Super Parma!

[Andrew Fenton]

I recently came across this Super Parma website, which appears to be a sort of Australian Chicken Parmigiana Club. It rates the dish as served at over 200 (!) restaurants, according to criteria including size, quality of sauce, cheese, et cetera. I'm fascinated and a little mystified: chicken parm (as well as veal and eggplant versions) is a staple of red-gravy Italian-American cooking, but a casual googling seems to reveal that the dish occupies a very different, and more prominent, place in the Australian food chain. So what's the story here?

[Dim Sim]

you will find most if not all the restaurants mentioned on the site are pubs, you problably won't find chicken parma in most restaurants, except pubs (usually comes with chips or fries for our North Amercan friends) or some noisy family restaurants, take away places, in general it is on the same par as fish and chips, anyplace that has a deep fryer and does chips and schnizels (and together with places that do pasta with the good O' tomato sauce, we call it Napoli sauce) you are more likely to find parmas. they are a comfort food for me , something I am used to and as I mentioned earlier they usually come with chips, with lots of beer to wash them all down, what more can you ask for ?

[PCL]

Quick announcement:

Chicken Parma night at the Carringbush... $10, beer extra. Tuesdays.

A good Parma. The Carringbush is on Langridge St, Abbottsford, next to the railway line, a couple metres back from Hoddle St.

[Andrew Fenton]

So the real emphasis is on fried, eh? Can't go wrong with that, I suppose. Chips seem like a strange accompaniment; but less so, I guess, if you think of it as more like fried chicken and less like anything you'd get in an Italian restaurant. At any rate, it sounds like a good accompaniment to drinking, and I will endeavor to try one out when I finally make it to Australia.

[loiosh]

So the real emphasis is on fried, eh?  Can't go wrong with that, I suppose.  Chips seem like a strange accompaniment; but less so, I guess, if you think of it as more like fried chicken and less like anything you'd get in an Italian restaurant.

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Yep. At KFC here, chips are the primary go-with for the chicken, and most of the combo meals include both chips and a small side of mash. Chicken 'schnitzels' are often found ready-to-fry at the butcher's as well.

[PCL]

The Carringbush Hotel $10 parma last night was sensational.

[Dim Sim]

The Carringbush Hotel $10 parma last night was sensational.

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You should try Hotel Spencer, Mon & tues Night special, I think it is $11.00 good value, I like. their beef and guiness pie is pretty good too.

[PCL]

where that?

[Dim Sim]

where that?

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475 Spencer Street, W Melbourne tel:9329 5111

The dinning menu is pretty good too.

[Sarah]

Hey all,

(yay its my first post!)

Just wanted to add that the whole concept of 'parma' being an aussie thing is totally wrong! My boyfriend Matt and I were down in Melbourne a little while ago and saw a sign saying 'Australia's best Parma!' and honestly didn't know what it was talking about? a type of ham? cheese? schnitzel? Anyway, i think it's a Melbourne thing... Sydney seems far more obsessed with Burgers and Kebab, and of course the ever-present Thai takeaway....