A NEW Chinese restaurant in Angel Street is set to open its doors this coming Monday, January 22, bringing a derelict building back to life.

U Canteen will open in the site formerly occupied by all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet, Angel Chef.

That restaurant abruptly closed in 2015 and the premises have been left empty ever since.

Staff at the new restaurant, U Canteen, say they are hoping to replicate the atmosphere of a China Town right here in Worcester.

The enigmatic manager, who told the Worcester News that he was known as James and lives in Birmingham, said U Canteen would stand out on the restaurant scene.

“There are already so many buffets in Worcester so we have decided to go for the more traditional Chinese dishes, and try not to adapt to the English style of cooking,” he said.

“It is not going to be an expensive place. Most of the main dish meals will work out to be around £7.”

James will later be joined by his business partner from Nottingham, where together they have already established a small U Canteen restaurant which has proved to be successful.

With the University of Worcester just up the road from Angel Street, James said that U Canteen is hoping to attract many students.

He said the name U Canteen had been chosen because canteens are synonymous with students.

“We always have a young heart,” he said. “Students play a big part of the business in Nottingham, most of our customers are students. I hope this will be the case for Worcester as well.”

James said that, in the future, he hopes to expand the new U Canteen restaurant to include a bubble tea bar.

Bubble tea is a sweet drink originally from Taiwan and, in its basic form, consists of tea mixed with milk or fruit syrup and small balls of tapioca.

The restaurant will be open Monday to Sunday from 12 noon to 10pm from this coming Monday.

Angel Chef was blighted with negative press during its time in Angel Street, Worcester.

As well as critical reviews from many customers, there were raids from immigration officials after the UK Border Agency received reports of employees working there illegally.

For more Worcester news and restaurant reviews, see worcesternews.co.uk