It's Melbourne's "It" restaurant. The name on everybody's lips and the king of Chris Lucas' casual dining empire. Chin Chin (which is actually Japanese slang for penis). And we're here. Minus the typical queues given the unusual dining time of 2:30 PM on a weekday.

Despite the timing we are still bundled right next to (perhaps uncomfortably so) another pair of diners reminding us that this is certainly not the place for a business meeting or any private conversation for that matter. The noise is jarring, the music loud and the cacophony of it all means Chin Chin is certainly not the place for a quiet lunch.

Nevertheless, food reigns supreme and for all the buzz that is still Chin Chin's main drawcard. Glancing at the menu, prices are not cheap but aren't inordinately expensive either.

Given that we were keen to return to our Christmas shopping this was going to be a quick stop and we went straight to the mains. A simple combination would do so it was to be the Grain Fed Sher Wagyu Sirloin stir fried with Jungle Curry paste, krachai, cha om & holy basil ($28.50) and the Seared Yellow-Fin Tuna ($28.50) (apologies, we can't recall the exact accompaniments for that particular dish) accompanied by two lots of steamed brown rice of course ($4 each).

Grain Fed Sher Wagyu Sirloin stir fried with Jungle Curry paste, krachai, cha om & holy basil ($28.50)

Seared Yellow-Fin Tuna ($28.50)

Knowing that much of Chin Chin's dishes are prepared nearly completely offsite in Moorabbin before final touches are added in the CBD kitchen (as this terrific Broadsheet feature profiles), the fact that the dishes arrived in almost five minutes was no surprise.

The tuna was a decent affair with a subtle cooling tanginess to it from the salad but didn't amount to much in comparison to the punchy Wagyu stir fry.  As with many other restaurants around Melbourne, the waiter fulfilled the courtesy of warning us that the Wagyu would be hot. Twice. Upon ordering and then again on the dish's arrival. As with other restaurants, we dismissed these warnings as exaggerated for the quasi-spice dishes they were bundled with.

How wrong we were.

The wagyu was delicious but strikingly hot at the same time which left us wondering why there weren't more cucumbers to cool down with. Despite the heat, this was certainly a winner with an appropriately generous lump of wagyu sitting in the devilish curry paste to boot.

Coconut Sago with Sweetcorn Ice Cream Praline and Puffed White Rice ($14)

Finally the Coconut Sago with Sweetcorn Ice Cream Praline and Puffed White Rice ($14) was a delightful end to the meal with a sublime mix of crunchy texture intertwined with some iconic Asian desserts.

But the question remains: Is Chin Chin worth the hype? Service was nice and attentive and the food was generally pretty good. Definitely on the pricey side though but certainly some great flavours.

By no stretch of the imagination is Chin Chin Melbourne's best restaurant but it's pretty good and the perfect start to a noisy and exciting night.

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