Imperial South Yarra
522 Chapel Street, South Yarra
03 9810 0070
Modern Australian
$$
Food
- Aussie Parma
- Traditional Parma
- Mexican Parma
- Fish and Chips
The Good
All the parmas came out piping hot, and what a sight they were! Huge, thick schnitzels shrouded the chips underneath and overwhelmed the plate. Cutting into them revealed some quality, juicy protein that was cooked to perfection. With just the right amount of crumbing, this provided great crunch and contrasted the the Napoli Sauce and cheese rather well. While the ham is often an overlooked component, this was not the case here. Thick and flavourful, the ham cover the whole top of the schnitzel and was blanketed by a mountain of melted grilled cheese.
The novelty Parma toppings were surprisingly delicious and the flavours worked exceedingly well. The highlight though would be the Mexican Parma, which came with an abundance of nachos along with sour cream and guacamole. The nachos added extra crunch to the Parma and the sauces gave the already flavoursome schnitzel additional kick.
Chips were perfectly fried. Fresh out of the frier and seasoned generously, the crunchy outer skin wrapped an exceedingly soft inner. Perfect chips in my books!
Salad was extremely fresh and was lightly dressed. The slight tangyness cut right through the greasy meal and provided great contrast.
The Mediocre
Nothing.
The Bad
The fish from the fish and chips were downright terrible. The batter was oily, airy and lacked seasoning. The fish itself was of extremely poor quality, which proved to be tough, chewy and managed to be completely devoid of any flavour, fish or otherwise. These are all indications of very old, frozen fish. Extremely disappointing given then price tag, one would expect fresh ingredients.
The Verdict
Overall the parmas are bloody amazing here and definitely offer great value on their specials evenings. The servings are more than generous and the ingredients are of high quality. The novelty flavours worked very well and provide a great alternative to the original variant.
However, definitely give the fish a miss though, as I felt that was a complete rip-off.
Would Penguin Eat Again?
This isn’t my first visit here, and I’d gladly be back for the parmas because Imperial remains to be my favourite Parma joint.
Other food? I’m not so sure….