[info]
When? - 4th of August, 2011
Where? - The Napier Hotel, 210 Napier St, Fitzroy
Price? – $20.00
Barry? - No
Website? - http://thenapierhotel.com/
Reviewers – Carly, Lee, Nikki, Pat[/info]
I was stumped at the start of the week when it came to pubs to try, we had just come off our review of The Exchange, which took the spot as our new #1 parma, so surely the parma following that act would pale in comparison. I looked at our map and saw a bit of a gap in the Fitzroy region, I also remembered that the Napier was in Fitzroy, and they offered up a parma that we had been meaning to try for a very long time
Still not convinced I turned to Cleverbot, the website that lets you chat to an artificial intelligence… hopefully he could shed some light on the situation.
Well… that was pointless. So we decided on the Napier, loaded up the Parma Bus, and headed to Fitzroy.
There was a smaller group this week so I decided not to make a booking… BIG mistake - this (rather large) pub was packed when we arrived, and it was barely even 7pm. Luckily we managed to squeeze in to a table in the front bar.
Now the Napier offers up two varieties of parma, A standard parma and a very original offering where in place of ham they stack fillets of smoked kangaroo. Tantalizing, no?
There were four reviewers so we agreed to get two roo parmas and two ham parmas, with the condition that we were all allowed to have a taste of the other one, for review purposes. $20 each, we placed our order at the bar, and awaited our foods arrival.
I had hoped to institute a new feature in Parma Daze this week in which I timed how long the parma took from ordering to delivery. I recorded the order time (7.24pm) but when the parmas arrived I was so excited I totally forgot to record the arrival time, from memory it was about half an hour … not too bad.
I have photos of both the roo parma and the ham parma below
The Roo Parma
The Ham Parma
I ordered the roo parma and I have to say I was in total shock when it fell to the table - I was expecting shaved roo slices as if they had been through a deli slicer - no sir, this was sliced roo fillets, about the same size you would see in a stir fry, smoked to perfection and tender as hell. they added a unique taste to the parma that has to be tasted to be described - a truly different parma experience that every parma lover needs to try!
The chicken was top quality breast, thick, big, well crumbed and generously covered in toppings, my only complaint (similar to last weeks parma) is that they overdid it a littlewith the napoli, some areas were swimming in it and it overpowered the rest of the chicken, but otherwise a great parma. During my meal I had the opportunity to try the Ham variety, and even though I was greatly enjoying the Kangaroo parma I must say that the ham variety was delicious in its own right, its amazing how the ham completely altered the flavour of the entire meal, yet kept it tasty, I’d be torn if I had to choose between roo and ham a second time, both were vastly different, yet equally delicious.
Cross section - you can see some kangaroo on top -
The chips were crinkle cut … points already, and well salted, there was a decent serving (under the chicken unfortunately) but we got a fair few ‘poo chips’ as they were dubbed, the ones that didn’t come out quite right, like an inbred puppy, where the other chips were golden brown, the poo chips were dark and almost inedible - despite those it was a decent chip offering. Crinkle cut rocks.
The salad was a point of contention amongst reviewers. It was presented beautifully and looked amazing, however when you broke it down it was rather sparse and eating it became a challenge, It was a garden salad consisting of lettuce, tomato and lots of diced cucumber, with some parsley and dressing thrown through, very basic, but still kind of tasty, the problem came with trying to eat a pile of diced cucumber with a fork and a knife sitting on a very crowded barroom table, If a spoon were available it would be much easier but as it were the over-dicing of the cucumber became a hassle.
The Napier is a great, cosy pub, the decor is… indescribable, if you have any sort of moral objection to the Fitzroy Football club you might want to give this place a miss as the front bar looks like Fitzroy threw up on the place… in a good way! everywhere you look is a different piece of football paraphernalia, definitely enough to keep you entertained while waiting for your chicken
I was worried that this weeks parma would have a hard time following The Exchange but it put up one hell of a fight, this was a fantastic and unique parma experience that I’d be happy to try again any day of the week, points for originality, quality and the overall experience… a top notch parma!
Parma - 8.5
Chips - 8.15
Salad - 6.5
Value - 8.13
Total - 7.96
The search continues…
