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When? - 28th of Feb, 2013
Where? - The Quiet Man Irish Pub, 271 Racecourse Rd. Flemington
Price? - $19.90
Website? - http://www.thequietman.com.au/
Reviewers - Janet, Lee, Nikki, Shanan, Stefo, Pat[/info]
This review is a redo of a previously reviewed parma - check out the original attempt Here
First things first - I love The Quiet Man. It’s the quintessential Irish pub that doesn’t feel forced or fake, the atmosphere is great, the beer is always cold and the food, other than the parma. has always been top notch (the stew pots served in a hollow loaf of bread are a particular favourite)
Now, in the previous paragraph I mentioned that the food Other than the parma has always been good. I held this opinion for a long time, as back in May of 2010 we visited The Quiet Man for a parma review - Our #6th parma review, and it didn’t fare too well at all.
So when we received word that there had been a changeup in chefs and a revitalized menu (including a new and improved parma) we were champing at the bit to give it another go, so last night we loaded up the parma bus and headed to Flemington for a revisit to The Quiet Man.
Everything I said about the atmosphere in the original review still stands. The Quiet Man is cosy, warm and inviting. We took our seats and checked the menu -
The standout change to the description of the Quiet Man’s parma was the addition of bacon instead of ham. I love bacon. I love parmas. And I flipping adore bacon on parmas… Hopes were high when we placed the order.
It was a fair wait before our food arrived so I took the opportunity to look through my phone and reminisce about the last time we visited. I made sure to check the photo to refresh my memory of what the old parma looked like -
Then our parmas arrived, would there be a big change? or would it be the same thing with a bit of bacon…
Wow! Quite an improvement (visually at least). Without hesitation we tucked in.
The parma was greatly better across the board. Quality schnitzel of a solid thickness and not over crumbed, A less redonkulous amount of cheese than last time, plenty of chunky, fresh napoli and a generous hit of bacon - Normally bacon parmas can be a bit stingy with their pork, but not this one, plenty to go around.
Despite being thick the chicken itself was a tad dry and stringy, but this is a minor complaint over an overall great parma - and a stellar improvement over what it was.
The chips were classic ‘fish and chip shop’ chips, that didn’t go over too well with some reviewers. There were plenty of them and they were well seasoned, but they had a slightly odd taste to them that threw us, after much consideration our working theory is that they were cooked in the same oil in which the fish is prepared, giving them a very slight fishy taste.
The garden salad was massive and bursting with flavour. plenty of ingredients brought what could have been a rather boring garden salad to life. Lettuce, onion, carrot, capsicum and cherry tomatoes all did very well. A fitting accompaniment to the dish.
In this day and age its a surprise to find a parma under $20, and clocking in at $19.90, the price of the QM’s parma makes me happy. No ’parma nights’ that I could see, but I’d be more than happy to return and pay that again for what we got. More than happy.
Out of the 3 redo’s we have done so far, The Quiet Man’s parma has shown the most improvement over it’s predecessor. They have put a fantastic amount of effort in to give new life to what was once a very mediocre parma. It’s still not perfect and has a few issues, but it pleases me to no end that The Quiet Man’s parma has now been brought up to a level where I would have to think long and hard about my decision to get a parma or a stew pot next time I’m there.
Parma - 7.42
Chips - 4.67
Salad - 6.83
Value - 7.55
Total - 6.78
The search continues…