The Geelong Football Club will soon be welcoming popular South-East Asian eatery Chin Chin to its home ground at the GMHBA Stadium as part of a one-year pop-up.
Aptly named Club Chin Chin, the restaurant will be located within the new 40,000-person Joel Selwood Stand, which was unveiled on 16 March, at the AFL Round 1 match between Geelong and St Kilda. The grandstand was built as part of the final stage of the GMHBA stadium redevelopment.
“We are thrilled to be welcoming Chris Lucas and executive chef Benjamin Cooper to GMHBA Stadium to bring a world-class dining option to our fans and locals in Club Chin Chin,” Geelong Football Club CEO Steve Hocking said.
For footy fans, they will be able to book a table before a game at Club Chin Chin where executive chef Benjamin Cooper’s popular Feed Me menus, as well as an a la carte menu featuring some of his signature dishes will be available. Locals will also be able to visit the restaurant for lunch and dinner.
“As a boy from Geelong, it is beyond my wildest dreams to be able to bring one of Australia’s most loved restaurants to my hometown, and the home of my beloved AFL team the Geelong Cats,” said restaurateur Chris Lucas.
Lucas added that while Club Chin Chin is a pop-up for now, he won’t rule out the idea of making it a permanent Chin Chin location.
“We would love to stay in Geelong forever,” he said.
“If everyone loves the restaurant, then why wouldn’t we. We’ll be using this opportunity to work closely with the Geelong Football Club to be a positive addition to the local area, by providing employment opportunities and giving back to the community.”
Club Chin Chin is set to officially open in late April.
Eight of us had a lovely dinner at chin chin after trying for a while to get a booking
So great to see a Melbourne institution come to geelong There’s been lots of hype and excitement about getting such a well respected group to embrace our community
That said, although the food was wonderful, we were very confronted by the volume of the music from arriving at the front door until leaving the venue Communication with our fellow guests and the wait staff was nearly impossible
Is it even remotely necessary to bombard your guests with that level of noise?
We tried to address with a number of the staff but they indicated that it was not negotiable
The food is too good to put people off by the ambience being abrasive