WATERVILLE -- A new Chinese-American restaurant on College Avenue will open in April.

Owned and operated by husband-and-wife team Tommy and Betty Leung of Winslow, it will offer Cantonese, Szechwan and Mandarin entrees, in addition to a buffet that they said will be similar to the one featured in the Peking Hut, a restaurant they operated for 20 years in Winslow.

The Leungs expect their new restaurant, Shin Lee Lau, will be competitive in a town that already has several other Chinese restaurants, Betty said.

"We had an excellent clientele from our other restaurant, and, since we've been back in town, people have been asking us about it, telling us that they missed Tommy's cooking," she said. "We hope that all our old customers will come see us."

Betty Leung said they have rehired several of their former employees from the Winslow restaurant, which they closed in 2003 to be closer to their children. Tommy will continue as the chief cook, and Betty will handle business affairs, as they did at Peking Hut.

The new restaurant is opening at the site of former Jade Island Restaurant, which closed about a month ago. Betty said she was told that the former owners of Jade Island had moved back to China.

No exact date has been set for the new restaurant's opening. The Leungs are working to renovate the building, gutting and refurbishing the kitchen and fixing leaks in the roof. They will make an announcement when the building is ready, and issue an invitation to both former and potential new customers.

"We will still offer the same great buffet that we always had," Betty said.

Central Maine has seen an influx of Asian restaurants over the past 10 years. A 29-year-old telephone book listed only three Chinese food restaurants from Skowhegan to Augusta.

Since that time, dozens of Asian restaurants have appeared from Farmington to Farmingdale.

Offerings at the various restaurants include dishes such as eel Maki rolls, Singapore noodles, Saigon spices and lemongrass tea with egg rolls, Pu Pu platters and Kung Pao chicken. They originate from the countries of China, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam and Korea.

Joel Elliott -- 861-9252

jelliott@centralmaine.com