Martin FrimetBullish Skinny Dog lacks bite
April 18th 2008 01:31
As a relative newcomer to Australia, there were several things about the cuisine that I found pleasantly surprised me in my first few weeks and months here. Underneath the meat and machismo that surrounded the quintessential Aussie barbie, I saw there was a cultural tradition that also encouraged fresh, healthy eating and gregarious, outdoor living. From out of those regulation deep-fat fryers in my first fish and chip shop came a piece of lightly-battered, sweet and succulent fish that put anything I had tasted from a similar establishment back home in the UK firmly in the shade. Underneath the proud, big-city banner, lay a place that was as comfortable serving tortilla or tom yum as it was meat and three veg.
Rightly proud of its eclectic food scene, very few dishes seem to claim to be entirely Aussie these days but, while Chicken Parmigiana might sound somewhat exotic, the brusque combination of cheese, tomato sauce, breaded chicken and chips is actually a food highlight for many more traditional Aussie types. The Parmigiana, or Parma as it’s more commonly known, is big business at countless pubs, cafes and restaurants, with many now offering apparently ‘gourmet’ versions with which to tempt a more a more forward-thinking Aussie eater who might yet still hanker for taste for the old.
One such establishment is the Skinny Dog Hotel, a large, grey cube at the apex of ever-busy Kew Junction, to the East of Melbourne’s CBD. As well as proudly boasting a much renovated interior, the Skinny Dog also laid claim to Melbourne’s biggest and, according to some, best Chicken Parmas, and so seemed the ideal place for me to try my first one.
Judging by the half-hour wait for a table still-early on a Saturday night, those boasts have already reached a wide audience. When we finally sat down in the large, open dining room, however, I felt less than impressed. The room was overloaded with noise as kids and adults alike battled to be heard over the whir of the too-strong air-conditioning. The recent renovation work seemed to have tried to instil an impression of simplicity and straight-line-sleek but instead ended up feeling strangely boxed and sterile. In truth, I rather felt as if I was in a large coffin, and that impression was not abated by service so lethargic our waiters could quite easily have been among an army of half-dead.
Alarmingly then, our food arrived in double-quick time, allowing me, at last, to grasp this city’s fascination with the chicken parma. With a healthy slosh of good cheese, a rich tomato sauce and then crispy chicken and chips, this could well be a simple but sumptuous meal, a fitting national dish for a people with straightforward tastes who have yet been willing to open their arms to all sorts of new ideas.
Unfortunately, the chicken parma on offer at the Skinny Dog was far from flag-flying. Bland chicken, tinned tomato sauce and cheap cheese topped a mound of soggy, lukewarm chips. Though I wanted so much to like my chicken parma, this incarnation of it had little going for it and, to me at least, felt like everything modern Aussie cuisine is trying to distance itself from.
Just as sadly, other dishes that we tried, including a calamari salad and a ham and pineapple pizza, seemed to have been created with a similar lack of finesse. Even the draught beer tasted neglected and flat.
With prices touching $20 for most mains, the Skinny Dog seems to be trying to establish itself as serving better-than-average pub food but, with simple dishes that went so wrong and with a badly ill-judged dining room, it has a long way to go to convince me that it is anything better than bog-standard.
Skinny Dog Hotel
155 High Street
Kew
Rightly proud of its eclectic food scene, very few dishes seem to claim to be entirely Aussie these days but, while Chicken Parmigiana might sound somewhat exotic, the brusque combination of cheese, tomato sauce, breaded chicken and chips is actually a food highlight for many more traditional Aussie types. The Parmigiana, or Parma as it’s more commonly known, is big business at countless pubs, cafes and restaurants, with many now offering apparently ‘gourmet’ versions with which to tempt a more a more forward-thinking Aussie eater who might yet still hanker for taste for the old.
One such establishment is the Skinny Dog Hotel, a large, grey cube at the apex of ever-busy Kew Junction, to the East of Melbourne’s CBD. As well as proudly boasting a much renovated interior, the Skinny Dog also laid claim to Melbourne’s biggest and, according to some, best Chicken Parmas, and so seemed the ideal place for me to try my first one.
Judging by the half-hour wait for a table still-early on a Saturday night, those boasts have already reached a wide audience. When we finally sat down in the large, open dining room, however, I felt less than impressed. The room was overloaded with noise as kids and adults alike battled to be heard over the whir of the too-strong air-conditioning. The recent renovation work seemed to have tried to instil an impression of simplicity and straight-line-sleek but instead ended up feeling strangely boxed and sterile. In truth, I rather felt as if I was in a large coffin, and that impression was not abated by service so lethargic our waiters could quite easily have been among an army of half-dead.
Alarmingly then, our food arrived in double-quick time, allowing me, at last, to grasp this city’s fascination with the chicken parma. With a healthy slosh of good cheese, a rich tomato sauce and then crispy chicken and chips, this could well be a simple but sumptuous meal, a fitting national dish for a people with straightforward tastes who have yet been willing to open their arms to all sorts of new ideas.
Unfortunately, the chicken parma on offer at the Skinny Dog was far from flag-flying. Bland chicken, tinned tomato sauce and cheap cheese topped a mound of soggy, lukewarm chips. Though I wanted so much to like my chicken parma, this incarnation of it had little going for it and, to me at least, felt like everything modern Aussie cuisine is trying to distance itself from.
Just as sadly, other dishes that we tried, including a calamari salad and a ham and pineapple pizza, seemed to have been created with a similar lack of finesse. Even the draught beer tasted neglected and flat.
With prices touching $20 for most mains, the Skinny Dog seems to be trying to establish itself as serving better-than-average pub food but, with simple dishes that went so wrong and with a badly ill-judged dining room, it has a long way to go to convince me that it is anything better than bog-standard.
Skinny Dog Hotel
155 High Street
Kew
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