ChinChin, Surry Hills

Getting to ChinChin requires a bit of a trek from Central Station and given that it is hidden from the main roads of Surry Hills, it took us a while to find the right place. The entrance is rather dim and decorated with a fluoro pink bunny (why oh why), which gave it a bit of a nightclub vibe.

Outside of Restaurant

Inside of Restaurant

Once we entered, we were seated at a bar table facing the open kitchen. The table was a bit messy, as the area had obviously been used as an extension of the kitchen bench and as a result, there were remnant scraps everywhere.

Bar Table Facing the Open Kitchen

There is a choice of ordering a banquet ($70-90pp; minimum of 2 people) or ordering items à la carte, which is what we opted for. The menu is rather extensive so we asked the waiter to provide us with recommendations (i.e. 1/4 of the menu):

Menu

Armed with the updated (and marked) menu, we chose a selection of dishes for the night.

Chin Chin Pork "Roll Ups" - Slow Cooked Pulled
Pork Pancakes, Slaw & Plum Sauce ($23.50)

First of the lot was their pork "roll ups", which was really a fancy name for deconstructed pulled pork pancakes. Unfortunately the pulled pork was rather dry, not really aided by the accompanying spicy herb salad or sauce, which was more of a mixture of regular hoi sin sauce and actual plum sauce.

Twice Cooked Beef Short Rib with Shaved
Coconut Salad & Prik Nahm Pla ($36.50)

The beef short ribs were the highlight of the night for me - the beef was cooked in a sticky sweet sauce, fell off the bone and just melted in your mouth. The beef was accompanied by some pickled vegetables and more of the same (yet not as spicy) salad as the pork "roll ups". For the price, I wish they gave more than the single, but very large, short rib.

Butter Chicken Curry with Yogurt and
Green Chilli ($28.50); side of Roti (2pc; $7.50)

The butter chicken - mild chicken curry with dollops of yogurt and chilli - was pretty average and came unexpectedly with a bowl of rice to soak up the sauce. The extra order of roti reminded me of the ones that you can get in bulk packs from Asian groceries.

To finish off the meal, we ordered two desserts:

Palm Sugar & Burnt Caramel Ice Cream Sundae
with Salted Honeycomb & lime syrup ($17.50)

I was disappointed by the sundae, as I expected more than three scoops of ice cream (two vanilla, one palm sugar & burnt caramel), broken shards of honeycomb and a squirt of lime syrup - they could played around more with the ingredients and flavours but decided to play it safe. The palm sugar & burnt caramel ice cream lacked any distinct flavour and the syrup was very sour but helped cut through the sweetness of the honeycomb.

Coconut Sago with Lime Curd & Pineapple Granita ($15.50)

This was a slightly more intricate dessert with a coconut sago base, dollop of lime curd and a mound of pineapple granita and toasted strips of coconut. The granita had a subtle pineapple flavour but could have been processed into finer texture. Both desserts were rather simple and easily (and perhaps hastily) put together.

Overall, I wasn't impressed by ChinChin, which draws such hype from Melbourne, and didn't feel that the dishes were worth their price tag. Fortunately, I was here to redeem a gift voucher but otherwise I don't think I would come back, given that there are ample food options out there that offer better value.

Food: ✰✰✰
Service: ✰✰✰✰
Atmosphere: ✰✰✰
Overall: ✰✰✰
Summary: Asian fusion wannabe