A taste of the Orient has created 15 jobs at a new restaurant in Wrexham.
The fast-growing Real China chain has invested £500,000 in opening the eatery at the Eagles Meadow shopping centre.
The buffet-style restaurant is offering a mouth-watering selection of Asian delicacies alongside traditional Chinese dishes in a specialist food area.
It is the 24th restaurant in the nationwide Real China chain and the first to be based in North Wales.
Real China’s deputy managing director, Chen Zhang, said: “We are delighted to open this new buffet restaurant and its launch marks the culmination of a three-year project to have a presence in North Wales.
“We prefer to be in large leisure or shopping centres and we believe Eagles Meadow is therefore the perfect location for us.
“We have created Real China in Wrexham from what was a basic shell and have spent nearly half a million pounds on décor and equipment.
“Our aim was to create a high quality restaurant with an authentic yet modern Chinese look and to do that we had many of the fittings brought in specially from China.
“We are sure that people in Wrexham will appreciate the appearance and atmosphere we have created – and also very much enjoy the wide range of food we have.
“We have a selection of 40-60 dishes available at lunchtime and 60-80 at dinner, so we think we are offering a fantastic choice.
“Prices range from £5.95 per person on Monday-Friday lunchtime to £12.95 for dinner on Friday and Saturday, including a starter, main course and dessert.”
Chen Zhang, 43, added: “We did lots of market research before opening at Eagles Meadow which was all very positive, so we are confident the restaurant will be a success.
“We have created 15 full-time jobs at the new restaurant but we might eventually increase the staff to 20 depending on customer demand.”
After being welcomed to the restaurant via a large and stylish reception area, customers can order drinks at the bar and then select a starter from a cold area with salads, or an adjacent hot area with everything from soups to spare ribs.
They can then head for the main course area, which offers dishes ranging from sweet and sour chicken to mussels in black bean sauce.
A special food area at the rear of the restaurant has a wide selection of dishes both from China and other oriental countries, so there are curries from India, Thailand and Malaysia.
Next to this area is a Japanese sushi area serving ultra-fresh fish dishes and juicy-looking squid.
Finally, the dessert area features everything from fresh fruit to an appetising range of puddings and cakes.
Chen Zhang explained: “As can be seen from our special food area, the restaurant focuses on Chinese cuisine but not exclusively so. We also have a wide range of dishes from right across the Orient to tempt our customers.”
Eagles Meadow centre manager Kevin Critchley said: “We particularly wanted them at Eagles Meadow because of their reputation for providing a high level of fittings, food quality and customer service.
“The new restaurant has been created from a basic shell and is certainly very impressive – we are expecting great things from it.
“When I was there on its recent first night I spoke to a group of three young ladies who were dining. They told me they didn’t know the restaurant was there but just followed the delicious smell of food to the door of Real China. You can’t have a better recommendation that that.”
