A BOLTON restaurant's search for new chefs started at a local JobCentre -- but finished 6,000 miles away.

Restaurant managers at Mai Thai, in Chorley New Road, Horwich, placed an advert for a Thai chef at Bolton JobCentre last November but were dismayed not to receive any applications for the job after seven months.

Only a desperate call to Thailand found any takers for the posts and the eaterie now boasts two new Thai chefs.

Manager Vicky Harding said: "It became a bit of a running joke with the JobCentre but we just couldn't find anyone.

"Eventually, we decided that the only way round it was to use some of our contacts in Thailand, where we get a lot of our food.

"Authentic Thai chefs are in short supply because their skills are very specialist and the number of new restaurants has exploded over the past couple of years."

After a string of hold-ups over work permits, Rank Chukean and Kanjana Antaisoong joined the restaurant's kitchen last month.

They will work alongside Bangon O'Brien-King and Wanida Pye, who have been at the restaurant since it opened 11 months ago.

"It's turned out very well for us in the end. We've now got four Thai nationals working for us in the kitchen so no-one can say we're not authentic," added Vicky.

"They've settled in well. They were quite surprised at how busy we were and at how popular Thai food is.

"As well as helping us out we hope we're giving them an opportunity to get experience of another culture and improve their English."