Chin Chin

friday night 3/1/25

Our Friday evening Date Night led Connor and I into one of my favourite suburbs to go for a delicious culinary experience, Surry Hills. Only a short walk from Chinatown sits an unassuming heritage-listed building housing a highly rated South-East Asian fusion restaurant. Chin Chin is popular. It’s fun. It’s experimental. And it has fantastic fucking food (pardon my swearing but I need everyone to understand the gravitas of my statement). Chin Chin has been on my list for a very long time but it wasn’t until my dear old father and his partner gifted us a voucher for Christmas. So thank you Dad and Jo for opening my eyes to one of the greater Sydney restaurants I have been to.

Let me set a scene for you all. I’m starting to sweat, my calves are burning as a result of the 8 minute speed-walk we just participated in to get to our booking on time. “Booking for Sierra.” we say breathlessly to the two hosts waiting behind their desk. As we begin to apologise for our lateness we are interrupted by one of them quoting a Ciara song to me. For the next 2 minutes the hosts discuss who and how iconic Ciara is. I guess we didn’t need to worry about being late.

‘Born To Be Alive’ is blasting through the speakers as we finally make our way through the dining room, a very high energy experience already. We were seated at a small table on the edge of the room, one of my only faults with this evening is that the tables were a little cramped. Either that or the man behind me was man-spreading so intensely to the point where I was unable to sit forward in my chair until he left. The dining room itself was a beautiful space that had an art gallery feel to it. Tall ceilings were held up by beams that were lined down the room. Below these beams sat comfortable booth seats bustling with people. Hot pink fluorescent lights bordered the ceilings creating a light pink hue in the room, and to add to that art gallery feel were raunchy photographs lining the brick walls. My best way to describe the venue was historic but experimental and very, VERY cool.

Service was quick and before you knew it we had ordered a cocktail as well as all our food, analysing the menu everyday before we came definitely helped the speed of our experience. Connor ordered a boring whiskey sour and I ordered a cocktail named ‘No Money No Honey’. It consisted of vodka, lemon, honey and other things that I unfortunately can not remember. In fact, I forgot what was in it after I took my first sip due to the fact that it didn’t taste like anything. It had hints of lemon but that was the only flavour I could distinguish. Don’t get me wrong though, it was a very easy drink to get down.

As we sipped on our cocktails our starter came out. The ‘Chin Chin Pork “Roll-Ups”’ were a DIY situation with pulled pork, thin pancake slices, a mix of slaw and some plum sauce. Some could complain that having to do things yourself goes against what the restaurant experience is but getting down and dirty with our food was FUN. Building and wrapping each little ‘roll-up’, having the oils run down my fingers, it was truly a experience that made those soft, delicious bites of heaven even tastier. The pork was so tender and paired with the slaw and plum sauce, it created a mosaic of a flavour.

Next menu item brought out was the ‘Chargrilled Brisket’, this came out with some cos lettuce, a minty leaf called shiso (this is the last time I mention this ingredient - I can say I am branching out of my pickiness but not that far, come on) and a pickled chilli vinegar sauce. The brisket itself pulled apart with ease and was drowned in a deeply rich treacle-style sauce. Again, there was a DIY aspect to this dish as building a san choy bow style wrap with the cos, brisket and chilli was definitely the way to go. The blending of all these flavours helped cut through that richness of the brisket and created a delicious union of palates. Deeeelicious.

Before we knew it our next, and arguably best, dish came out. The ‘Pork Belly Drunken Noodles’. This dish was a standout. The noodles were soft, chewy and drowned in an incredible sauce we couldn’t get enough of. A rich soy flavour was present but the balance of the other flavours in the dish complimented it so well. It had a very generous portion of pork belly and the pieces were fatty and flavourful.

We also had the ‘Morning Glory’ come out with the noodles and when I tell you that Connor and I sat in silence picking up every last crumb on our plates, I am not exaggerating. The morning glory was cooked in some kind of oily beef-broth style concoction and it then had a flavour-bomb of garlic, chilli and yellow beans. The greens were crunchy and had soaked in so much flavour, my only complaint is that we didn’t order more. I truly think I blacked out during those last two dishes everything about them was immaculate.

If Chin Chin is on your to-go list, make a booking now. If Chin Chin isn’t on your to-go list, make a booking now anyway! Our experience was a 10/10, dishes were timed perfectly, the service was punctual and polite and the overall atmosphere of the venue was perfect. If I had to nit-pick at one thing I would mention that the prices were incredibly steep however just tasting the food allows you to understand, you are paying for the incredible quality. The food was exceptional and done so well. As a picky eater I shocked myself at how mixing so many flavours I don’t normally like created the most beautiful bites of food I have ever had. Thank god Connor and I didn’t use up all our gift card because we absolutely will return.