Chin Chin in Surry Hills, Sydney: Asian menu & cocktails

Chin Chin in Surry Hills typifies what Australian dining has become. Lychee cocktails, buzzy vibe, Australian produce and a pan-Asian menu combine to create something fun and distinctive. The Chin Chin Feed Me menu should suit the indecisive.

Australian cuisine is a hard beast to pin down. 40 years ago, you might have it pegged as meat pies, sausage rolls and vegemite. Historically, Australian food has been an adjunct of British food.

Even 40 years ago, however, this was somewhat inaccurate. At places like Melbourne’s Immigration Museum, or the Bonegilla Migrant Experience in Wodonga, you quickly learn that Australia’s character and culture has been shaped by several waves of immigrants.

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This immigration has long had an impact on Australia’s food scene, whether through authentic Italian pasta dishes or cheap Thai curries.

In recent years, though, there has been an important shift. It’s no longer British staples, plus distinct imported cuisines. It’s something altogether more ambitious. Australian chefs have decided that the lack of an identifiable Australian cuisine is a strong suit, and that anything goes. The result is gleeful incorporation of ideas from everywhere, often combined with local produce.

Chin Chin: Surry Hills Asian restaurant

This non-rigid, free-spirited attitude to food shines through in many of Australia’s most enjoyable restaurants. Chin Chin in Surry Hills, Sydney, is an excellent example of innovative Australian dining. An offshoot of the original Melbourne restaurant, Chin Chin certainly doesn’t stick to time-honoured classics.

Most dishes at Chin Chin in Surry Hills are clearly Asian in inspiration if not origin, but they certainly don’t hone in on one particular country.

They’re also designed for sharing. You order for the table and go for whatever takes your fancy. That might mean kingfish sashimi with lime, chilli and coconut, or raw tuna with salsa verde Thai basil and noni. Or maybe flit from crab cakes and rendang curry to chargrilled wagyu beef with a sweet soy glaze.

Feed Me menu at Chin Chin, Surry Hills

If it’s all too daunting to choose from, opt for the $69.50 Chin Chin Feed Me menu. With this, the chef will keep sending out whatever dishes he thinks you might like until you’re full.

The setting is important, too. Chin Chin in Surry Hills occupies a deliberately open space inside the heritage-listed Griffiths Tea building. It is designed to be buzzy, with people chatting and flirting over tap wines, craft beers and lychee cocktails.

Chin Chin in Surry Hills, Sydney — Chin Chin in Surry Hills is one of the most fun restaurants in Sydney.

This atmospheric, social and iconoclastic dining experience is a good encapsulation of what Australian cuisine is really about. The food and ideas come from everywhere, but how it is mixed together is distinctly Aussie.