Today we decided to take a trip to the ‘other side of the tracks’ heading all the way to Abbortsford to check out the park hotels parma. Boy was this a good decision, not only do they have a killer beer garden, with a pool table outside but the drinks are priced pretty well. We booked for 12:15 and pre-ordered our parmas so that we could do a hit and run, although they still took a fair while to come out and the pub wasn’t that busy, it was worth the wait! They have a great beer garden and a pool table outside, so it’s a great place to spend an hour or two on a sunny Friday afternoon!

The parma was beautiful, thick and delicious. Even the salad was great and not covered in some shitty dressing, pretty much every part of the parma was a joy to eat. You may notice that the parma has bacon on it, which is a little bit unconventional and the only thing I can really fault the park hotel on. I would have liked to see another 2 pieces of bacon, because with only one piece, almost every mouthful didn’t get any of that bacony goodness. The chips arrangement underneath the parma is still the standard for pubs, so I can’t really list it as a negative, although I would love to see this changed!

The chicken was pretty much the closest to a home made parma that I have come across in a pub, with a full thickness piece of chicken covered in great crumbs and a nice tasting sauce. This is a big claim, however I am willing to say that it is the best parma I have had this year, I give it a 9/10!

Today saw another chapter in the quest for the perfect chicken parma played out at the Prince Patrick Hotel, on Victoria Parade in Collingwood, unusual for this to be the first parma of the week, however yesterday was a pretty average day so we stayed in for lunch.

The good: Firstly, i have to say that the barstaff are always good value at the Prince Patrick, friendly, helpful and love to have a laugh. So thats already a bonus point for not being total dicks if you ask me. It was a cold day today, so when i arrived at 12, i was more than happy to order a parma straight away while i waited for a friend and had a beer (Unusual, i normally drink Vodka but oh well got to mix it up sometimes). The parma took a bit longer than usual to come out, however unlike when you wait and are disappointed at the result, the PP delivered a beautiful parma, with a nice thick chicken fillet and good quality chips.

The bad: The salad is quite tasty with decent dressing, however it usually comes out with half of a single cherry tomato, not exactly what i would consider adding tomatoes to a salad, so if anything i would add about another 3-4 cherry tomatoes to the salad. Chips come out under the parma as is sadly customary, very few pubs seem to appreciate moving the chips out onto the plate or perhaps in a side bowl.

Overall: A good quality parma, friendly staff and decent understanding of parmaology, i will return again many times to the Prince Patrick for one of their parmas.