Lunch at Chin Chin and too many photos

Melbourne had a travel expo on this past weekend so Husband and I dropped the kids off for a sleepover with grandparents then had a quiet sneaky visit to Mister Nice Guy’s Bake Shop to check out the cupcake flavours they made for Chinese New Year.  I couldn’t resist the cute little pumpkin donut and a cinnamon bun ALL TO MYSELF:

After the Bake Shop we caught a tram in to the city and walked through the crowds enjoying Chinese New Year festivities:

After loading up with brochures and more free cloth bags (those things seem to breed in my house) we went off in search of food.  I’d read some reviews on Chin Chin and suggested we go there and go there we did:

I asked for vegan options and a friendly waitress was able to highlight them for me.  I went for the ‘dry curry Pad Ped with stir fried vegetables, spice crusted organic tofu, kaffir lime leaf and Thai basil’ for $19.  A bowl of rice was served on the side.  This meal was delicious although I’m a bit of a dork when it comes to eating big chunks of tofu with chopsticks because I drop it everywhere and generally look uncouth.  The rice was barely warm which was a bit disappointing but the meal more than made up for it as the flavours were great:

Hot sauce on the tables:

Husband enjoyed his meal, which I won’t talk about because it wasn’t vegan and this is a vegan blog, after all! My one negative comment about Chin Chin is the noise level– the music was just way too loud.  If I can barely hear my dining companion sitting opposite me and if I have to ask a waiter to repeat themselves, then it’s too loud.  It was loud when we walked in and I asked Husband if he wanted to go somewhere else (he doesn’t like loud music in restaurants either) but we’d walked a fair bit and wanted to try Chin Chin.  The loud music combined with the noise of people talking loudly to be heard (the couple next to us also commented on the music volume) plus clattering cutlery from the staff station next to us was a bit much.  However I will admit I have extra sensitive hearing so this probably bothers me more than it does others.  Still, our meals were great and we left there feeling absolutely stuffed.

To work off our meal, we walked (fast pace!) around the city.  Also included are some pictures around Fitzroy and Melbourne University.

Melbourne CBD (aka “the city”):

Around Brunswick Street, Fitzroy.  We stopped at Lord of the Fries for lunch:

Around Melbourne University:

Chin Chin is located at 125 Flinders Lane, Melbourne. http://www.chinchinrestaurant.com.au/