Macclesfield Hotel and Maranello Cafe battle for biggest schnitzels in Adelaide
One Facebook group is dedicated to finding the biggest and the best schnitzels around – and getting on the page can give your business a huge boost.
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Schnitzels are big business in Adelaide – so big one Adelaide Hills hotel has just undergone a $2m reno after their huge schnitties made a cult Facebook page devoted to the meal.
Macclesfield Hotel owner Justin ‘Yorky’ York said he had been forced to turn people away after a schnitzel was posted to the South Aussie Schnitzel Review Group on Facebook.
So, he spent $2m on a reno – which he’s just finished – with more to come.
He said his mega schnitzels weighing half a kilo on average are the bestsellers, making up most of their sales.
“There’s a heap on the menu but 80 per cent of our sales come from schnitzels,” Mr York said.
“They’ll come for the schnitty and see a pork belly or something go past and they think ‘oh next time I’ll have that’.”
Their popularity grew after a member of the cult Facebook group came in and posted their review online, and it all “went off from there”.
“We got to the point where we were turning people away,” Mr York said.
“We just dropped over $2m in renovations in the pub to make it a lot bigger to handle the people we were turning away.
“We just finished the interior and will be working on the exterior beer garden next.”
The house-made chicken, beef and pork schnitzels on offer can be ordered with a choice of 13 sauces and 12 different topping combinations including the high-class Maccy Royale or Seafood or classics like the Parmy.
Posts to the Facebook schnitzel review group page describe the hotel as an “awesome” restaurant that “didn’t fail to deliver” with excellent service, “perfectly crumbed, thick/juicy schnittys” and had a great country pub atmosphere.
In more recent posts, commenters have written that “Macclesfield is without a doubt, hands down winner of best schnitzels in SA”.
But they aren’t the only contenders for cooking up some of the largest schnitzels.
Maranello Cafe in Salisbury is another popular schnitzel restaurant around Adelaide with a huge following on the Facebook page.
The restaurant on John St has previously in 2018 offered eating challenges for their 500g schnitzels where victors win a free schooner for finishing the meal.
One recent post showcased a massive schnitzel – so large the plate underneath was almost invisible – with the caption “wow is all I can say.”
In four days the post from Jayme Carr to the page received more than 700 comments and 900 likes.
Some shared their own monster dinners, others commented on its size.
Louise Broadwood wrote, “woowzers that is humungous, looks yummy.”
John Stevenson commented their own schnitzel at the restaurant was the “absolute best.”
John Smith wrote that perhaps the restaurant was going to need “bigger plates” for their meals.
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