Welcome to Chin's Noodle House

We had a family birthday booked there for Saturday night.

The smiling waiters were friendly and attentive even when the restaurant was busy and filled. At its peak the noise level was quite high with everyone having a fine time - it was only a problem on our 12-person table trying to communicate to anyone more than 2 seats away without relaying.

The menu is very thorough, especially lots of duck and seafood dishes for those who swing that way - I wouldn't mind trying the jellyfish some time.

Before describing our food I just want to point out that I wasn't involved in the ordering so I'm not sure what all the names were exactly.

We started with an entree of spring rolls, fried prawns and chicken satay sticks. All were top quality and enjoyed by all.

We had quite a few people so I may have missed some dishes, but they were...

Beef with black bean - standard fare.

Mongolian lamb - strongly flavored - wet type (sometimes you see this done dry so it's worth knowing if you're picky).

Chicken satay - I have to be honest and say I didn't try it, it was mainly cauliflower and only enough chicken for the first 2 people that it passed to find a piece each, so I didn't bother when it got to me.

Garlic prawn (maybe) - prawns cooked just right.

Duck in plum sauce (maybe) - nicely done succulent pieces of duck in a sweet sauce.

Crispy skinned chicken (not sure what it was called on the menu) - it sort of had a light soy sauce. Delicious pieces with crispy skin.

Prawn omelette - top quality omelette not sure I actually saw any prawns in the scoop I managed to take though.

Szechuan beef - I had some input and asked for this "extra hot" - it was hot to other people in the party, but I added the extra cut chilli I had on the side to bring it up to my standard.

Singapore fried noodles - standard type dish.

All the meat in the mains was good, didn't appear to be over-tenderised and no bad or chewy pieces that can ruin a dinner.

My family isn't too adventurous otherwise I would have liked to try some of the other dishes - maybe some prepared jellyfish.

For desert some of us had fried ice cream which was fantastic.

Now you may be wondering why I've given only 2.5/5 for the food after describing a top quality banquet. It is my opinion that there is MSG used in some of this food. I was unsuspecting because I thought a well awarded chef (as is the case for this restaurant's chef) would not require it. Therefore my night ended as it always does when exposed to MSG, in a dry throat that couldn't be quenched and rewarded in the morning with a headache. Unfortunately the food and the overall ratings must come down as a result. I will be unable to eat there again until I can confirm that MSG is not (or no longer) being used.

A rather belated follow up to our not so recent meetup for peking duck at Chin's!

While TheCatsWhiskers has covered most of the major details of the afternoon, I'll add my own thoughts. This is the first time I've had peking duck for lunch, so I had slightly lower expectations than normal, and was disappointed to see that those expectations were met. Even though they were still quite busy during lunch hour, this doesn't compare to the madhouse that normally ensues at night, so there was significantly less waitstaff around.

Both food and drinks took quite awhile to surface and the soup came out in a bowl that was definately smaller than it usually is! admittedly, it is possible that the carcass was still the same and the soup a bit more flavoursome because of the smaller size but really, when you pay a set amount for a dish, you don't expect it to be downsized according to the number of people being served! The crispy skin and pancakes at least came out with the correct number, and although cold, were still quite tasty. Our suspicions were confirmed with the arrival of the sang chow bau when only four lettuce cups were provided and a glaringly smaller amount of meat/carrot filling was presented to us. It was sadly very greasy and not at all up to standard.

Time passed quickly as we nattered away, and fried icecream followed. This at least was still good although the price has gone up significantly since I last ordered it.

So while I had an excellent time meeting up with the ladies (I think this is the first time I've sat in a restaurant just talking for 3 hours!), lesson learned. If you order the peking duck at Chin's, make sure you have a group of at least 6 or 7...and don't have it for lunch! I too would be very interested to see what you get when you order it for takeaway.

(this review to be followed further by more peking duck capers at another local chinese a couple of days later...stay tuned!)

