[info]
When? - 7th of July, 2011
Where? - The Castle Hotel, 56 Courtney St. North Melbourne
Price? – $19.50
Barry? - No
Website? - http://www.thecastlehotel.com.au/
Reviewers – Cale, Grace, Lee, Nikki, Pat, Tony[/info]
We first discovered The Castle after we finished our parma at our current #1 holder - The Metropolitan Hotel, just a stones throw from the castle, We stopped in for some post parma bevvys on that night back in May last year and found it was a nice little spot, and seemed to have potential to serve up a decent bird. We added it to the list & a short year and two months later we were back! ready to see what The Castle had to offer.
We rocked up at seven and took our reserved table - the bistro is very well presented, almost looking like they provided table service (wine glasses on table, etc) yet we still had to order from the bar - I perused the menu and found the parma -
That sounds like a veritable treat for the tastebuds! we ordered our meals, grabbed a few pints and took a seat, before too long our parmas arrived!
If we gave points for presentation, this parma had it in spades, it looked fantastic! the parma itself was set on an angle against the salad bowl, to create cover fore the chips without smothering them. It looked fantastic and I was really looking forward to digging in. Unfortunately on first bite I realised I was going to be sorely disappointed, It was like biting into the most delicious looking piece of fruit and discovering it was plastic. From the wording on the menu I was expecting something full of flavour but to be perfectly honest it tasted like cardboard, as bland as a pair of beige pants.
The schnitzel was thin and processed, there was plenty of ham and cheese but they were both equally as tasteless
The chips were overcooked and just as uninspired, barely a handful on the plate, totally forgettable, The one positive would be that due to the triangle of safety created by the angle of the parma, they remained crispy to the end.
The salad was the most impressive thing on the plate, but honestly that isn’t saying much, a standard garden salad in a bowl (always a good move) with some rocket leaves, tomato, cucumber, onion and tomato with a mustard dressing - It was pretty tasty, but when the salad is the best part of the plate its a sad state of affairs
It wasn’t a bad parma to be honest, but it was just nothingness, like chewing on cardboard … it just had no taste, and for $19.50 thats a bit expensive for nothingness.
They do a special ‘$16 for everything on the menu Monday & Tuesday’ which would help the value score, but to be honest I wouldn’t be seeking this parma out anytime soon - especially with the amazing parma at The Metropolitan a few metres away.
Parma - 4.17
Chips - 4.17
Salad - 5.50
Value - 4.17
Total - 4.43
The search continues…
