No, you're not in Chinatown but Little India.

China nationals are being hired by more eateries there. A check with 15 restaurants in the area found that 11 of them have done so.

The owners told The Sunday Times that the Chinese workers are usually hired as cleaners rather than service staff because of the language barrier. Most are work permit holders, speak little English, work an average of 10 hours a day and earn about $1,000 a month.

The Little India restaurant owners said they had to turn to Chinese workers because of the labour crunch.

Mr Selvan Anbalagan, 37, who runs vegetarian restaurant Chellas in Serangoon Road, said Singaporeans are not keen to work in Indian restaurants here.

The seven Singaporean waiters working in his restaurant are all part-timers.

So when China nationals were allowed to work in the service industry two years ago, he hired two of them. They do the washing and cleaning.

He explained: 'To be a waiter means being able to speak English as customers may want to know more about the menu. So language is a problem.'

Mr G. Shanmugam, president of the Indian Restaurant Association of Singapore, pointed out that its members want to hire Indian nationals, but they can hire only those holding an S-pass or employment pass.

This means an employer seeking an Indian waiter might need to hire someone with relevant qualifications and a minimum wage of $1,800 under current regulations.

The result is that most restaurants would prefer to hire Indian nationals as chefs under the S-pass.

Mr Shanmugam, who owns Gayatri Restaurant, said most customers have been receptive to the China nationals.

'But some customers ask us why we are not giving jobs to local Indians,' said Mr Shanmugam, who has two workers from China. They do the cleaning at his restaurant in Race Course Road.

China workers interviewed said they did not choose to work in Indian restaurants here. It was arranged by their agents.

(kojakbt: just go figure where the money these Chinese workers paid go to... typically $8-10K upfront money to secure the job)

Jilin native Chang Ye, 28, has been one of Mr Shanmugam's workers for nearly two years. He was told he would work in the service line but did not expect to be a cleaner.

He said the different cultures can make work tough. 'I speak very little English so it's hard to communicate with my colleagues. I'm not used to the food too,' he said.

Among those who have managed to overcome the cultural barrier is Fujian native Lin Jun Xiong. The 21-year-old started out doing cleaning in Ananda Bhavan, in Selegie Road, two years ago. Since then, he has picked up some Tamil, and today mans the cash register and can even make a mean roti prata as well as thosai for customers.

He learnt it from watching his colleagues at work.

'It's quite similar to the jian bing (Chinese pancake) we have in China.'

He also got a Singaporean colleague to teach him how to read the menu and he is already an attraction of sorts.

Customers would buy snacks from him because they are amused by a Chinese who can speak Tamil.

Ms Shahida Dana, 35, is one satisfied customer. 'He makes thosai even better than the Indians,' she insisted.