Fisherton Street welcomes new restaurant Lah Koh

Lah Koh, in Fisherton Street, aims to promote healthy eating by serving Asian-inspired food low in sodium, saturated fats and sugar, alongside fresh artisan coffee, raw juices and smoothies.

The man behind it is 23-year-old Shaun Wu, Salisbury born and bred, who took over the premises from his parents and former owners of The Dragon.

"Growing up in a restaurant environment I sort of always wanted to be part of it too," he said.

"My parents have always had a buffet restaurant and the trouble with that is that you've got people getting up, touching the same utensils... now with social distancing, it's not appropriate at all that's why we've completely changed what we want to do and we've come up with the healthy eating concept.

Lah Koh on Fisherton Street

"We've designed the restaurant to be as Covid secure as possible, with a one-way system, the food is made by chefs who are socially-distanced. We've designed it so it fits in with the restrictions."

Joining Shaun in his new venture is former classmate Alex Stagg, who attended Salisbury Cathedral School with him, and a small group of friends.

Seven of them are full-time while four have been employed on a part-time basis.

Getting the business up and running in time for the launch has been a "family and friends effort".

"With the current circumstances we decided to do a lot of the work ourselves, we've all been working together to make things as nice as possible, fitting carpets and coming up with nice aesthetic ideas for the restaurant."

He added: "It was just a vacant premises before we started doing all the works. We've got a few big premises in the town boarded up now so we hope that we can reverse the trend."

Lah Koh will open tomorrow (November 20) for takeaway. After lockdown, customers will be able to dine-in.

Orders can be made online, over the phone or through the restaurant's touch screens.

Lah Koh is also available on Deliveroo.