A couple of my friends and I sat down for a midweek dinner with Yan's mum who was in town. The fusion-style restaurant is mostly infamous for its long queues that extend all the way outside its Flinders Lane locale; where patrons willingly wait close to an hour to be seated. But, rest assured, your patience will not be in vain.
Prepare yourselves for a slightly rambly, highly enthusiastic review folks, because here it is: Chin Chin is da bomb diggity.
P.S -- Forgive the not-great quality pictures - the lighting in the restaurant was pretty dim.
This was divine. It was like the heavens opened and the angels started singing when I spooned a mouthful of this *glorious* Pork and Peanut Curry (AUD$13), which came with crispy cassava crackers and cucumber sticks to dip. It was kind of like a fancy adaptation of satay (seasoned skewered meat), except it wasn't on a stick.
While this was very tasty, I felt like it didn't stand out in comparison to the other, more tempting options.
As a side, the son-in-law eggs (AUD$8 for 3) were marvellous - how can one possibly resist this deep fried, runny-centred goodness??
Nevertheless, it was bloody delicious, as was the soft shell crab curry.
I would recommend skipping the desserts here and trying their cocktails instead ;-)
Having said that, Chin Chin definitely gets my stamp of approval.
The magic of the meal lies in the fact that a bunch of Aussie guys have somehow managed to do Asian food better than Asians. I've found that at Chin Chin, the question isn't, "Which dish did you enjoy?" but rather, "Which dish did you enjoy most?" - a marker of a really great spread.
Chin Chin
125 Flinders Lane
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Tel: 03 8663 2000