Came to Chin Chin on a visit to Melbourne with a friend. It was packed to the rim even at 11pm when we arrived. Food was fresh and good quality. Food was served up quickly too. Menu had good variety to suit most tastebuds. If all else fails, there is a "Feed Me" option for $66pp and Chin Chin will whip up a selection of their favourites.
Ordered the Papaya Salad - if you are into spicy, this will knock your socks off. Right balance of flavours but may be too spicy for most. The barbecue pork was delicious. Service was attentive despite the crowd.
Would definitely be back to try other dishes.

Small true blue japanese joint offering great quality, fresh sashimi, sushi and other dishes. Always busy, so getting attention from the staff can be a slight challenge. Sashimi slices are thick and generous. However, price tips on the higher end of the scale, considering the lack of ambience in the restaurant decor and the quantity offered of the dishes.

Approximate cost: $25.00

Nice ambience, great scones and tea offering. Staff courteous. However, if you are a non-dairy person, perhaps not the right joint to go to. They are quite generous with their servings of cream and ice cream and anything diary related.
Also, quite a touristy place so does get crowded. Expect a long queue before you can get yourself into the tea room.

Nice local cafe for breakfast and catch up with friends, with a good variety of options on the menu for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. Good coffee as well. Courteous wait staff, decent sized servings which will make you full all day.

Beautiful ambience, in the compounds of the botanical gardens. Good quality, fresh ingredients used for every dish that came out to our table. For Entree, ordered the seared scallops (with celeriac, white anchovies, morel vinaigrette) and the Crisp Skinned Snapper (with vongole, fennel cream, white fungi & tapioca) for the main - both came out beautiful. Balanced taste, fresh, done just right. Wait staff were courteous and attentive.
Would definitely return again.

Approximate cost: $31

Came here with some friends for dinner. Good variety of options for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike. However, prices are quite steep. Ordered the Ship and Surf and it came with 2 small pieces of beef (nicely done, I have to admit), a stick of 3 small prawns and 2 rolled up pieces of calamari. For the price of $49, overall taste was only passable, not great. Have had better fare for the same price elsewhere with better quality ingredients and serving size.
Service is decent, waiters and waitresses courteous and thoughtful.

Approximate cost: $ave. $45

Great value, good quality, freshly made sushi. Good selection of sushi, side dishes and other stuff like hot pot noodles and salads. Probably not ideal for parents with kids in prams as the joint is rather small and gets packed up very quickly.

Good, fresh and tasty sushi and sashimi, decent variety on the belt as well as a la carte menu. Service is a little lacking but for a quick meal before or after a movie, it's good enough. Good Gyozas too.

Visited Farinha with a couple of friends for the first time and we found the joint pleasant, wait staff friendly, warm, courteous and obliging. Great concept of $35 "buffet" style whereby they will keep dishing out freshly made pizzas, pastas, salads, cure meats and bring them to your table throughout the length of your meal. You can choose to eat as much as you want or one dish or as little as you wish, or if you didn't like a dish they send out, you can reject it and they will offer it to the next table.
So there is no need to ponder on the menu for ages wondering what to have as they will put out a decent variety of different pizzas, pastas etc at regular intervals.
Alternatively, you can order from the a la carte.

Pizzas are thin crusted and pastas are hand made. Good quality food all round.

Some of the offerings we had were (just to name a few) seafood squid ink pasta, Spaghetti with picanha in mushroom sauce, beef with fettucinne in cream sauce, potato and blue cheese pizza, margarita pizza, pancetta potato and cheese pizza etc etc (and the list goes on).

Farinha will be open for Saturday and Sunday breakfasts as well from 10th August.

Approximate cost: $35

Great location, right smack in Fortitude Valley so it's very close to food and amenities. Short walk to the Fortitude Valley train station as well. Clean, decent size apartments but can be noisy if the apartment faces Robertson Street itself. Phone reception and internet reception (if you have your own wireless devices) rarely work and on occasions I had to sit out in the open area just to have a conversation on the phone or send an email.

The apartments are fixed with TV, Foxtel connection, a couch, coffee table and retro-coloured plastic stools line the kitchen bench where one can sit for their meals too.

Good rates for the location compared to some of the other apartments within the area.