Where - 477 Mt. Alexander Rd. Ascot Vale

Price - $15

Website - http://www.ascotvalehotel.com.au/

Reviewers – Cale, Lee, Stefo

This week is a bit of a weird one. when we review a pub that has already been done, we call it a Redo (Like when we went to the Royston , then back to the Royston). However If we revisit the same building but it has changed owners/names, we consider it a new review (Like when we went to Miss Libertine and then Captain Melville).

But what are the rules when a pub retains its name, but rents out it's kitchen to a third party? The pub name is still the same, but the people behind the food have changed. As is the case with this week's review. We visited the Ascot Vale Hotel back in 2013 (It didn't do very well) but now District 5 Bistro have moved into their kitchen and we had heard they were doing better.

I think my ruling is to treat this as a new venue, but with echoes of a Redo (I'm still going to compare it to what we had in 2013). If you disagree feel free to leave a comment below and let me know.

Anyway.

I really didn't enjoy our parma at the Ascot the first time we had it. Other than sporting a relatively thick chicken breast it had absolutely nothing going for it. I can still taste the dry, gritty, almost sandy bolognaise sauce that topped it all those years ago - So when I heard that District 5 had taken the helm I was all to eager to head back and see if they'd improved.

As I mentioned in our first visit, the Ascot holds a special place in my heart as they bought the furniture from the Prince of Wales Hotel after they closed. The tables and chairs on which the parmas at the Ascot sit once supported the greatest parma ever to exist, and a guess a piece of me hopes that some of that magic will bleed through into the food at the Ascot.