This isn't a picture of the Pancake Parlour we visited, but I'll be damned if I can find a pic of the one we went to online
When? - 20th of November, 2014
Where? All over the place, but we went the one at Highpoint Shopping Centre in Maribyrnong
Price? - $27.90
Website? - http://www.pancakeparlour.com/
Reviewers – Lee & Nikki
You all know the Pancake Parlour, right? I don't need to explain about the ambiance of the restaurant? (and they're all the same, Monkeys and nude ladies flipping pancakes on the walls, and somewhere around there'll be a giant chess set). Well a couple months ago I noticed a tweet that the parma at the Pancake Parlour, which for a long time had been relegated to the dreaded "specials board", had been upgraded to prime, permanent menu status...
I checked the menu on the website and found the description...
A parma served on a pancake? That intrigued me, It never occurred to me that such a thing might work, but at the same time the combination of chicken and waffles is damn delicious, how far off could a parma-on-a-pancake be?
We arrived at the Pancake Parlour last night and took our seat in the booth, I picked up the menu to confirm the parma was there and noticed something I hadn't before... no mention of chips on the menu. It was already pricey at $27.90 ... surely there'd have to be chips. Then I saw this to the side...
Ugh, No chips.
I wasn't paying over $30 for a parma with chips. Not happening, so we ordered the parma as it is on the menu, no extras.
To Pancake Parlour's credit the service was fantastic, we ordered our meals at about 7 o'clock at they were on the table before 7:10. Although why they still use that archaic "receipt on your table that gets updated by hand as you order new stuff" system baffles me.
Anyways, on to the parma
There was steam still rising off the parma as it hit the table, without the cheese on top it was just a sea of red with a big white hole on the plate where the chips should be - but we'll get to the toppings & sides in a moment.
To be completely honest - The schnitzel itself was pretty damn good. It was a little small for the price ("for the price" is three words you are going to be hearing a whole lot in this review, prepare yourself) but it was pure white chicken breast. Very lightly dusted with crumbs, piping hot and juicy as all hell. It had decent thickness without going overboard - To be honest, other than the size I don't think I have any criticisms for the schnitz. Quite tasty.
As I'm sure you can see from the photos The Pancake Parlour has opted for the unconventional practice of layering the sauce on top of the cheese, or "SHCN" as we call it, although with the pancake at the bottom it has evolved to "PSHCN" - a completely new beast. We've come across the "napoli on top" thing a fewtimes before but never with a whole lot of success - The cheese never seems to get a fair shake when drowned underneath all that nap. Saying all that - this was probably the best SHCN we've had - It's still not my preferred topping layering order, but I wasn't too upset about it. The napoli did kind've overwhelm all of the other toppings, but it was fresh and tasty none the less.
Now for the pancake. I was not sure what I was going to think about the pancake, but to be honest I didn't mind it - I'm not going to be bringing a zip-lock bag full of flapjacks to future parma attempts or anything, but it didn't really detract from the experience at all. Flavour-wise it was virtually undetectable, the only thing it contributed was a slightly different texture on the occasional bite. Take it or leave it, I wouldn't be bothered either way
Despite a massive, gaping white hole on the plate there were no chips served with this parma. As I mentioned before there is the option to order a side of cottage fries for an extra $5.90, but I wasn't shelling out that when I'd already coughed up $27.90 for the parma. We've only come across the "no chips" thing once before, back when we did the Shaw Davey Slum, and the precedent was set in that review (and as voted by the readers) that any pub that serves a parma without chips included gets a zero in the score category for the chips. So thats what PP is getting, zero for chips
The salad was suffering from an issue we've encountered before, something I am officially dubbing "Palmerston Syndrome" as we first discovered it at The Palmerston Hotel. The salad was good, in theory, plenty of lettuce, celery, capsicum and radishes, it was crisp, albeit a little underdressed, but the major problem was that everything was diced into tiny little chunks that just made it a chore to eat. If I have to use my fork as a spoon to eat my salad its no longer a salad - It's bruschetta topping.
The value on this parma is in the toilet. Theres no sugar coating it, it's just far too expensive for what you get. If it came with a side of fries included in the price then maybe I could deal with it, but when the parma was quite small, the salad was so/so and there were no chips on the plate unless I shelled out another $5.90 It's not nowhere near worth the cost. It was a quiet night last night so there was just myself and Reviewer Nikki at the review - I had a pint of coke and Nikki drank water, we got two parmas and nothing else yet our final bill came out to well over $60. I'm no tightass but for what we received that is ridiculous. This isn't The Fat Duck, its The Pancake Parlour.
I went into the Pancake Parlour with very low expectations and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the parma. If money is no object and you don't have an issue shelling out $33.80 for a chicken parma with chips then by all means give it a crack - the parma-on-a-pancake thing is worth experiencing at least once, However unless they either drop the price drastically or chuck on a side of cottage fries I doubt I'll be heading back to the Pancake Parlour for a parma.
Pros
- Fantastic quality schintzel
Cons
- No chips
- Far too expensive for what you get
- Salad diced into inconvenient chunks