[info]When? - 28th of May, 2015
Where? - 5/17 Flemington Rd. North Melbourne.
Price? - $12 Parma & Pot Thursdays ($16 all other times, no pot included)
Website? - http://www.littlerichard.com.au/
Reviewers – Lee, Nikki, Tony [/info]
I wish I had a running tally of the amount of times I've said "We did this pub because we pass it a lot on the way to other parmas", as I use it quite a lot - but the fact is that just what we do! Parma night takes us all over Melbourne, and travelling all over Melbourne with parmas on the brain leads to a lot of moments of "oh they do a parma? we should check them out then".
Living in the Northern suburbs and coming to the city to review parmas we use Flemington Road a lot, and when I'm not trying to work out how many men I would need in my heist to steal the giant flag I'm looking over at Little Richards Pizza Bar, at the base of the RMIT student accommodation, and wondering just how good those $10 jugs of Tiger they advertise are - Well last night that question was answered.
Little Richards is a Uni bar. Moreso than any other Uni bar we've done - To the point where the pub's website has an area where parents can pre-pay for their kids food & drinks via Paypal. I may be 31 but if my local had this feature I'd be giving Mum and Dad a call to top up the ol' account.
Walking into Little Richard's screams student pub. Tattered couch, foosball, giant Jenga and pool tables - it feels like the student lounge on any Uni campus but with beers. I was amazed when we walked through to the side area where the original bar and functioning fireplace from the Old Melbourne Hotel is still in tact - Absolute blast from the past.
We took our seat and checked the menu -
Yep, its parma night again. If we're going to a Uni pub we might as well go for the full "starving student" experience and get the parma as cheap as can be. There is a $16 full priced parma on the regular menu available every other day, but this review won't be vouching for the quality of that one - This week we're focussing on the Thursday special only
We grabbed a $10 Jug of Tiger and ordered our beers. Thoughts on the Tiger? In the free pot it was decent, but it definitely lost something in the jug. I had a free pot and a jug in front of me after ordering and they tasted like completely different beers, even though they had come from the same tap.
If you're after anything more than the absolute basics in terms of range of beers you're out of luck. Tiger, Carlton and cider are pretty much your only options.
Okay, First things first its clear that this bird isn't easy on the eyes... but damn was she big! I wasn't expecting that at all. I was thinking we'd get processed, heart shaped, Coles deli-window schnitzel for sure - but these were actually real chicken. Sure it was hammered damn thin and a little bit over-crumbed, maybe a little too well done around the edges, but it was unprocessed and freakin' huge.
The toppings were applied liberally, I would have loved some ham as it didn't quite hit the mark in terms of flavour, but the napoli was fresh and the cheese was delivered with gusto and well grilled ... but something was missing, I've mentioned in the past the phenomenon of Big Parma Syndrome (it's in the Glossary) and Little Richard's parma definitely had a minor case of BPS.
The chips were okay, nothing to write home about - just standard pub chips. They could have been fresher, I feel like they had been sitting in a bowl for a little while, However they were dusted with a very tasty seasoning that would have really given a great punch to a fresher chip. Good points and bad I suppose, If they weren't served under such a massive parma I'd be complaining that they could have been another handful - but nobody was walking away hungry from this behemoth.
There wasn't any salad served with the Thursday $12 parma. The menu...
Says that the full priced parma does include a salad, but like I said earlier, this is not the one we're judging today. So as there is no salad we'll be invoking the "You don't win friends with salad" rule this week (Jeez, If you're new I'm sending you to the FAQ & Glossary a lot this week, apologies).
It's not often I cannot finish a parma due to its sheer size, but I'm ashamed to admit this parma beat me and I had to leave a little on the plate. A parma I can't finish for $12 (with a pot!) is a bargain in my book, The Value score is going to take a hit due to the lack of salad, but if you don't give a crap about the greens then this may be one worth checking out.
I'm trying to view Little Richard's parma through the lens of a student. If I'm living off 2 minute noodles and Costco brand corn chips most of my week a $12 parma that I'm going to struggle to finish, with an included bevvie, would be a godsend. Sure its not the best parma around in terms of flavour but thats not the market they're aiming for. If you're a student in Melbourne you should give Mum & Dad a call, get them to put some cash on your account and get down to Little Richard's for a solid meal (and you can spend your credit on $10 jugs too, but we won't tell them that).
[pros]
- Massive
- Cheap
- Real chicken
[/pros][cons]
- A little flavourless
- No salad
- No ham
[/cons]
