Builders Arms Hotel ★ 4.3
The Builders Arms on Gertrude Street does a double life as a local pub and a seriously chosen wine room: natural bottles, good food and a courtyard.
Wine focus: Victorian and Australian natural, craft beer backup
History
The chicken parma evolved in Victorian pubs in the 1950s and 1960s as an Australian adaptation of veal parmigiana, itself a New York Italian-American invention rather than an Italian one. The shift to chicken happened in Australia for cost reasons, and the schnitzel-tomato-cheese-ham construction became standardised across Melbourne pubs by the late 1980s. The form has its own politics: the chips must be on the same plate, the ham must be quality leg ham, and Carlton Draught is the proper accompaniment. Pubs from the Builders Arms in Fitzroy to suburban beer barns compete in annual best-parma polls.
Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy, Egg
Make it at home
Ingredients
- 4 skinless chicken breasts, butterflied open and pounded between sheets of cling film to 1cm thick
- 150g plain flour
- 3 eggs, beaten with 2 tbsp milk
- 200g dried breadcrumbs (golden, not panko)
- Sea salt and ground black pepper
- 100ml olive oil for shallow-frying
- 300ml good Italian-style tomato sugo (or 1 small tin Italian tomatoes, simmered with 2 garlic cloves and a pinch of salt for 20 minutes)
- 150g sliced quality leg ham
- 200g grated mozzarella, plus 50g grated parmigiano reggiano
- 1.2kg potatoes for chips (oven-baked frozen chips are the pub-standard shortcut)
- Lemon wedges to serve
Method
- Season the pounded chicken breasts generously with salt and pepper. Set up three shallow dishes: seasoned flour, egg wash, breadcrumbs.
- Coat each breast: flour, then egg, then crumb, pressing the crumbs into the surface; rest the crumbed breasts 10 minutes on a tray.
- Heat the oil to 175 degrees Celsius in a wide heavy pan. Shallow-fry the breasts in batches 2 to 3 minutes per side until deeply golden and just cooked through. Drain on paper.
- Heat the grill to high. Lay the schnitzels in a single layer on a baking tray.
- Top each schnitzel with a generous spoonful of tomato sugo, two slices of ham folded to fit, and a generous handful of grated mozzarella plus parmesan.
- Grill 3 to 4 minutes under high heat until the cheese has melted, bubbled and just started to brown.
- Plate each parma with a heap of hot chips beside it (not under it; this is non-negotiable in Victoria), and a lemon wedge. Serve with a cold beer.
Tip from the editors. Pound the chicken thin enough that one piece covers a dinner plate. The pub standard is generous; an undersized parma is the worst sin. Use a quality dry-cured leg ham, never shaved deli ham.
Where to eat chicken parma
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