Oriental Hotel – Beef Kilpatrick

The Oriental has changed owners since the last time I was there and you can really tell as the style of the menu and dishes has changed dramatically. It has all gone more the way of traditional pub fare. Gone are the faux oriental salads, making way for the more traditional tomato, cucumber, lettuce salad. Apparently also gone are the thick juicy “moo” beef schnitzels as well.

The salad, which was the only downfall of the Oriental Beef with mushroom of my last review, has been updated to something I would rate as a basic, good salad…lettuce, tomato, cucumber.  However, that was the only improvement. The schnitzel itself was from inferior quality beef and was obviously overcooked as can be seen from the black charring around the edges and the darkened cheese (1 star off). The saving grace of this particular schnitzel was the kilpatrick topping. It was scrumptious, packed full of bbq sauce, without being overpowering, however the extra $4 (making the total $21) was a bit of a downer and at the expensive end for pub schnitzels (half a star off)…luckily I wasn’t paying.

Summary: There are better, cheaper schnitzel out there, but the kilpatrick topping was the best.

Price: $21.00
($17 schnitzel + $4 topping)

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Where:
The Oriental
120 Magill Road, Norwood

Coopers Ale House - Chicken Kilpatrick

BIG SCHNITZEL! The Ale House is known for it's big schnitzels, but thankfully the chef knows that it's not only the size that counts.

Sitting down for a meal with a few mates on a Saturday night was a pleasure. The majority of the table were aiming to take down a big schnitzel each. My current plan is to eat through the Ale House chicken schnitzel menu, to further the goal I went with the Chicken Kilpatrick.

The schnitzel was simply huge and covered the great expanse of the plate. The tasty chips, buried under the chicken behemoth, were quickly rescued and then quickly consumed.

Again, the schnitzel was cooked to perfection. The crumbing was a golden brown and a fulfilling crunch accompanied each bite. The chicken meat was spot on, not too dry and not too moist, Just Right (TM).

Sadly the meal was let down by the topping. The Chicken Kipatrick, a combination of BBQ and Worcestershire sauce, lacked the BBQ and Worcestershire sauce.  A slight saucy tang was present but not in a high enough quantity.  Topping issues prevent this from being a 5 star schnitzel.

Price:$18

Rating: 4 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