The Crafty Squire

"chicken"

All meals are $20 between midday and 3pm on weekdays, including the chicken parma, which sounds pretty bloody good on the menu: "Parmesan & Japanese crumbed chicken breast, double smoked gypsy ham, virgin mary napoli sauce, 3 cheese glaze, chips & salad"... With the Portland Hotel and the James Squire Brewhouse one and the same, there was a fantastic range of beers on tap served by blokes who know how to pour a good beer. As for the parma itself, bonus point straight away for serving it on a paddle. The crumbing, ham, cheese and sauce were EXCELLENT. Unfortunately the chicken itself was way too thin. A thick breast and this parma would be hard to beat anywhere in Melbourne. The chips were great and there were plenty of them. Salad was standard. For $20 you can do much worse in the CBD. You know it's a good meal when you're scraping rouge breadcrumbs and bits of ham and cheese off a paddle until it's clean.

Size

3/5

Meat

4/5

Topping

5/5

Chips Quality

5/5

Chips Qty

2.5/3

Salad

2/3

"chicken"

Not impressed with the size of the parma, left still feeling hungry. Not good value for money. All other components ok

Size

1/5

Meat

3/5

Topping

3/5

Chips Quality

3/5

Chips Qty

2/3

Salad

1.5/3

"chicken"

Typical Portland parma, which was a good thing. Nothing to fault except maybe afew more chips, and the salad had some crap tasting red lettuce.

Size

5/5

Meat

5/5

Topping

4/5

Chips Quality

4/5

Chips Qty

2.5/3

Salad

2/3

"chicken"

Once upon a time this was my favourite parma, that time is long gone. There is remains of what used to be the best, but is now riddled with problems. Especially strange for me is my disappointment in the salad, it was a just mess of whatever vegetables the chef could find in the kitchen. I've had to throw a bonus point in for service and that fantastic James Squire's beer.

Size

3/5

Meat

4/5

Topping

4/5

Chips Quality

3/5

Chips Qty

3/3

Salad

1.5/3

"chicken"

Aka, James Squier Brewhouse. My personal benchmark parma. Fat real chicken fillet with a crisp crumb. Great sauce, ham and cheese (with extra bacon on top). Fat chips and an interesting salad. Great beer too. Only downside is quality control - sometimes they get busy the parmas get soggy! But when its good... its freakin' perfect.

Size

5/5

Meat

5/5

Topping

5/5

Chips Quality

5/5

Chips Qty

3/3

Salad

3/3

"chicken"

noice bacon bits on the top!

Size

3/5

Meat

2/5

Topping

3/5

Chips Quality

1/5

Chips Qty

1/3

Salad

2/3

"chicken"

This was the "Portland Plate Giant Parma". Chips were crispy and flavoured. -1 bonus point because the crumbing on the parma was overcooked and very coarse leaving the inside of my mouth quite sore. Is it worth the extra $16.50 over their standard parma? I think not.

Size

5/5

Meat

4/5

Topping

4/5

Chips Quality

4/5

Chips Qty

3/3

"chicken"

I had the "Portland Plate" parma which was really two parmas stuck together. The crumbing was slightly iffy, and the whole thing a bit overcooked. You might be better off buying two parmas somewhere else.

Size

5/5

Meat

3/5

Topping

3/5

Chips Quality

4/5

Chips Qty

3/3

Salad

1.5/3

"chicken"

Bit bloody overcooked round' the ol' edges mate! But get it up ya' regaaadless mate!

Size

2/5

Meat

4/5

Topping

3/5

Chips Quality

2/5

Chips Qty

1/3

Salad

2.5/3

"chicken"

Never been a great fan of this place but the best Parma I have ever had there was the last one - need to work on flavour and crumbing

Size

3/5

Meat

3/5

Topping

2/5

Chips Quality

2/5

Chips Qty

2/3

Salad

1.5/3

"chicken"

Nice ambiance

Size

4/5

Meat

4/5

Topping

3/5

Chips Quality

3/5

Chips Qty

2/3

Salad

1.5/3