Chin Chin is five years old and still one of Melbourne’s must-try dining experiences

IT’S five years since Chin Chin first introduced Melbourne to the reservation-free restaurant — and the queues that follow. But is it still any good?

Chin Chin’s stir fry of bug tail and chopped prawn egg noodle and hellfire chilli oil. Picture Andrew Tauber

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THEY crunched the numbers, and they are impressive.

Over the past five years they’ve gone through more than 650,000 bunches of coriander, and served 280,000 Massaman curries and had more than 1.25 million people through the doors.

And I found one. That rare person who has so far skipped the Melbourne dining rite of passage and never taken their place in the queue.

That person who had never eaten at Chin Chin.

Me? It had been at least 18 months, and after a recent refurb that wound back the wear and tear that five years of a 12-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week operation feeding thousands takes on even the hardiest of spaces, thought it time to pay a visit to see if the hype that begets queues that begets Tripadvisor reviews was backed up.

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Spicy Isaan Duck laab, ground Roast rice and lime. Picture Andrew Tauber

As Chin Chin is, quite possibly, the one given food experience tourists take from our city, I wanted to see if the hive mind had it right.

So off we went, and at 5.40pm were offered one of the last two spots at the bar.

There’s already a 45-minute wait for a table, and when we leave 90 minutes or so later, those waiting remain a good dozen deep.

While the less scrupulous might milk that type of success through shortcuts, this is a heavily staffed, hands-on machine, where it’s clear owner Chris Lucas hasn’t just invested in the building.

There’s head chef Benjamin Cooper — at the helm since opening — still on the pass keeping the food flying fast. Staff — and there are a lot of them — keep the mood light while taking the job seriously. It’s such a feat, and the operation so polished, it’s quite the sight to behold.

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Salad of Shiso and Sesame Prawn dumplings red namh jim and glass noodles. Picture Andrew Tauber

“It’s hot,” our waitress warned of the Isaan duck larb, one of the new dishes on the menu that Benjamin has refreshed while, of course, keeping the hits that keep the crowds coming.

Given Chin Chin is such a broad church — at a guess, there are those from 16 to 60 here tonight — you would be forgiven for thinking “hot” here might mean “yeah, right” but
it really is a scorcher.

Though that chilli heat is nuanced and elegant, washing over mince that’s tossed through with hefty chunks of duck meat and bits of liver, with toasted rice adding crunch as welcome as
the cucumber’s cooling relief.

It is, quite simply, stunning ($22.50).

Crushed peanut and pomelo pearls add juicy nuttiness to slices of scallops served, rather brilliantly, on curried cauliflower, all on a large betel leaf to wrap and roll ($16.50).

Food comes fast. But, once we were all done, there was not a hint of being rushed out the door, left to finish our drinks and leave at leisure. Again, that’s class.

So too is a standout dish of bug tails tossed through supple egg noodles in the wok. Generously plied with the subtly saline-sweet meat — and with the added heft of chunks of chopped prawns — the fish/soy sauce moreishness of the noodles only bolstered by a hint of hellfire chilli oil that admittedly sounds scarier than it was. Another cracking dish ($28.50).

Chef Benjamin Cooper in restaurant, by the kitchen pass. Picture Andrew Tauber

Not everything hits such highs — the perils of a menu that runs four dozen long. While teaming pork with thick slices of oyster mushrooms and the clove-bitter hit of holy basil is a nice idea, the char on the meat erred to acrid ($28.50), while the overly sticky sweet goat curry was described by my Chin Chin newbie as “a meat dessert”.

Though we were more than happy sticking with the fresh and fruity shiki pale ale — one of two house brews on tap — wine remains a strong focus, with excellent by-the-glass options that hover at $13 and are cleverly matched to food. Pinot noir and gris on tap comes courtesy of Yabby Lake’s Tom Carson, and, along with a fun flavour table matching dishes and drops, the cellar travels across lands in well-chosen — and pretty fairly priced — fashion.

With such a big menu it depends on how you order as to whether you win the jackpot.

But when you do, everything makes perfect sense.

The fun, the playfulness, the zingy buzz in room and mouth. The queue. Chin Chin really is great and going strong.

If you haven’t been for a while — or even at all — it’s probably better than ever.

If this is the one picture someone takes back home with them of eating in Melbourne, it’s a pretty one indeed.

In fact, as I pondered the phenomenon — for there is no other word — that is Chin Chin on the tram ride home I felt the tingling glow of civic pride.

Or maybe that was the larb.

Chin Chin

14/20

125 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

Open Daily 11am-late

Ph: 8663 2000

chinchinrestaurant.com.au