TWO days before last Mother's Day and with 200 bookings at his eatery David Lee faced the biggest disaster of his business history.
There was a fire in the kitchen of his New Aromas Cafe in Gymea which he owns and where he is the chef.
The three staff members who were in the kitchen at the time of the fire were not injured but the business was, and as a result of the incident, some of his employees had to seek new jobs.
Mr Lee had become the owner of the cafe, formerly called Aromas, in April 2014 and it was not until last month he was able to reopen for breakfast and lunch.
Friday, December 11 marked a turning point for him when the cafe began serving dinners on Fridays and Saturdays.
Since the fire there have been some changes.
"We've refreshed the menu, kept some of the old favourites and, of course, have refurbished," he said.
As chef Mr Lee, of Chinese descent from Malaysia, has included Asian and Mediterranean-style dishes on the new menu.
As well as keeping some of his signature dishes Mr Lee has now added lighter, summery selections such as peppered crusted tuna salad, Asian greens, soy and ginger dressings, crispy skin salmon, crushed potato and fennel and orange salads.
Recently New Aromas Cafe was awarded five stars by the American travel website company company TripAdvisor for its consistency in services after its customers nominated it for the award.
New Aromas Cafe is located at 2 Gymea Bay Road, Gymea.
Details: 9524 0971.