I DON'T profess to being a food critic or judge by any stretch of the imagination, however as a citizen of Australia and having sampled the menus of countless pubs across the nation, I count myself qualified (as are most of you!) to review and rank that greatest of Australian counter meals, the humble Chicken Parmigiana.
And whilst I’m sure it has been done in the past, I recently set out to eat, review and rank a parma (ok … or parmi) from every venue that served them on Mt Hotham and Dinner Plain.
The search for the Great Alpine Parma was on.
What I considered would be a pleasurable experience turned out to be more of a disappointing chore than anticipated, but with a couple of notable exceptions.
For whilst there are some great meals to be had across the numerous venues, sadly, the Chicken Parmigiana is often not one of them.
My expectations were simple – a freshly crumbed and cooked fillet of chicken with traditional parmigiana toppings of tasty marinara tomato sauce, quality ham and melted cheese (that doesn’t smother the flavour of the chicken), served hot and accompanied with a reasonable serve of well-seasoned chips (fat chips preferable) and an acceptable salad, slaw or side serve of veggies.
A few bonus points were for quality of meal relative to price, service and atmosphere of the venue.
Subjectivity is abundant in all the above, but I had a few co-conspirators along to verify my observations.
Most of what was presented looked the goods, but several were found to be sadly lacking.
The main culprit was poor quality crumbed chicken and/or improperly reheated chicken served cold, dry and tasteless.
The winner by a clear margin was the Dinner Plain Hotel.
Quality and freshness of the chicken and toppings coupled with delicious chunky chips and a spicy slaw for under $30 is all one can ask for.
Throw in a warm fire or three, some uplifting tunes, friendly service plus short wait time and it all adds up to a Great Alpine Parma.
An honourable mention goes to Zirkys for their version with its fabulously yummy crumb on the chicken, served in good time during a hectic evening in the bar.
If reading this has put in your mind some concerns about eating Chicken Parmigiana on the hill, take solace that improvement may have already occurred by the time you read this, and that each venue has some awesome alternatives in the form of curries, steaks, burgers, pizzas and more.
Go forth and dine.
