A beloved family will open a Chinese take-out restaurant early next year at Magnolia Plaza in The Villages.
Husband-and-wife Min Zheng and Mei Chen came to The Villages more than a decade ago, building up their now-wildly popular China Gourmet III at Colony Plaza. The couple later opened China Gourmet IV at Lake Deaton Plaza.
Now they are venturing south of State Road 44 and will be opening China Chef at Magnolia Plaza, which is under construction at the entrance to the Village of Marsh Bend, near the Everglades Recreation Center.
The couple has signed a lease with The Villages for a 1,200-square-foot location at Magnolia Plaza. They are hoping to open the restaurant in the first quarter of 2021.
The family left Fujian Province on the southeast coast of mainland China nearly two decades ago with the dream of coming to the United States and running a restaurant.
