GOOD FOOD GOOD MOOD: Chin Chin

Chin Chin. Weird name, warm ambiance but wonderful food.

Hong and I finally paid a visit (an expensive visit indeed) to celebrate our 19 months. In all honesty there is any excuse to eat out these days :)

The wait for Chin Chin wasn't too horrendous (to my surprise), especially for a Friday night. We went relatively early to avoid the after work rush. I arrived at 5:15pm and we were seated by 6:15pm. The guy I first spoke to wouldn't sit me down (without Hong), nor would he put me on a waiting list which I was extremely frustrated about. We then spoke to a helpful English girl who sent us a text to notify us that a spot was ready. When we were seated, there was a girl at the bar sitting by herself waiting for a friend that came half an hour later! How annoying is that (the fact that she was seated even though her friend wasn't even there)??!///?/???

Here is the menu that Chin Chin are really good in hiding. On the website it states - Looking for our MENU? Sorry Mario, the princess is in another castle! Meaning that you would HAVE TO come in and try the dishes. Open the image up if you want to have a read of the variety on the menu and the price range.

Chin Chin Coconut crush with the fruit of the day? - $8.00

It was dragonfruit and it was delish!!! I'm so glad I didn't order a normal juice or soft drink because this was so fresh. Although it was a bit chunky and hard to drink, the taste of it was so exotic and I felt like I was overseas. Because we were seated at the bar, it was fun to watch the bartenders set up the cocktails and watching their detail on presentation.

Pretty personalised Chin Chin wine glasses.

The alcoholic beverages book. There were wine bottles priced up to $2k in there - sheesh!!!

Kingfish Sashimi with lime, coconut, chilli and Thai basil - $18.00
*standing ovation*

The sentence above is underlined to represent how much I loved this dish. I want to give a big hug to the person who created it. They have executed it perfectly. The slices of kingfish were bite sized but you are given so many pieces so it didn't even matter. There was enough zing in the lime juice without completely taking over the other components. You would be a fool to go to Chin Chin and not order this dish.

Pad Seuw of six hour braised WAGYU with gai laan (chinese broccoli , rolled rice noodles and crispy shallots - $24.00

It was either the pad seuw, pad thai or green thai curry so we opted for the first one. Just at a glance, I figured it would be salty judging by the dark colour, but it was far from it! I wasn't disappointed with the taste at all. I probably wouldn't recommend this as a MUST HAVE.

"Son In Law" eggs with chilli jam - $8.00

My friend Fi recommended this dish and I'm rather glad we ordered it. Basically it's an egg that's fried on the outside but still runny on the inside. The chilli jam wasn't hot/spicy at all which my taste buds thanked me for because I cannot handle it. You should order this if you intend on visiting Chin Chin.

"Feed Me" is an option that Chin Chin has where you let the waiters or the chefs choose a selection of signature dishes. I'd be a bit skeptical about this option because I'm rather picky with my meals.

Crispy skinned duck, picked cucumber and ginger salad, sesame salt (separate) and fresh lemon - served with a small bowl of Jasmine rice - $33.00

I friggin love duck but this was too hard to cut for me. I don't like eating food that takes too much effort (with the exception of ribs because ribs is fun). Later on I discovered that it was actually the skin that made it tough, and the meat inside was tender as!!! I probably will order something different on my next visit as this was pretty ordinary. It tasted like a fried quail with much more meat content as opposed to a duck.

Caramalised Pork with crispy barramundi and green apple salad - $27.00.

Oh man!!! How horrible does this image look with iPhone flash. I realised that I didn't take a photo of this dish on my camera so I had no choice but to upload the iPhone one. Sorry guys (I know I had to ruin everything didn't I?).

Fortunately for us, Hong's mate from high school is a waiter at Chin Chin so he hooked us up with this dish (thank you so much kind sir!!!). At this point in time, we were honestly extremely full but managed to finish 3/4 of it with ease as it was so delicious. I would have much preferred if the barramundi were fresh and steamed opposed to fried because the texture wasn't as delicious and hard to chew through. I like eating apples in my salad now, thanks to my friend Jny's recommendation. The caramalised pork reminded me of a favourite dish my mother often cooks. To all my Vietnamese friends - "Thit Ko" would be something familiar, and this might sound disgusting but I love eating pork fat hehe it's so soft (but so bad for you).


Last but not least - dessert. This was a layered coconut jelly with roselle and sugared ginger - $12.00 Hong loves this dessert but I don't see the appeal to it. It was just layers of different flavoured jelly. I wouldn't pay $12 for this again so next time I will probably order two separate desserts so Hong can have this all to himself!

View from the chef's bar seating. I'm so jealous I didn't get to sit here. I requested bar (I saw the waitress write '2 bar ok' next to my name on the waiting list) but the wrong one unfortunately. Will request it on my next visit! The floor seats are just too close together and I don't like people staring at me when I take my food pictures. IS IT COZ IM ASIAN???