With Helor's return to the West for her wedding, a get together was called for. Squizzy, MJAIL, Helor and I got together at Chin's Noodle House in Leeming for a Peking Duck lunch. This is one very busy restaurant which for the suburbs, is a bit unusual. The restaurant, while still in the traditional red and yellows, had used Suede Effects paint which gave the room a bit more of an upmarket feel, although the flourescently coloured letters over the kitchen were very much out of place.

As we weren't sure how many people would be joining us, we initially had a larger table but the waitress wasn't keen for us to remain there once it appeared that there was only going to be four or five of us, so we moved to a smaller table that suited us better anyway.

Menus and tea came out although the four of us sat and chatted while we waited to see if anyone else would turn up. We had already determined that we would have Peking Duck so looking at the menus was really only out of curiosity. As sang choy bow is my favourite Chinese meal, I put in my bid early with the others, and luckily for me, everyone else either wanted that option or were comfortable with it, so I was able to sit in happy contemplation of lunch.

With our order placed and extra drinks also ordered, we didn't have too long to wait before the crockery started to arrive, although the drinks had been entirely forgotten, and not too much longer before spring onions, sauce, pancakes and the duck skin sitting on a bed of prawn crackers arrived. Squizzy and I were new to Peking Duck but MJAIL and Helor are old hands at it, so we took instruction from them. While the pancakes with duck skin were tasty, I thought having them cold detracted from the dish. Don't really see why both the pancakes and the skin could not have been served hot. Other than that, it was a nice course.

The broth that arrived, I gather, seemed to have been scaled down to suit the number of people at the table, however it was very tasty. It was shortly followed by the final course of sang choy bow. I was disappointed in this dish as apart from its small size, was predominately carrot and was served with only four lettuce cups, limiting us to one serve each. There wasn't much meat mixture, so MJAIL and I returned to the soup, leaving Helor and Squizzy to what was left of the meat mixture.

As duck is one of my "can't ignore it if it is on the menu" items, I fished out bits of the carcass and chewed on the bones, while MJAIL attacked the broth. Our tag team approach seemed to satisfy both of us. Shortly after this, MJAIL had to leave to pick up her kids from school, so still having room in our stomachs, the rest of us stayed on for fried icecream. This was unlike any fried icecream I had had previously, but I gather the dish I remember from my youth was the oddity and not what we were served. What I was used to was icecream fried in a batter in the same manner as a fritter, with the skin hot and the icecream cold. This new (well to me!) version was cold all the way through and was in a coconut crumb. Don't really like the flavour of coconut, especially in the desicated form, so this dish left me cold, excusing the pun.

Since the meal, the four of us have discussed the amount of duck we received, and generally we felt that not all of the flesh was used and certainly the accompaniments were reduced. It suggests that one $42 Peking Duck is better value than another of the same price, purely based on how many diners are at the table. Doesn't seem to be quite the way to do things. Still I would go back and would also try their Peking Duck as a take away. Their roasted ducks were hanging in view of our table and were being replenished regularly, and these were also very appealing.

I must also comment that the entire time we were there, there was a constant flow of trade, both dine-in and takeaway and they didn't seem to be intending to close as when we left at 3:30pm, a bunch of high school kids rocked up and grabbed a table.

A last minute decision to go out for dinner with the family led us to our local, Chin's Noodle House. Even though they are usually packed out, this Monday evening they had plenty of tables to spare, although as we ate, the place did fill up a bit more. I think we were lucky as usually you have to book, even on weeknights.

This time we settled for a roast mixed plate, Mongolian lamb, combination chow mien and seafood claypot. While the roast mixed plate was up to its usual standard and the noodles were yummy, the remainder of the dishes fell a bit flat. I can't quite put my finger on it, but for the most part they tasted not much better than what you can get out of a jar of Kantong.

Service was good, no mix ups, a friendly older lady served as our waitress for the night and quite happily chattered away with my parents while my sister and I argued over what to order.

