At dinner yesterday, Liu Anhua was busy frying spicy chicken on the side of the road in Yushu prefecture, Qinghai Province. The delicious chilly pepper could be smelled far away. Soon after, Liu opened the restaurant and began distributing free box dinners to local Tibetans, rescuers and volunteers.

Liu doesn't speak the Tibetan language, but when the locals swallowed down the food, thumbs up with a big smile, he felt more content than ever. It was probably the biggest thing the 36-year-old man had done in his life.

"I felt sad when seeing local people eat instant noodle all the day," Liu said.

Liu' s restaurant was the first restaurant to reopen in Yushu following the 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck April 14. Though his restaurant collapsed in the quake, he decided to open another one with his friend Ning Jian.

"We are from the epicenter of the 2008 earthquake," Ning said. "I can't forget how the others rushed to help us from all over the country. We are cooks. All we can do is cook, so we decided to open this restaurant."

Liu and Ning came from Beichuan County, Sichuan Province, where an 8.0-magnitude earthquake killed almost 70,000 people in 2008. Liu's home was destroyed in the quake, and he went to Yushu to seek a new life.

With a zero-interest bank loan of 40,000 yuan (US$5,858), he opened a restaurant and worked day and night with his wife. "I want to pay back my loan as soon as possible," Liu said. He almost met the goal last week before the earthquake hit.

After he and Ning decided to open a new restaurant, they went to county officials to ask for help. The officials gave them some tents. In the following days, the two began to "search for all usable things." Liu found pork in three refrigerators from the rubbles of his old restaurant. Ning got in touch with a market and managed to get some bags of rice.

Eight days after the quake, a restaurant opened in three makeshift tents, attracting a huge crowd of people.

On the first day, about 800 people came to the restaurant. On the second day, some 1,000 food boxes were sent out. Liu, the chef, began to think hard on how to make different dishes with available materials.

Now well-known in Yushu, the restaurant has received many materials from volunteers and people. Ning said they had spent a lot of money but had no time to think about the future. "We will do our best to keep the restaurant running until life returns to normal," he said.

The earthquake has left 2,187 dead and 12,135 injured.