A new Chinese restaurant - which promises to offer customers a healthier variant of such popular dishes as sesame chicken and fried rice - has opened its doors in downtown Covington.

China Dragon, located on Emory Street directly across from the Covington City Hall, has only been open for several weeks, but already it has attracted many repeat customers says the restaurant's owner, Sue Lin.

"Some people have already come four times," said Lin who has worked for the China Dragon company for the past 10 years in Texas.

On one hot bar and one salad bar China Dragon serves the standard selection of Chinese dishes - vegetarian fried rice, crab Rangoon, chicken with broccoli, black pepper shrimp and chicken, seafood delight, Mongolian pork etc.

What makes the food at China Dragon stand out and taste better, says Lin, is that it is all cooked in pure low-fat vegetable oil. Additionally there is no MSG in the food served at China Dragon according to Lin.

Among the dishes at China Dragon Lin said the restaurant's rice and noodles have become very popular with customers.

While this is the first China Dragon franchise in Newton County, Lin said other China Dragon franchises in Texas have been very popular - even going so far as to win several People's Choice Awards for Favorite Chinese Restaurant.

Since taking over the building from its previous occupants, Lin said the staff at China Dragon has worked extra hard cleaning the building (the restaurant recently received a 100 from the Health Department) and hanging colorful tapestries to give the restaurant a calm and soothing ambience which is accentuated by the pop piano music softly broadcast over the building's speakers.

"It's not too crowded," said Lin of her restaurant. "It's clean and beautiful and it makes you feel relaxed. We always keep the food fresh to keep the customers healthy."

A lunch buffet at China Dragon is $4.99 while the dinner buffet is $6.48.

Buffets for children ages 3-10 are $2.99 at lunch and $3.99 at dinner. All drinks are $.99. There is a ten percent discount for senior citizens.