the night”
Before too long, our precious hangover food arrived…
The Aussie -
The Original -
This whole parma just screamed home cooked meal, the schnitzel was thick and juicy, pretty sure they were crumbed in-house with home made crumbing, the napoli was perfect, chunky with big chunks of onion and herb throughout that gives the strong appearance of another home made creation, The cheese was tasty, well cooked and there was plenty of it.
My bacon and egg was cooked to perfection - I like my egg yolks runny in the middle and these were perfect. Despite getting looks of envy from those who went with the traditional parma, word came round that theirs was just as good.
This is normally where I would put the ParmaCam or cross section, however in my handicapped state it slipped my mind to get a photo (and I didn’t have the parmacam tripod when this was reviewed), so just use your imaginations!
Imaginaaaation! Imaginaatioon!
The chips were fantastic, beer battered perfection, the only complaint around the table was that there simply wasn’t enough of them, They were great, we just wanted more.
The salad was … enough. A garden salad of lettuce, onion, tomato and cucumber was definitely fresh, but a little lacking in the taste department, a splash of dressing would’ve really brought it to life.
Those around the table who could actually summon the will to speak managed to mumble out the following -
If you’re in Daylesford or Hepburn and looking for a good honest pub meal without a lot of the wank that is associated with restaurants in the area, then the Old Hepburn Hotel is definitely the way to go. The meals were top notch and definitely hit the spot for those of us dealing with post new years eve trauma, Looking at the pub’s Facebook page they seem to offer up a $15 parma night every Monday with a bunch of novelty options - definitely worth hitting if you’re in the area. Even if its not a monday night, stop in as its a great spot with a winner of a parma.
Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind… Should old acquaintance be forgot, and Auld lang syne.
Parma - 8.29
Chips - 7.21
Salad - 5.14
Value - 6.43
Total - 7.07
The search continues…
As Reviewer Nikki and myself will be on our honeymoon from the start of March, the next two weeks are going to be a bit different! We have lined up some of the other, usually quiet, members of the PD team to take the reigns and I’ll be doing my best to track down some parmage in both Hawaii and Las Vegas to report back! Stay tuned to our Facebook or Twitter for more info