The bill came to $70 for 4 dishes, rice and tea, a bit more than what we normally expect to pay, although the roast platter and seafood claypot was probably the main contributor to that. And they do charge you a dollar for takeaway containers if you want to keep your leftovers.

Overall, a pleasant evening out. Heading back today for peking duck lunch, so we'll see how that goes!

A group of us from work (13 people) had dinner at Chin's last night. I have been wanting to try this place since I read an excellent review in the West Australian in 2006. Even though it was a long drive to Leeming for most of us, it was definitely worth it. We were not disappointed!

We chose this restaurant mainly to try the Peking Duck dish. The Peking Duck skin was crispy and delicious, great in the pancakes. The second course was the soup, which was OK, if you don't mind the salty taste of the ?pickled cabbage and large chunks of tofu. As we had ordered 2 serves of Peking Duck (each duck serves approx 6 people), we ordered 2 different 3rd courses. The noodles were very tasty, and so was the sang joy bow.

We also ordered a few other dishes, 1 fish, 2 meat and 2 vege dishes and fried rice, and 12 desserts (the usual fried banana fritter, fried ice cream), and the bill came to $21 per head including corkage of 50 cents per glass. What a cheap night out!

Will definitely be going back there soon. Service was efficient, and the surroundings pleasant for a family or group meal. Although, not somewhere to go for a romantic dinner for two.

Just another fairly quick comment on this local eatery which is on it's way to becoming my favourite place eat, other than my own kitchen, of course :)

We ate there last night with some friends who rarely venture out to "the suburbs" to eat. They live an urban based lifestyle and have all the choices of Northbridge, The City and East Perth on their doorstep.

The Duck pancakes, as before were superb. One of our friends said they were the best tasting duck pancakes they'd had since some at The Genting Palace years ago, we just smilied knowing the ownership of Chin's.

Once again the Duck broth was richly flavoured balanced by the saltiness of the vegetables. Mmmm.

For main course we had the duck meat served "San Choi Bow" style, a truly superb nutty, spicy duck mince, crisp fresh lettuce leaves removed from iced water just before serving. The attention to detail shown by this restaurant continues to amaze and impress me. For other main dishes we had a Peppered Beef Fillet, one of the house specialities - Bird's nest filled with seafood. The Steak was beautifully tender, slightly pink meat in a strong pepper and onion sauce served on a "sizzle plate". The Bird's nest was freshly made, frying the rice noodles into the nest shape just before serving - no dried out tasteless bird's nest here. The mains were accompanied by Kai-Lan with Salty Fish and a Fried Rice. Both vegetable dishes were the best example of that dish that I've had in recent memory.

Because of the large amount of food ordered, there was plenty left over for a "doggy-bagged" lunch. The meal, with corkage came to $99 between the four of us. It would probably be a decade or two since I've had a meal of that quality at less than $25/head.

We ate at Chin's last Friday night. A busy Friday night, we booked on Friday morning 9:00am requesting a 7:00pm table, we told no but 7:30-7:45 would be ok. We arrived at 7:30pm exactly and waited 20mins for a table. Needless to say, the place was packed to the gills. The other Chinese place next door had plenty of room but we patiently awaited our table. Throughout this time, the staff were excellent, expressing both apologies and concern for our being kept waiting.

When we were seated, we ordered the Peking duck - no pre order necessary. The pancakes were triangles of an eggy yellow colour and taste, best chestnut sauce we've ever tasted (home made apparently). 12 pancakes, 12 pieces of crisp roast skin, 12 pieces of spring roll. Yup, as an entree for two of us it was plenty but as I have gourmand tendencies, I could have enjoyed more!!

The duck broth was particularly fine, nice duck flavour, vegies and tofu. I tend not to bother with the carcass - I'm not particularly bothered with bones and shells - except Crayfish (yum). We had the duck meat with glass noodles and chilli, again done simply to emphasis the duck flavour.

