A UNIQUE dining experience will soon be on offer with the opening of an Oriental dim sum restaurant.

Amah Rock will be based at the former Woolverton House Hotel in Woolverton, near Rode in Somerset.

The refurbished restaurant and bedrooms will be opening officially in the second week of May and it promises to offer diners a truly special taste of the Orient.

Rowena Smith, who has set up the restaurant after running a similar one in London, said: "I was born and bred in Hong Kong and opened a dim sum bar in Clerkenwell in London a while ago.

"The chef I had there was the first Chinese chef in London to get a Michelin star and came from the Dorchester to work there.

"What I'm trying to do is make Amah Rock a place for local people so the rooms are secondary to the restaurant."

Mrs Smith describes dim sum as Chinese tapas' where there are lots of small dishes to share followed by noodle and rice dishes.

It consists of a wide variety of meat, seafood and vegetables dishes often including dumplings, spring rolls and meatballs.

Dim sum chefs are apprenticed at a very young age and spend many years perfecting their art to create each type of intricate dish.

The name Amah Rock comes from a famous rock on a hilltop in Hong Kong, which is a popular tourist destination.

The hotel has been re-decorated with Asian influences including furnishings from places like Thailand and Vietnam.

The chef running Amah Rock is moving to the area with his wife from a restaurant in Chinatown in London.

Mrs Smith said: "He is very competitive and wants to win awards for his cooking - we are all very excited about it.

"But it is a bit scary as well - some of the furniture only arrived last week while a conference was going on at the hotel."

She also hopes to have Oriental-style barbecues in the hotel's garden during the summer.

FACT FILE:

  • Amah Rock (01373) 830415.
  • Open Tuesday-Friday 12-3pm and 6pm until late, and Saturday and Sunday 12pm until late.
  • Plenty of parking.
  • Children welcome until 7pm.
  • The hotel has 15 bedrooms from £110 per night.