Honiton Chinese restaurant serves over 1,000 free meals to NHS heroes

A family-run Chinese restaurant on Honiton High Street is one of many reasons the town can be proud of how the community has come together in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.

The Bird's Nest, run by Ben Lee and his dedicated team, has now served over 1,000 meals 'on the house' for NHS staff since the lockdown began back in March.

The outbreak of the virus saw tensions run high and some of the negative feelings directed towards Chinese people. As 'local lad' Ben explains, "I'm all about focussing on the positive and didn't experience anything personally; but I'll be honest, I could sense tension there."

That, along with the fact that Ben has a number of close family members who work locally within the NHS, spurred him to take immediate action once lockdown was announced.

"Straight away I thought what can I do to help and especially initially, shopping in supermarkets was really tricky - even just popping in for milk - so by providing cooked meals for NHS staff I was able to provide a valuable service, which I've kept going throughout," Ben told Honiton Nub News.

"I create a new menu each week, which is posted onto The Birds Nest Facebook page and NHS staff can phone up, place their order; then are able to come and collect it with no one else in the restaurant and take it straight home to minimise any risk.

"I'm so thankful to my amazing team for making it possible.

"We serve staff at Honiton Hospital, Ambulance crew and members of the Devon Freewheelers - on one evening we had six or seven ambulances parked outside the restaurant.

"Honiton is a really lovely town to live in and we are grateful to be part of a community like this."