The Elephant - Chicken with Gravy

Never have I had a schnitzel that was as bad as it looked... I should end the review there.

The Elephant is a busy establishment just off the main street. The innards of the pub are nice but on the evening it was probably too busy to have a meal in. I was situated at a table near the foot of the stairs and it felt like a nice little enclave at that point.

The Elephant boasts a moderate 250g "choice cut... crumbed by us – eaten by you". How very unfortunate for me. This choice cut is probably the worst schnitzel meat I have ever eaten. 250gm? Who are they kidding? There were two tiny schnitzel pieces. They were thin, bland, and you needed both a steak knife to cut it and a strong jaw to chew it.

There was more gravy than schnitzel on the plate. The gravy was unique but far too overpowering in taste and quantity. The salad? Poor, a bland mix that would be okay if it had been dressed.

The only saving grace was the tasty chips, but I'm not writing a Chip Lovers blog.

Price: $13.90

Rating: 0.5 stars

Brahma Lodge - Chicken Parmigiana

The Brahma parmigiana wasn't a bad meal the first time around. Moderately priced and an average size it satisfied the lunch appetite well but compared to other locales it just didn't cut the grainy mustard.

Enter the new menu, enter the newly renovated lounge bar, enter Schnitzel Lover to tell you how it is.

In what seems to be a common problem with Brahma schnitzels the order is not entered correctly or some mix-up occurs in the kitchen. I asked for the Chicken Parmigiana with Salad, but no salad was delivered. At least the average salad was replaced with chips that were a vast improvement on my Kilpatrick visit.

Schnitzel Lover Simlin later informed me that the salad is pretty much Brahma default. Asking for the meal with salad ends up sounding like asking for the meal without salad.

The schnitzel itself was again thick, tasty and crumbed well. The Brahma manages to provide just the right level of tomato base to the schnitzel so as not to overpower he chicken flavour. The cheese topping ran a bit to the side as the schnitzel was placed on a slant, but this was overlooked in the face of the incredible bread triangles.

Price: $15.40

Rating: 3 stars

Brahma Lodge - Chicken Kilpatrick

Did anyone say new menu?! After going through some building renovations the Brahma has finally renovated its pub menu, but in terms of schnitzel... was this for the best?

Yes, it was... wait don't go, read the rest of the review!

Initial impressions were good. The Big Bar Schnitzel, as it were, was a decent 350g beast on paper. Unfortunately, gone was the option to select a parmagiana without having to pay an additional fee. For this reason I chose the kilpatrick.

I was much relieved, when the schnitzel arrived, that the Brahma had not sacrificed their legendary bread triangles during the menu cull, they were better than ever.

The salad has been vastly improved. Not to say that it's fantastic just that the previous was quite poor. The chips sadly remain the same, almost soggy in form and only okay in taste.

The schnitzel was impressive, one side of the meat was almost an inch thick. The taste was good and the crumbing was nice and crispy without being over cooked. The kilpatrick topping was new to me but I enjoyed it nonetheless. A mix of BBQ and Worcestershire sauce, the topping was sweet but tangy, the only disappointment being the small size of the bacon pieces floating on top.

Overall the schnitzel experience was an improvement over previous visits but unimproved chips and an average salad don't quite justify a 5 buck price increase.

Price: $15.40

Rating: 3 stars

Brahma Lodge - Beef with mushroom

Under new direction in the kitchen and with a price increase I headed back to the Brahma for a schnitzel...hoping for a good one based on Lodan's experience. The meals came in minutes as usual and on first inspection the salad looked as crap as usual but with a few extra slivers of red (capsicum) and green (celery)...it would be nice if there was a wedge of tomato. So moving on from the purely decorative salad the schnitzel itself was actually quite good, the chips serviceable but what would the meal be with out the patented Brahma Bread Triangles. Where else can you make a chip butty and even throw in a little gravy! Bonus star for the Brahma.
The tendencies now-a-days is "bigger is better". I don't agree and to me this schnitzel was probably 50-100g too large and while the gravy wasn't bad it was not in the same league as The Daniel O'Connell mushroom gravy.

Price: $13.90

Rating: 3 stars

General Havelock - Chicken Parmigiana (Two Pints Two Parmi's Deal)

On my last visit I spotted what could be one of the finest schnitzel deals around, Two Pints and Two Parmis for 18 bucks! Was it too good to be true?

At one point it seemed like I wouldn't have a mate to share the deal with thanks to odd numbers at our table, this did not concern me. After further talks we organised a split and off to order we were. From memory, the pints on offer consisted of draught, pale and dry, not bad. I grabbed my beer and sat in hungry anticipation. It wasn't long before the meal arrived.

At first glance I was impressed, but it soon dawned on me that the schnitzel covered one of the smallest portions of chips I've had. Oh well, they tasted good. Tasty but standard salad.

The schnitzel was moderate in surface area but lacked a little in depth. The cheese was melted well and the sauce combined well with it to give a good overall taste. The chicken was cooked well but the crumbing was a little soft for my liking.

Overall, this schnitzel deal is fantastic. When splitting with a friend you get an above average schnitzel with a free pint for only 9 bucks. For this it gets maximum points. But be warned, at it's standard price (16.40) it's only an above average schnitzel.

Two Pints, Two Parmi's Deal

Price: $18

Rating: 5 stars