Where - 681 Sydney Rd, Brunswick VIC 3056
Price - $19 (small), $24 (large)
Website - http://edinburghcastle.net.au
Reviewers – Al, Bearder, Grace, Janet, Lee, Nikki, Matt, Tony
The Edinburgh Castle is one of those pubs that I've always thought never got a fair shake. We visited back in 2012, and although it was our 102nd review the review team for the night was inexplicably infiltrated by a bunch of prosciutto-haters that brought the Castle's final score down.
There is no room for prosciutto hate in a person's life. It took a few years to shake them, but we have ditched those horrible people and once again headed to the Edinburgh Castle to see if their parma holds up (or has even improved) after 5 years.
The front bar of the Edinburgh Castle is as spacious as it is busy - Drawing in an eclectic array of patrons from all walks of life. Mums with prams toast their drinks with hipsters and senior citizens - It's a true menagerie, but its a great atmosphere and a hell of a lot of fun.
We had the foresight to book ahead (recommended, this place gets packed), so our table was waiting for us when we arrived. Checked the menu and (even though there has been a few $ price bump in the five years since our last visit) spied our target for the evening...
We worked our way to the dining room and placed our food order at the food-order-booth. The dining room is a much more intimate (and quiet) space, but it doesn't quite have the atmosphere of the front bar. The beer garden out the back is also pretty great and definitely worth checking out on a summer night.
The tap list at the Edinburgh is nothing short of fantastic. Hawkers, Feral, Pirate Life, Two Birds, 2 Brothers, 4 Pines (it's starting to sound like a sesame street counting game in here). The list goes on and on and on. Very impressed.
After a 20 minute wait our parmas appeared from the kitchen... As is tradition with redo's lets compare the 2012 parma with its 2017 counterpart...
2012 -
At the very least I hope my photography skills have improved in 5 years.
2017 -
Much better!
Okay - First up, I really dug the schnitzel at the Edinburgh. After a few weeks of so/so schnittys it was nice to find one that was undoubtedly real chicken breast. Although it was a skosh on the dry side it was a thick, pure, high quality piece of chicken.
The crumbing was fine also - A little on the soggy side but not criminally so. Overall this was a pretty damn good foundation for a parma.
Hello prosciutto, my old friend.
As I stated in our last review - If you don't like prosciutto, you won't like this parma. If you do like prosciutto, you're in for a treat. Crispy, salty and applied liberally - The prosciutto on this parma was an absolute star.
Back in 2012 we mentioned this parma was extremely cheesy, almost too cheesy. I didn't get that at all this time around as they have backed off the amount of cheese to a much more sane level. Still great coverage and grilled to perfection. Complimented the dish well.
If I had to critisize the toppings my negativity would definitely fall to the napoli sauce - There just wasn't enough of it. I mentioned the schnitzel was already a little dry, and the lack of a juicy napoli didn't help matters either. It seemed fresh and quite tasty, but a few extra spoonfuls would have worked wonders.
The chips were pretty good, Well cooked, well seasoned and a decent serving mostly out from underneath the soggy death of being wedged under the parma. But at the same time I wasn't blown away. Maybe a dipping sauce or something would have helped. I'm quibbling on minor issues. They did their job well.
The Salad was pretty much on the same level as the chips (After 320 reviews I've noticed a trend that the chips and salad are usually on par with each other). It had plenty of ingredients and was rather tasty - but a heavy-hand on the olive oil left it a bit wilted. As with the chips it was good, but not great.
“The salty tang of the prosciutto brought this parma to life! Not perfect, but would definitely have again.”
“A great parma. I didn’t like the chips they used to have and I’m not a massive fan of the new ones either - But the parma is good enough to make up for it”
I'd happily pay another $24 for this parma again. A little pricey, yes, but high quality chicken breast and liberal application of toppings is worth the price alone. A couple of tweaks and this parma could be top tier.
I'm not sure if our tastes have evolved or if the Edinburgh Castle's parma has improved (maybe a bit of both?) But if you're a fan of prosciutto this is definitely one to try. If you're on the fence the "small" parma is only $19 so a relatively cheap outlay to test the water with.
I like the Edinburgh. Good pub, good food, great beers and very cool beer garden. In my opinion one of the better pubs on Sydney Rd. and definitely worth a crack if you're in the area.