Xanadu on Collins

About

Taste the fresh, taste the different. Chinese cuisine restaurant.

Story

Xanadu on Collins might bring the '80s musical fantasy film of some moniker to mind for some, but for Ben Ye, it has a whole new meaning.
Stepping inside the Edge Hill restaurant, there are certainly no '80s themes, leg warmers over tights, or Olivia Newton-John daggy musical numbers. Ben's intention was to create his "little place to relax", something he wants his customers to share.
From the relaxing swinging chair outside to the little pot of oolong tea Ben serves during his interview, it seems in the seven weeks Xanadu on Collins launched, Ben has already found his piece of paradise.
Ben struggles to find the words to express what his Xanadu means, and he turns to his daughter, Valerie, who is unpacking chairs and tables in the lead-up to their lunch trade.
"It means like 'beauty and wilderness', " she says. "Dad's life was very busy."
A gruelling job running his own tour business, Dynasty Travel Services, and the love of his "little one" - Valerie - 14 - led Ben on a path to Xanadu on Collins.
While running the business he would receive hundreds of calls a day, work all hours of the night, and on one occasion managed two hours' sleep in five days.
"Last year, the Chinese New Year coincided with cyclone season and it nearly killed me," Ben says.
"When i heard the cyclone was coming (Cyclone Yas), I wanted to take my little girl somewhere else but i couldn't leave with the tour bus service here."
Ben worked as the head chef of a Perth restaurant for 11 years before visiting Cairns. - Cairns Post