Chin Chin coming to Geelong is the biggest news since the arrival of goalkicking spearhead, Jeremy Cameron. A champion of casual Southeast Asian dining, the Flinders Lane original is one of the most successful Victorian restaurants of the 21st century. Now, like Geelong great Patrick Dangerfield before it, it’ll be running amok on the vast Joel Selwood wing of GMHBA Stadium. Named Club Chin Chin, it’s the third property to bear the Chin Chin name, and is open now for dinner from Thursday to Saturday and lunch from Friday to Sunday, with a menu of Chin Chin hits old and new courtesy of executive chef, Benjamin Cooper.
“Creating the opening menu was a lot of fun,” says Cooper. “I’ve always loved Geelong and the surrounding Bellarine region, so it’s really quite special to now be opening Club Chin Chin at GMHBA Stadium.” His menu is set to celebrate the riches of the Bellarine Region; here’s everything he reckons you need to eat from it.
Prawn spring rolls with cucumber relish and iceberg cups
I mean, who doesn’t love a spring roll? For me, prawn spring rolls are the absolute best of the lot: crisp, crunchy prawn goodness with a punchy pickled cucumber relish. Wrap it in a lettuce cup with fresh herbs and boom: happy place. Who knows? Club Chin Chin might just see footy and prawn spring rolls replace the usual combo of footy and hot pies.
Spiced tiger prawns with glass noodles, Asian celery and chilli-lime dressing
I love noodles, and a glass noodle salad has to be up there with my favourite way to eat them. For Geelong, we’ve added wok-fried chopped tiger prawns, crisp green apple and green beans, and finished the dish with lemongrass and ginger aromatics. Throw in some Asian celery and Thai basil and you’ve got a great salad.
Green curry fried rice with spanner crab, snake beans and Thai basil
Fried rice has always been a menu staple for us and it’s one of my go-to dishes when I’m hungry in the kitchen. For Geelong’s opening menu I thought it would be fun to do a crab version and pair it with vibrant, warming green curry flavours. We stir-fry the egg with green curry paste, add the rice then flash fry it with some coconut cream to bring a luxurious nuttiness to the dish, and finish with picked spanner crab meat and Thai basil. It’s punchy, zesty and delicious.
Panang curry of twice-cooked lamb, pea eggplant and peanuts
Without a doubt, curry is my favourite dish of all – complex, heady and, like a big, warm hug, a dish to get lost in. The Thai curry repertoire is so huge you could almost cook a new style every day of the year without doubling up, so when we sat down to choose curries for the Club Chin Chin menu there was a lot to discuss. A hearty, slow-cooked lamb shank was a great place to start, and the perfect way to celebrate the farming lands that surround Geelong. When we paired it with our panang curry sauce – rich with peanuts, spiked with chilli, and tempered with coconut cream and zesty lime leaf – we just knew it needed to be on the menu.
Wagyu striploin with roasted eggplant and smoked tomato nahm jim
GMHBA Stadium is beautiful and the ground has this awesome presence, even outside of game days. When I first walked into the Club Chin Chin space, I could immediately picture myself sitting and enjoying the view with a delicious steak and a glass of red. We have managed to secure some excellent score-5 wagyu striploin for Geelong, and will be chargrilling it and serving with an earthy, smoky tomato nahm jim, offset by roasted eggplant. All that’s left to do then is to choose the red wine – we’ve got some great local options there, too.
Stir-fried bok choy with turmeric, ginger and crispy garlic
In my eyes, stir-fried greens are always underrated. I wanted to create something a bit special for Geelong, and was inspired by sweet, delicate bok choy. Here, we’ve chosen to flash fry it with a bright and tangy pickled turmeric sauce, keeping the bok choy crisp and creating this full-flavoured bowl of deliciousness.
Chin Chin ice-cream sundae with salted honeycomb and lime syrup
It was an instant classic from the day we opened Chin Chin Melbourne but has been off the menu there for some time now, so we decided it would be perfect to have a version of this cult classic dessert to help kick off the new Geelong residency. If ice-cream is your kryptonite, as it is mine, we’ve got your back with this one – a scoop each of mango, berry and coconut ice-cream, chunks of honeycomb, and a lime syrup to top it off and bring it all together.
Fried custard pie with star anise sugar, and apple and cinnamon ice-cream Chin Chin’s sweet twist on the classic footy pie concept is one you don’t want to miss. Creamy coconut custard encased in roti and fried till crispy, paired with apple and cinnamon ice-cream and dusted with star anise sugar. Need we say more? It’s apple pie, but not as you know it – and it’s just for Geelong.
Dark chocolate and raspberry ice-cream sandwich
There’s something incredibly nostalgic about an ice-cream sandwich devoured at a sports stadium, right? This one’s a nod to those good old days, featuring creamy raspberry ice-cream sandwiched between chocolate biscuits and then dipped in dark chocolate.
Club Chin Chin, GMHBA Stadium, Joel Selwood Stand, 370 Moorabool St, South Geelong, open 6pm-10.30pm Thu, noon-10.30pm Fri-Sat and noon-3pm Sun, (03) 9960 9700, clubchinchin.com.au, @chinchin