Throughout the meal, the staff were attentive, friendly and boy, were they busy. By the time we were leaving, the third sitting of customers were starting to come in. Not bad for a suburban Chinese. As we left we noticed the place next door was still less than half full.

The Peking Duck meal costs $42 regardless of how you want the main course. A total of $1 corkage was added for serving our bottle of champers and a couple of bottles of water. All of which seemed remarkably cheap.

Caught up with some friends tonight for dinner at the local Chinese restaurant in Leeming.

This place has a great reputation for its roast meats and has been extremely popular since it opened a few years ago. While I've had the peking duck in the past, I tend to shy away from it here as they use bought pancakes rather than making it fresh and no cucumber, a disappointing turn from what used to be a signature dish for the owners when there were running Genting Palace at Burswood. The duck skin does come out lukewarm, as it has been pre prepared and presented on a bed of prawn crackers. All that being said, it is still a nice treat every now and again.

Tonight we chose to have a combination roast platter, lemon chicken, boneless duck in plum sauce and Japanese tofu in seafood sauce, with fried icecream to follow. As always, it was of a high standard. One pleasant surprise was when one of our group discovered that their fried icecream was strawberry and chocolate rather than plain vanilla. Luck of the draw I guess!

As for ambience, well its a typical Chinese restaurant, very noisy with many conversations at every table, brightly lit and delicious aromas wafting about as food comes out of the kitchen. Tables are large, so its most suited to big groups.

Prices are reasonable, our meal came to about $100 for 5 people which included four dishes (one being a large serve), rice, dessert and drinks.

Service was good though its not always as friendly, all the waitstaff seemed to be in an extra happy and bubbly mood tonight.

Overall, a pleasant evening with friends, and a place well worth visiting on a regular basis.

My sister had initially booked Chin’s without requesting the Peking duck. However after I told her of the rave reviews both from the newspaper article and from ‘waitersfriend’ she did not hesitate to call them back to order the Peking duck which requires 24 hour notice.

We went on a weekday at 6pm and there were plenty of tables already taken up. Apparently, chances of getting a table are very slim if you don’t book ahead. We waited in anticipation for the Peking duck and could not hide our delight upon tasting it. The 1st course of duck skin wrapped in the thin pancake with plum sauce and spring onion was just divine. The taste and texture just blended perfectly and I could have eaten 10 pieces easily. There were 12 serves in total so the 3 course Peking duck is suitable for up to a table for a dozen. In our party we had 6 adults, 3 children and 2 toddlers and a few of us lucky ones managed a second piece. I have got to add though that we missed out on the presentation that ‘waitersfriend’ experienced as we got the duck skin all cut up ready on a platter with prawn crackers as well as the pancake all ready on a plate.

The 2nd course was the duck soup with salted vegie. We Asians simply love the saltish taste of the soup but I don’t really know if it will suit Western palates which are not widely exposed to Asian food. Again it is ample for 12 persons so I don't know how a table of four could possibly finish the soup. For the 3rd course there were 4 choices and we would have rather had the sang chow bow but we picked the duck meat with dry noodles in the interests of the kids. Not a bad choice as it was a hit even with the adults.

We then continued our dinner with white rice and had the deep fried toothfish ($18), Peking spare ribs and beef brisket in claypot. In particular, the toothfish was very delicious; perfectly cooked crisp on the outside and yet tender with the melt in the mouth effect inside. The other 2 dishes were quite good too but comparable with most Chinese restaurants and did not cost more than $11 each. The only complain and a big one too in my opinion as a rice eater is that the rice was far too sticky. I have never eaten rice so poorly cooked before. But all in all, I wouldn’t mind coming back again to try their other dishes.

Peking Duck, Takeaway?

My profound thanks to The Cats Whiskers for putting this recommendation my way, following a forum discussion on Peking Duck. But first, a little history, and I apologise if it’s a little lengthy.

