Catching Up With The Lab

Any Melburnian will be well aware that last night was definitely a night better spent indoors, say, guzzling warm chocolate pudding and sipping percolated coffee from a generously proportioned mug (thanks jfox!). However, upon hearing of the well-endowed Mrs Parma’s – a restaurant that almost exclusively serves the humble parma – and in many different variations, we decided to venture out into town and brave the fog, to see what all the fuss was about.


As someone who hasn’t spent a Friday evening in the city for a while, I was faintly conscious of the suits and workmate gatherings among us. Then again, I was tagging along to one of those groups anyway. After some beer tasting (thanks to the generous guidance – and samples – from the guy pouring the drinks), we settled on our beverages and decided to go halves on the Matriciana, which included the addition of bacon, chilli and olives. As it turned out, it was just as well we went halves.…


This sure was filling, and went down beautifully with the thick-cut chips and salad (even though the salad was a bit lonely and neglected in the middle of the table, what with all the other carnivorous offerings among us). The only thing I struggled with was locating the chilli in our dish – it could have done with a bit more. The zap of the chilli is what really makes the Matriciana, whether it’s on pasta or the humble chicken.

All up though, I'd say that sampling beer, parma and chips on an otherwise bleak Friday night was definitely a nice way to finish the working week.