Chin Chin @ Melbourne

Walked past this Melbourne institution but never tried it until we had a welcome party for a new colleague. Chin Chin was something everyone can agree with that day.

Chin Chin Melbourne is located in the heart of the CBD at 125 Flinders Lane. A quintessentially Australian restaurant that focuses on South East Asian food.

Corn Fritters

chilli jam, ginger, mint, lettuce cups

These corn fritters were great to start the meal, especially with the extra thick chilli jam. The fritters tasted like Indian corn pakoras with the blend of herbs and spices, but the texture was more like croquette.

Breaking one open, you can see the mashed potato and bits of sweet corn in the fritter, which explained the croquette texture.

Kingfish Sashimi

lime, chilli, coconut & thai basil

Hiramasa or kingfish is a common sashimi ingredient in Australia. Hamachi (魬), Hiramasa (平政), Kanpachi (間八), and Buri (鰤) are all from the family of yellowtail, but they defer in the size and regions they come from. In Australia, almost all the yellowtail you are eating will be hiramasa. I would call this a ceviche than a sashimi dish.

Yellow Curry Of Grilled Zucchini

squash, tofu & tomato

This is a vegetarian curry that was competently done, with a familiar yellow curry flavour that is distinctly Thai.

Rendang Beef Curry

cumin, coriander & toasted coconut

The rendang is wet and the “curry” was more like the remaining oil mixed with some cream. The beef rendang was fork tender and well spiced. They could do without the toasted coconut.

Crispy Duck

blood plum nahm jim jaew, spring onion

Peking duck this isn’t. It’s almost like Thai duck curry, where roasted duck is cooked in curry. Instead the duck was dripping with Thai chili dipping sauce or nam jim jaew that was sweet, sour and a little spicy. I wished they had left it as a side condiment rather than drenching the duck with the sauce.

Stir Fried Broccolini & King Brown Mushroom

crispy salt bush & macadamia

Simple vegetarian stir-fry, but a bit too wet for my liking.

Roasted Pork Belly

fennel pickle & pineapple hot sauce

Pork belly roasted Western style. Again it was drenched in some strange sauce.

Southern Thai Curry Of Braised Goat

peanuts, shredded coconut, minted yoghurt.

Tasted like rendang kambang (goat rendang) in a good way, the only dish that was soaking wet.

Roti Basket

Tasted like roti prata kosong that we get in Singapore, and it’s perfect to soak up all the sauce with this.

Call me conservative, but like many Asian restaurants in the Western world, these dishes that we grew up with have been misappropriated to suite local tastes. You do not know Southeast Asian cuisine by coming to Chin Chin. And why do they have to make everything with so much sauce?

Chin Chin Melbourne
125 Flinders Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia
Tel : +61 3 8663 2000

Visited Sep 2023

@chinchin #chinchin