Beer and Burger

Earl Of Leicester Hotel
85 Leicester St
Parkside SA 5063

Finally after all this time I’ve got around to reviewing the famous Earl of Leicester Schnitzel. It was Josh’s 30th birthday so we thought it appropriate to go and eat something large and tasty. We arrived at about 12:15pm on a Thursday. There were quite a few people around, but the place wasn’t full. We pushed a couple of tables together in the front bar and grabbed some menus. I already knew what I was getting: the Monica Lewinsky – Goes down well, large size (liar size) – Beef Parmy and Chips ($15.90). For a beer I grabbed the special which was a South African beer by the name of Windhoek Lager ($6). Quite a nice drop.

We then took a seat in the Liars Bar, enjoyed our beers and waited.
After about 25 minutes a few of us were starting to get impatient. On looking around the bar no one had any food at all. The staff must have arrived late. About 10 minutes later and half way through my second beer (a 333 from Saigon – nice but $7.50 though!) our meals started to come out.

On arrival I was glad to see that they have given up trying to feed people the big schnitzel with a bowl of salad. They still keep the piece of garlic bread though which is hard to resist and is so tasty. Now the secret to finishing one of these big schnitzels is not to get suckered into the bread or the chips until you’ve finished the meat. As I was reviewing though I did have to taste both. The schnitzels here are so big that on first viewing you would never have known that there were even chips on the plate.

The chips are pretty much just filler and can easily be ignored. They are of course underneath the schnitzel as there is nowhere else for them to fit on the plate. We all know what happens to chips under schnitzels – yep! they go soggy. This is fine if you don’t mind a soggy chip but otherwise give them a miss and get to the reason you came to this pub – the schnitzel.
The schnitzels here are pretty much up there with the best you will get in Adelaide. They are large width wise and thickness wise have a great tasting batter; and most importantly they are tender. The topping is grilled to perfection and there’s always enough to go around. In the end I had more topping than meat left which isn’t a bad of a situation to be in.

The other guys around the table tried different things. There was the grilled fish and chips which I was told was very good. There was the steak, which was also very good and cooked to perfection. The other schnitzel eaters, of course loved theirs.

The Earl of Leicester offers all round great food in the front bar that is definitely worth the wait. They have a huge range of international bottled beers and a large range on tap. Some of the bottled beers are not very cheap, but the meal value more than makes up for it.

Overall the Leicester is a great place to grab a quality pub meal and is a big schnitzel specialist.

Rating

Earl Of Leicester Hotel
85 Leicester St Parkside SA 5063

A fine little pub is the Earl of Leicester, with some goood meat offerings. Full of confidence, I ordered the Cajun chicken burger. And within ten minutes it was there on my table. The bun looked okay – a turkish toasted number. The meat looked equally good, encrusted with spices and actually grilled – on a grill!. First problem was the bun factor though – it started falling apart a little too early. A bit more toasting and oil would have helprd. The chicken was good though. Cooked correctly and nice and spicy. Trouble is it was surrounded by some average salad, drowned in that ever-present pub bottle mayo. I took a trip to the restuarant out the back and there was an excellent kitchen out there. Pity they don’t lavish a bit more of their produce on the punters in the front bar.

Bottom line – a well cooked tasty burger, but for the price, a bit more care with the trimmings would be expected.

Meat
Delivery 10 mins
Ambience
Value $11.90 – Beer Extra
Overall Rating

Earl Of Leicester Hotel

85 Leicester St Parkside SA 5063

I know this site is called Beer and Burger, but it doesn’t hurt now and then to branch out a bit, and this time it’s squid.
There seems almost an invisible benchmark in the pubs of Adelaide where the Leicester holds the number one spot for damn big schnitzels and excellent salt and pepper squid, and one of the great things about going to the Leicester is that you know you are going to have a great meal and a bit of fun.

I normally choose the schnitzel when i visit this pub, accompanied by the normal gang of work mates and we normally just get through finishing the huge serve but greatly enjoyable schnitzel, but today i chose the Salt and Pepper Squid. We arrived around 12.30pm and joined up a couple of tables and the small but comfy stools to seat the eight of us, this pub always feels a bit cramped but the atmosphere more than makes up for it. I ordered my Salt and Pepper Squid for $12.90 and a Stella which was on tap. The beer at this pub is always top quality, their lines are clean and they have a great range of imported and local beers on tap.

After about a 20 minute wait a mountainous plate of Salt and Pepper Squid arrived. The plate had a good ten large pieces of curled crumbed squid pieces stacked on and around some slightly warm chips which were tasty. There was a fresh crisp salad in a small bowl also on the plate which had the standard, lettuce, red onion, tomatoes and carrot with a dash of tasty salad dressing. On top of the meal was a piece of white bread with a scraping of some buttery substance that looked a little too yellow but tasted ok. The squid was up to the normal high standard it always is and was just salty enough, crunchy enough and cooked just right, it had no rubbery texture and was very easily eaten. The dish is definately great quality pub food but not quite bistro quality.

The Leicester has had the almost unavoidable pokies area out the back added on and fine dining area next to it. The hotel has done a great job in separating these areas so if you just want a beer and counter meal you never have to hear or see the pokie circus.

Overall the Leicester is at the pointy end of the scale for a great counter meal and a nice cold beer. The Leicester has transformed from a good pub into an Adelaide tradition and always delivers a tasty large meal in a comfy surroundings. You can always be sure to leave feeling satisfied and like you have eaten a little bit to much.

Seafood
Delivery 20 mins +
Ambience
Value extra large meals $12.90 – Beer Extra
Overall Rating