Chin Chin
69 Commonwealth St
Surry Hills, Sydney
After an good day of shopping we felt like an having an Asian meal with spice and bite, so we headed to Chin Chin at Surry Hills. If you’re a foodie and you’ve ever visited Melbourne then the name Chin Chin would be very familiar. Chin Chin has a great vibe and the place was abuzz with friendly waiters busily serving patrons. The place was packed and we were fortunate to get a seat at the counter - very Parisian in an Asian setting.
We could not decide on what to drink. Whether to have a cocktail or a wine? Our waiter recommended the Watermelon cocktail which is Tequila, Aperol, Fresh Watermelon, Pandan, Lime and chilli salt. Mlady went for this. Oh what a good choice she made. This really was a good suggestion. It was a lovely refreshing drink. It had great combinations that went so well together. Mlady thoroughly enjoyed every last drop - or drip - of it.
As Mlady went with a delicious cocktail, Sir went with a red - a Chianti. Sir said that this was a very nice drop, but then he is often partial to a lighter chianti with spicy Asian food and heavier reds with heavier food.
For an entree we had prawn and lemongrass spring rolls with nouc cham. Spring rolls are a bit of a favourite with us and these were very tasty. The filling was plentiful and tasted good. Dipping in the nouc cham - nice.
We had a serving of roti (and we do love roti) which was nice and fluffy and crisp. It was great dipping the roti into the accompanying sauces that we had with our meal.
Sir loves duck, so no surprises that we ordered a duck dish. We went with sticky tamarind chilli duck with son-in-law eggs. The soft egg white and runny yolk went extremely well with the rich duck meat. We both enjoyed this very tasty dish. Another big winner!
Our next main was stir fry prawn, bug tail, egg noodle, garlic chive and hellfire chilli oil. We asked for the hellfire chilli oil to be in a separate dish - just in case it was THAT hot. Seriously - we know why this is called hellfire chilli - WHOA!!! It really did have a kick. Manageable for us, as we like bite, but possibly a bit strong for some. We really did enjoy this dish and dipping the Roti into this hot hellfire chilli oil - again very nice!
A side of boiled rice soaked up even more of the full flavours of our dishes. It’s a must have and we had it of course.
Chin Chin has amazing food with wonderful fresh, flavoursome combinations. If you get the opportunity to sit at the counter, you get to see the kitchen and how these incredible dishes are created.
This is a place to eagerly return to, again and again.