Chin Chin

Another reason I decided to come on a spontaneous road trip to Melbourne was for some good Thai food. We got there just after 5pm and the restaurant was already packed. By the time we left after 6, there were over 20 people in line even on a weekday. This place is one of those modern Thai/higher class Asian places with smaller portions. It's not your average cheap Thai feed, but if you're like me and hardly eat Asian food outside, but when you do it's more classy, then this place is for you (I actually don't eat overpriced Asian food outside, probably just once or twice a year).

food spread

Food came out pretty quickly once we ordered, even though it was quite busy during sunset.

Chilli salt chicken wings-$16.50

Nicely deep fried without the chicken being dry. The dipping sauce was a bit chilli for me, but the chilli salt was ok and I could appreciate the chilli in it.

Pad seuw of braised wagyu beef, gai laan, rice noodles, crispy shallots-$26.50

A friend described the noodles as 'biting into pillow of clouds.' It's definitely not your typical pad seuw, as the rice noodles are rolled up, reminded me of 'hor fun' in Chinese dim sum where it's either steamed or pan fried and served with hoisin or peanut butter sauce. This dish is a lot more refine, and the rice noodles were indeed quite soft, and so was the beef, but just wished there was more. The sauce wasn't too heavy or sweet, and balanced well with some greens. 

Pad thai noodles, chicken, peanuts, dried shrimp, bean sprouts-$25.50

Pad thai is my go to thai dish to compare to other pad thai dishes. This one isn't as oily or overly sweet as other pad thai's with just a tad bit of spiciness, and a good amount of freshness from the bean sprouts. Could have more chicken and noodles (or maybe it was just too nice and I wanted a bigger portion, even though I was already full to begin with).

Massaman curry of coconut braised beef, kindler potatoes, nuts, fried shallots-$29.50

Curry was really fragrant with a ton of spices. Curry wasn't overly creamy or oily either. The beef pulled apart easily and there were decent chunks of meat in it. It comes with one rice, but we ordered another one ($5) to share. 

Char grilled pork rib eye, oyster mushroom, holy basil-$29.50

Pork was quite tender and fell off the bone. Loved the char grilled flavour in it. Would have appreciated it more if there was a bit less chilli in it. Actually, I think I could've had more but didn't want to be drinking so much water afterwards before a car trip back to Sydney since the chilli wasn't crazily burning (unlike the instant fire noodles lol).

Traditional thai red tea served over ice with coconut condensed milk-$6

This is probably the first thai tea I've had which isn't sweet. The coconut condensed milk sounded sweet, but gave it just the right hint of sweetness and coconut flavour, while still letting the flavour of the tea come through.

such a cute bunny

open kitchen

Apparently the Sydney Chin Chin which opened this week is even bigger and has a lot more dishes. Hope to try it sometime to see if it's any different compared to Melbourne.