Mietta's Review
This comfortable neighbourhood cafe boasts "Chinatown quality in Rathdowne St". In other words, good South East Asian and Chinese food with the wide, tree lined streets of North Carlton; a very attractive combination. Good, relaxed service and a limited wine list. This place is busy and deservedly so.

Other published opinions

Age Good Food Guide 2010 Score: 12/20 "Chin Chin's embarked on its conservative panAsian path more than a dozen years ago and loyal locals have given it no reason to change tack. Night after night people pile in to this cosy, comfortable dining room, with its bare wooden tables, timber floors, lamplight and banquettes"

Age Good Food Guide 2009 Score: 12/20 "Oriental is a funny old word, but there's certainly an oriental air about this nook in Rathdowne Street. There's the dark timber of the floor and the bar, the lacquered cane chairs and the black leather banquette along one wall, the Japanesestyle flatware and even the fans spinning lazily overhead, as well-heeled locals relax with a Tiger Beer or glass of Australian wine from a small list"

Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 13/20 "Every neighbourhood should have an Asian restaurant like Chin Chin's. There's a familiar lineup of superior stir-fries on the menu, a smattering of more inventive dishes, prices that won't have you wincing, and a manager on first-name basis with his regulars"

The Age Good Food Guide 2006 score 13/20 "Fusion dining takes on new meaning at Chin Chin's; while the decor and mood feels positively European, the food is a mixture of South East Asian hawker-style and Chinese. Night after night for the past nine years, owner Susan Weis has presided over this popular Rathdowne Street dining room"

The Age Good Food Guide 2003. Score 12/20.

The Age, 17.08.99, Matthew Evans