Where? - 103-105 Smith St. Fitzroy
Price? - $12 Parma Wednesdays, $16 off the specials board
Website? - http://molliesbaranddiner.com.au/
Reviewers – Lee, Matt, Nikki, Taylor
29/03/17 - Update - OUR GOOD FRIENDS AT THE MELBOURNE CHEAPSKATE HAVE UNDERGONE A REBIRTH AS CHUG. Check them out when you get a chance!
Well it's that time again - The last parma of 2015. It has been a solid year of some interesting discoveries - But I'll cover all of the yearly-round-up stuff in the Parma of the Year post coming either late December or early January (depending on how long it takes to get the Golden Chook trophies made up).
A couple of months ago I got an email from Taylor of Chug, asking if he can join us for a parma and a chat. It took a little time to work out a suitable location when we were both free, but we managed to squeak it in at the last parma for the year - The target? Mollie's Bar & Diner in Fitzroy, which fit both of our needs perfectly as it was a) a parma, and b) with a $12 parma Wednesday special, cheap as hell.
So we loaded up the parma bus, headed to Fitzroy and met up with Mr. Chug himself...
If I had've known I was dining with such a glorious beard I wouldn't have shaved mine off three weeks ago
I didn't really know what to expect when ascending the stairs to Mollie's, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got there.
The pub itself is basically one room with a bar at one end and a food truck at the other (yep, the food truck is in the pub), there is a door behind the bar that leads out to a very impressive and well hidden outdoor area, and it was a lovely Melbourne evening we pulled up a pew out there.
The ordering process at Mollie's is unique to say the least, On every table you'll find a few pens and this pre-printed pad -
Simply fill out what you want, take it to the bar and they will send your order over to the food truck (I'm not sure exactly how they do this, but I like to imagine they fold the order sheets into paper airplanes and fly them across the room). As the parma is currently a "special" ($12 on Wednesdays, $16 all other times) we simply wrote "PARMA X 4" in the box and took it up to the bar.
One thing worth noting - For the $12 parma special you get a choice of chips or salad, not both. We all went with chips so we didn't get a peek at the salad on offer - I couldn't ascertain if the full priced parma came with both or also offered the same choice.
About 20 or so minutes after ordering our parmas arrived...
Normally a $12 parma special is a guarantee of a processed, oversized chicken nugget of a schnitzel - So I was pleasantly surprised when we were delivered a plump, juicy chicken breast. Crumbed and fried to perfection with the perfect amount of crunch. Other than being a little bit small the schnitzel was pretty hard to fault. Expectations had been exceeded, lets see if they could bring it for the toppings...
... Kind've. The cheese was flavoursome with a good coverage and grilled to a perfect crispy golden brown. The ham was applied liberally (also rare for cheapo parma).
The napoli was ... Different. Quite thick and tomato pastey, although it had some home-made looking herbs through it. It carried a very sweet, almost sugary tang that permeated the entire dish. It wasn't bad, but it was unexpected, and a very distracting element on what was otherwise a damn good parma special.
The chips were pretty standard. Unseasoned pub chips. Kind've boring until we saved them with liberal application of salt and tomato sauce. I was hoping for a little more flair when they were the lone side to the parma - They were fine, by no means bad, but just felt a little phoned in.
As none of us partook in the salad we're invoking the You Don't Win Friends With Salad rule for this parma.
“A solid parma for the price. Can’t fault the meat or toppings, however a little on the small side. Chips were average”
“Lovely quality parma for a parma special. It was a little small but quite tasty. Chips were a bit boring and would have loved a sala”
“I found this to be a unique parma, mostly from the crumbs and cheese. while choice of only chips or salad, pretty great value for $12”
The rule of thumb for the YDWFWS rule is that the lack of salad is reflected in the value of the parma - but even after taking that hit this is still a damn tantalising parma special. The Fitzroy Beer Garden around the corner (formerly Sentido Funf) has arguably the more famous Wednesday parma night in the area, but I reckon the bird at Mollie's gives it a run for its money, and is definitely worth your consideration the next time you're out.
And like that ... We're done for 2015! Massive thanks to Taylor for coming down and contributing to the review, and be sure to check out Chug whenever you're on the hunt for a cheap feed
Be sure to stay tuned some time in the next 30 days-ish for the Golden Chook awards, thanks a heap for your support this year - and we will be back and hitting the parmas again in early 2016!
Pros
- Great quality chicken
- Won't sting your wallet if you go on a Wednesday
Cons
- A little on the small side
- Chips OR salad