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Venue: Hawthorn Hotel

Location: 481 Burwood Road, Hawthorn

Date: Sunday April 21st, 2024

Website: https://thehawthornhotel.com.au/

Reviewers: Stephen, Ollie, Chris, Tracy

For the AFL fans among us, you’ll all be aware that Sunday marked gone marked the match of the year, the battle for the spoon between North Melbourne and Hawthorn! Sadly, we weren’t able to make the game, but after attending a North Melbourne venue the week before, we thought that we’d better make our way along to Hawthorn to catch the exciting post-game vibes that would be flying around. Enter The Hawthorn Hotel.

Dating back to 1868 (only 10 years after the Melbourne Football Club was established), the Hawthorn Hotel is a beautiful old building opposite Swinburn University. It’s kept the old facade, however, has been done up on the inside to be quite the chic and stylish pub. Automated doors, dark carpet and stylish bar at the centre and forefront of the pub. But they’ve kept the old, exposed brick work as well, to have that mixture of old and new. Fake hanging garden coming from the ceiling, there’ also a couple of different spots, including a large dining area where we were (great for students to sit and do work to actually), a sports bar area where it looked like a Sunday 18th birthday was winding down and a really nice upstairs rooftop bar with a big screen, where it would have been going off earlier for the battle of the spoon!

Friendly staff took us to our seats and explained that we could have table service but could also place orders at the bar of we wanted. Perusal of the bar list was a little underwhelming if I’m being honest. No Dark or Sour beers to be seen, so it was a choice of the usual suspects like Balter, Stone & Wood, Carlton, Furphy and then Kosciuszko and a Hawthorn Larger for the real variety. Otherwise, it was a standard fare, with plenty of Wine, Spirit, and Cocktail options. I opted for Balter on this occasion, but while we were up at the bar we placed our orders. $30.00 a pop which is pretty standard now, however for the Vegetarians out there, the Eggplant Parma is only $29.00, so something worth noting.

After a short wait, our Parmas hot the table direct from the kitchen and they looked pretty good at first inspection. Golden brown crumb, solid coverage of Napoli, Cheese and ham was present, we were looking forward to getting started. We tucked into our first bites, had another bite and another again. It was at this point we all gave ourselves a brief look and knew what eachother were thinking. Flavour and the lack there of it! The Parma was a good thick bit of chicken, the crumb was solid and in tack, the ham was there and cheese cooked nicely a top, but the lack of flavour this Parma has was telling. The Napoli was the element that sung through the most, with some sweetness to it, but overall, the flavours were just completely lacking from this bird. The chicken itself was also a little dry, however I feel, this wouldn’t have been so obvious if there was more flavour in the dish itself.

The chips were great. In their separate bowl, the staff asked us at the start if we wanted any sauces with them. I got a side of aioli to come along with them which was a nice touch, however it wasn’t required. Seasoned very nicely with some form of lemon herb finish, it’s like all the flavour that was lacking from the Parma had been turned up to 11 for the chips. The table had a bit of a debate as to whether we felt we miss out on aby chips due to them being in a bowl as opposed to on the table, however we don’t think this is the case. There still seemed to be ample chips for us all, without any finishing under the Parma. A highlight of the dish they were!

The salad was a bit divisive on the table. Well, maybe from my end anyway. Personally, I didn’t overly care for it. A few large Cos lettuce leaves with cucumber and pickled onion, I found mine a little boring and actually wet given the amount of dressing put on it. Everyone else on the table really enjoyed theirs however, especially Ollie and Tracy and though it was crisp and refreshing, so I was the off man out on that point.

People’s thoughts and scores were as listed below;

Ollie: Chips were the highlight. Zesty! Really nice place to.

Tracy: I think the chef forgot to use salt when the cooked. Chips were great though.

Chris: There was no flavour whatsoever. Nothing really tasted like anything. And it was small.

The Scores:

PARMA: 5.50/10

CHIPS: 8.20/10

DRINKS: 7.68/10

ATMOSPHERE/EXPERIENCE: 7.90/10

SALAD: 7.15/10

OVERALL: 6.71/10

All in all, it felt like a bit of a missed opportunity at Hawthorn Hotel. Most of the major elements worked quite well, however the biggest element of all, the Parma, lacked any flavour. And if you can’t make the Parma itself work, well then, you’re pushing you know what uphill from there.

If you’re a uni student in the area, you could certainly do worse. But personally, I’d like to think that there’s other options out there. Nice play to go and watch the Hawks v Kangaroos though!

Till next time.