[info]
When? – 17/1/13
Where? – 353 Keilor Rd, Essendon (also available at Kensington store)
Price? - $21.90
Website? - http://www.tacobill.com.au/
Reviewers – Fridge, Lee, Nikki, Stefo[/info]
We now return you to our regularly scheduled programming…
We’re back! And to kick off the 2013 season we are coming straight out of the gate with a bit of a curveball.
Everyone knows Taco Bill, It’s the place where all the people who go to the cricket get those massive sombrero’s (and they also sell Mexican food, I think).
But what you may not know is that a few Taco Bill’s around town have put a very interesting “Mexi-Parma” on their specials board. It has been spotted at two locations that we know of so far (Essendon and Kensington), and if you know of any more that are doing it, let me know on The Facebooks or Tweeter.
Right off the bat I am going to preface this review - This is not a traditional parma. If you are going in expecting your standard schnitzel-cheese-ham-napoli with a side of chips and salad then you are going to be sorely disappointed but if you are willing to try new things, then you might just find something damn interesting.
We arrived at Taco Bill and scored a great table by the front window. This particular Taco Bill has quite a few options when it comes to seating - there’s the front dining room, a seperate upstairs dining room, and for those warm summer nights there is an outdoor bar/beer garden/dining area out the back…
I started the meal with a Mexican staple - The Margarita -
I went with the ‘Fruit Tingle’ flavour, and good lord was it tasty, pictured is just the standard size, but if you’re in for a big night it’s hard to go past the fishbowl margarita…
The ordering of which ensures both a good night, and a kickass sombrero.
But enough about the drinks, on to the parmage! We placed our orders and sipped on our drinks while we waited, after a rather short wait the plates arrived at our table -
I’d like to re-iterate… non traditional
Okay, where to start. Imagine you have a quality chicken schnitzel in front of you, well crumbed, decent thickness, good size. Tasty, yes? Now imagine opening up a burrito and covering the schnitzel with the contents. Genius? definitely!
The schnitzel was covered in a healthy layer of chili con carne, and topped with plenty of cheese. If you don’t like chili, then this isn’t the parma for you - as chili is definitely the dominant flavour of this dish. Having so much flavour in the topping, it would have been easy for Taco Bill to phone it in with a low quality chicken breast, but not here - the schnitzel was surprisingly good quality.
If I could ask for one addition to the parma, I would say (being a Mexi-parma) it is sorely in need of some sour cream or guacamole to balance out the chili, either on top or on the side, either of those would compliment the dish perfectly and take it to the next level.
Now, in keeping with the non-traditional theme, the standard Chips and Salad are gone, and replaced with sides of Mexican rice and cheesy frijoles (beans), These were a fine side, and although I missed my chippies I think they would have been out of place with this parma - The rice tasted great, as did the frijoles.
Pricing in at $21.90 is perfectly acceptable for what you’re getting, I did not leave Taco Bill hungry after that dish, and I think you’d struggle to find someone who would.
In short, Taco Bill serves up one of the best novelty parmas we have come across, but it is still a novelty parma - You have to be ready for that before you arrive. But if you have an open mind, head down to Taco Bill, order yourself a fishbowl and a parma, and enjoy!
Parma - 7.33
Sides - 6.33
Value - 6.67
Total - 6.80
The search continues…
