Lin's Chinese Restaurant

I seem to be eating in lots of Chinese restaurants at the moment!  Lin's Chinese Restaurant is situated upstairs on Kilmore St, across from the Crown Plaza hotel and near the casino.  For a long time, this restaurant was called China Town Seafood restaurant.  Then a couple of years ago, they had new owners and re-designed the whole place.  It is now more modern with more special dishes, although the price range had also gone up accordingly.

It was Christmas Eve, and we had a family dinner with some family friends at Lin's.  We ordered several dishes to share, and also had a large bowl of soup and rice.



Secret eggplants



The secret eggplants came in a foil parcel.  The waiter then cut into the parcel to reveal the secret - eggplants with a tomato-based sauce.  The eggplants were nicely cooked and the sauce with tomato were sweet and complimented the sweetness of the eggplants.  I preferred this sauce over the one from North & South.  It was a lovely dish and something different from the other restaurants.



Golden prawns



The golden prawns were delicious prawns deep fried and covered with tasty bread crumbs.  This dish goes well with rice, even the crumbs alone are good to eat with a bowl of rice.  The dish did come with more prawns, but we couldn't help digging in before I had the chance to take a photo!



Steamed fresh blue cod



The steamed fresh blue cod with ginger, spring onion, and soy sauce was fresh and delicious.  It was nice to see the whole fish, eyes and all.  Although we were not particularly impressed with the price tag.  We were told the fresh blue cod would be more expensive, but the cost was not specified.  Apparently this dish cost $88.  Not quite sure it was worth that much.



Black pepper sizzling beef



The sizzling beef with black pepper was a reasonable dish, with strong black pepper flavour coming though.



Pork in sweet bean sauce with pancakes



This dish was similar to Peking duck, which came with the savoury pancakes.  The pork was cooked with a sweet bean sauce, and was meant to be eaten wrapped in the savoury pancakes.  The sweet bean sauce was a bit salty for me, but the pancakes was good, and was soft and warm.  A good alternative to Peking duck.



Sizzling golden tofu



Soft golden tofu were deep fried and placed on a sizzling plate.  The golden tofu were soft and delicate in the middle and slightly crunchy on the outside.  A great dish especially when eaten warm.



Mixed vegitables with mushrooms



The vegitable dish was good and I liked the mushrooms which were meaty and had soaked up the sauce well.



Deep fried green beans


I do like a good grean bean dish.  This dish had deep fried green beans which were flavoursome and crunchy, and the mince added extra flavour.  It was also nice and spicy.

Overall a nice dinner with some special dishes not seen in other restaurants.  The ingredients were of good quality and fresh.  The restaurant was bright and clean, and service was also satisfactory.  The price tag was more expensive than most other Chinese restaurant, but still reasonable when compared with Western food restaurants.  The dinner came to approximately $25 each person at the end.  I would come back again, but will be careful next time when ordering fresh seafood with a P.O.A price tag.

Update:  Unfortunately Lin's had closed following the Christchurch earthquakes.


Lin's Chinese Restaurant
71 Kilmore Street
Christchurch
(03) 377 7087