Restaurateur must go back to college
A Chinese restaurant in Manchester is joining forces with a local college to launch an Oriental cooking course because it can no longer find the chefs it needs.
The owners of the 140-seat Yang Sing are opening two new outlets in September in the city's Trafford Centre - a restaurant called the Cathay Dim Sum Bar and a fast-food kiosk called Orient Xpression.
It needs chefs for both and is teaming up with South Trafford College in Cheshire to launch the eight-week course.
Wing Shing Chu, director of the Cathay Dim Sum Bar, said he had good reason for not approaching chefs in Manchester's Chinese district. "They all have jobs and I don't want to become the most hated man in Chinatown," he joked.
He added: "In Hong Kong you can enjoy French meals so why can't chefs in England learn to cook Chinese food?"
Forty students will be taken on for a week of probationary training and 24 will be selected to proceed with the course, after which they will be offered full or part-time employment.
Yang Sing has donated specialist Chinese cookers, worth £10,000, to the college.