I was introduced to Peking Duck by friends of mine in 1994 at Emperor’s Court in Lake Street Northbridge. There was a fair amount of ceremony attached to the (relatively hefty) price tag for this meal. It’s not just a dish, it is traditionally a three course meal, prepared from one duck. Firstly, the whole duck is presented to the table (of four, usually) by the waiting staff, who then proceeded to dissect the bird into three courses.

The first course saw the waiter (chef?) expertly remove the crispy skin from the duck, while a second waiter/chef pulled out the gas bottle to prepare ultra-tin pancakes. A piece of the skin is placed on the fresh pancake, a piece of manicured shallot is added along with a thick sauce (soy based), then the exquisite morsel is wrapped and placed (by chopsticks, of course) on the fortunate diner’s plate as finger food. And bloody good it is, too!

The second course is a light broth made from the stock of (allegedly) the same duck, while the main course is the meat from the carcass served generally with bean sprouts and ginger, although I recall several variations on this.

Given the labour-intensiveness of this process, it is relatively expensive, and at the time (and on subsequent occasions) we had to place our order 24 hours in advance to allow the chefery to take place.

Now, back to the review.

The Cats Whiskers passed me an e-article about Chin’s Noodle House. Sounds good, despite being 25km from home (but 2 minutes off the Freeway). My partner Sue and I took the same couple that introduced me to Peking Duck in the first place, and armed with a decent Pinot and other reinforcements, we set sail for Leeming.

I’m glad I booked! We had an 8pm booking (on a Tuesday night), and the place was chockas. We were on time, but I could see the waiting staff had their reservations list out, and if we’d been five minutes later, the table could have been taken by a non-booking.

Ambience? Forget it. This is a basic local noisy Chinese, although obviously a very successful one, given the crush and the noise. We were sat at the last remaining table (we booked, remember?) right next to the kitchen. We perused the menu, even though three of us knew we were ordering Peking Duck.

Don’t be fooled by the menu. Peking Duck is listed at $38 per serve. I took that to mean $38 per head, and if it was any good, I was prepared to pay that (I was the host for the evening). WRONG! It was $38 per DUCK!

And what a duck! The skin arrived with a plate of very thin pancakes, and away we went. The sauce was thick and satisfying, the shallots provide great textural balance, and if duck skin was cholesterol free, I would just order three courses of the pancakes! My favourite part of the Peking Duck experience.

The service was interesting. We obviously weren’t getting through the pancakes fast enough, so one of the waitresses bustled over to the table, wrapped up the last couple of pieces into the remaining pancakes herself, and passed them onto the plates. This meant she could clear the table, in readiness for the broth.

The broth was actually a Campbell’s Chunky version, with tofu and a heap of duck meat still attached to the parts of the carcass that were allegedly off the original bird. Let’s keep the illusion going, please. It was tasty, a little rich (duck fat) but it disappeared with gusto.

The main course (with steamed rice) was the meat from the bird done with small ginger pieces and bamboo shoots. Fabulous! The bamboo shoots were still slightly crunchy and toothsome, and overall the components fitted well together.

My partner Sue is not a fan of duck, so her main course was toothfish. Definitely not the Patagonian variety (nor was the price tag) and the serve was way too much for one person.

At the end of the night, I couldn’t argue with the account, under $70 for four people and if Sue had been a duck person, we could have possibly got it under $50; there was enough duck for four. Amazing! The quality was apparent, despite the appearance of a bustling Chinese restaurant where you would not normally expect the respect that the dish evokes. OK, the ceremony wasn’t there, but the quality was, and maybe in the near future we can drop in for Peking Duck takeaway? At a bargain price, of course.

I would thoroughly recommend this local Chinese. The chef, of course, used to work at Genting Palace. But that’s not the reason for the recommendation. I would hate for him to read this, of course, in case he puts the prices up!

The Cats Whiskers’ original email included a link to an article: http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/stor...005384,00.html Go for it. And thanks Cats Whiskers!