Review: The Great Northern is a great pub for a post-lockdown parma

THEME: PUB LIFE

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a person in possession of a post-lockdown appetite must be in want of a chicken parmigiana.

The Great Northern gets it. As soon as Melbourne was allowed to pub again, this cavernous corner classic cranked up the fryer, pushed beer through the lines and put film in the Polaroid camera, ready to add fresh puppies to the photo wall.

This is such a great pub and I've thought that ever since I worked there in the 1990s. Some things have changed: my special talent was opening 10-kilogram tins of four-bean mix to tip into the salad bar. There's none of that nonsense anymore.

The back garden is brilliant with dog-friendly decking and a rampant hops garden, which is periodically cropped to make beer. Drink in its shade this time, knock it back next time.

Some things are the same: the framed footy jumpers in the front bar, the Oz rock on the stereo, the black-and-white pics of CUB drays carting beer and, most importantly, the sustaining understanding that natters matter.

There are plenty of legacy items on the menu, all done nicely, hitting contemporary markers of quality. The porterhouse is properly charred, cooked as requested and – if you like – served with thick pepper sauce in a silver boat. Onion rings are outrageously crunchy: they heard me eat them in Sydney. Calamari is tender and sweet.

More than 70 per cent of orders are for the parma, though, and it doesn't disappoint: crumbed chicken breast, draped with ham, slathered with napoli and cheese. It's salty, crunchy, juicy and gooey in all the right places but that still doesn't explain why eating it feels like Melbourne magic.

It's more than the chicken, of course. It's all of it: cold beer, warm hearts, Cold Chisel, warm sunshine, a woven buzz that makes me want to whoop and weep. Being here feels normal and normal feels grand. A pot, a parma, a pal in a pub: so Melbourne, so marvellous, so me.

Great Northern Hotel

644 Rathdowne Street, Carlton North, 03 9380 9569

Open daily noon-9.30pm (kitchen); pub open later

Prices snacks: $11-$16; Pub classics: $20-$28

Reminder book ahead and be ready to show proof of vaccination

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