Leon and Jo Chin are back at their Peel Street Chinese and Malaysian restaurant almost a year after the kitchen was extensively damaged in an overnight blaze.

Mrs Chin said it was “lovely” to welcome diners into the venue once more after so many months away. 

“So many regular customers have come in and said, ‘Finally, you’ve come back’,” she said.

“It was so lovely to see everyone come back.

“It was not like a restaurant – more like a party or a reunion or something.”

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The blaze on August 30, 2017, took 16 firefighters from Tamworth’s two stations to bring under control.

The rest of the fit-out was too smoke-damaged to be saved.

Mrs Chin said, however, their greatest concern had been how to retain their eight mostly full-time kitchen staff, and 11 part-time floor staff.

“We didn’t want to lose them,” she said.

“We didn’t know when we were going to reopen, but we wanted to keep the whole team if possible.”

So the couple and their staff were divvied up between their South Tamworth Bowling Club restaurant and a new one set up temporarily at Oxley Bowling Club.

Mr Chin said it had been crowded and there was also the challenge of “learning the new environment and running of that restaurant” but “we managed to keep most of them”.

Some had even taken jobs in other cities only to return to their old workplace when it was ready for them, Mrs Chin said.

She said much of the new fit-out had been sourced in China, for authenticity, and installed by locals.

One irreplaceable item they really regretted losing was a collection of about 10 awards they’d won over the years.

The first few days back at the restaurant they’ve owned for 13 years was busy and challenging, the Chins said.

They said they wanted to thank the emergency service workers who had been so prompt in responding to and putting out the fire, their staff for sticking with them, and their diners for their “overwhelming support”.