CHIN CHIN is located at 216 East 49th Street (Katharine Hepburn Place) between Second and Third avenues.


Scroll down to read what people have to say about CHIN CHIN.




Chef de Cuisine Chin Hing Kuen with our signature tea-smoked duck. Photo courtesy of The New York Times.

Deborah Baldwin of THE NEW YORK TIMES writes:
Chin Chin is so chichi it calls itself a "restaurant chinois." You can take some of the starch out of the experience by ordering in. Clams in ginger broth ($5), tea-smoked duck ($17.50) and scallops Mandolay ($18) - 14 fat scallops pan-fried and sauced with ginger, sweet peppers and mushrooms - traveled nearly 14 blocks within 30 minutes, as promised, and stayed close to steaming. With its one-page delivery menu (what, no General Tso?) it's a place for something grander than egg rolls and wonton soup.
(Delivered Pies and More in Midtown, March 2, 2005)


Cindy Adams of THE NEW YORK POST writes:
Chin Chin, the classy Chinese restaurant on East 49th. The main man, Jimmy Chin, says to an old-friend diner: "Vuss machts du?" A nearby patron looks up from devouring his dumplings to ask: "How come you can say, 'How are you?' in perfect Yiddish?" Reaching into his shirt, Chin pulls out a Jewish medal. "I'm a Chinese Jew," he says. Only in New York, kids, only in New York.
(August 26, 2004)


Liz Smith of THE NEW YORK POST writes:
...SINCE I have never had even a free drink, let alone a meal at the East 49th Street restaurant Chin Chin, let me unequivocally say that their Grand Marnier shrimp is one of New York's grandest and most surprising dishes. Go try it! And note all the good-looking "with-it" patrons as well as those big tough guys there at night entertaining their daughters. It's an amazing restaurant, just off Third Avenue near Smith & Wollensky.
(July 26, 2001)


Reviews from the ZAGAT SURVEY:

[2006] "The crowd always looks happy" at this longtime "gourmet" Midtown Chinese
where "familiar" dishes manage to seem "fresh and different" thanks to their "beautiful
preparation"; "superior" service further justifies the "high-end" price tag.

[2005] "Classic" and "civilized", this "designer" Midtown Chinese "never fails", offering
a "top-flight" menu highlighted by its "one-of-a-kind Grand Marnier shrimp"; if pricing is
similarly "top-shelf", most feel "you get a lot" in return.

[2004] Waiters bearing platters of "tremendously toothsome" dishes (including "fab Grand
Marnier shrimp") "treat you like an emperor" at this "upscale", "unpretentious" Midtown
Chinese; for such "gourmet" experiences, expect to "take it on the chin" when the bill comes.