Chin Chin – Melbourne Restaurant
October 1, 2012 3 Comments
Chin Chin is a great restaurant located at 125 Flinders Lane, Melbourne. It’s food is an asian fusion, designed to share around a group of people. It’s in the middle of what I call Melbourne’s Mecca of amazing food, with Coda, PM24 and the French Brasserie all on the same block.
A while ago I wrote a love letter to Chin Chin lamenting the fact that they were so successful - great food combined with very reasonable prices tend to do that - and that the sometimes 3 hour wait to get a table meant I didn’t have the patience to go anymore. As a result I was more surprised than anyone last Tuesday when I walked in at 9pm and was able to get a table straight away. As I settled in to my seat at the bar, incidentally my favourite spot at any restaurant, I had to tweet – “Am I ready to love again?’.
I love how Chin Chin is decorated and laid out. It’s open and simple, with enough noise and music to give the place life while still being able to hold a conversation with people at your table. For some reason the drinks menu cover really appeals to me, even if the fiance was giving me weird looks when I took the above photo.
Small disaster at the start, my beloved “Bang Bang Chicken” was no longer on the menu, but the pork roll-ups and massaman curry were still available. We also ordered a grilled roti madtarbak filled with indian spiced beef and were ready to go for the two of us.
Firstly, the pork roll ups. These are similar to the more familiar peking duck rolls, with a thin pancake that you then fill with pulled sucking pig bean shoots and a thai chilli sauce. The pork is fantastic, but the rest of the fillings make this starter crisp, fresh and make you ready for the main course.
Next up was the grilled roti madtarbak. Admittedly this didn’t make that much of an impact, but that’s most likely due to the other two dishes being old favourites than anything else. The sticky chilli sauce that came with it though had a mighty kick to it, so drizzle accordingly.
Finally, we had the massaman curry. If you’re not familiar with massaman, it’s basically satay on steroids, with a nutty taste in the rich curry sauce with sliced potato mixed in. Hidden under that sauce are slabs of slow cooked beef, which I prefer to having cut up small chunks of tough meat floating all the way through.
Service at Chin Chin is fantastic, from their designated wine guy to their waiters, they’re knowledgeable, quick and friendly.
Overall, Chin Chin is a fantastic place to eat out, but I would recommend getting someone to scope out their wait times first. You can spend that time in the Go Go Bar, conveniently located in their basement, before they text you to let you know your table is ready. I’m just hoping that all those darn bloggers stop writing rave reviews about the place so I can get to sneak in more often for a quick bite…
Darnit…
Website is here
the food looks good!! (but the name is horrible in Japanese!)
The fiance speaks a little Japanese and she had a giggle when it first opened up. It also means “Cheers” in Italian so I’m hoping that’s what they had in mind.
yea, it was the ‘Asian Fusion’ bit that caught me…so I thought any Japanese people might think twice about going there! lol. but uh..yes, cheers!!