MORE than 600 diners sampled food at new Oxford city centre restaurant Wasabi yesterday.

They queued up to take advantage of a special promotion at the Cornmarket Street store ahead of its official opening today.

The two-storey restaurant on the site of the former Vodafone shop is employing about 50 staff.

Spokesman Anthony Eadon said: “We open today and soon we will be serving customers on two floors.”

Wasabi launched in 2003 when it opened its first branch on London’s Embankment to sell handmade Japanese sushi.

Diners will be able to ‘grab and go’ dishes at an affordable price or have a meal in the restaurant.

As well as sushi there will also be hot food bento boxes featuring hearty Japanese classics like chicken katsu curry.

Customers can expect to pay from £4.49 to £7.99 for larger sharing sushi sets.

Nutritional fast food chain Leon is also preparing to open a new branch in Cornmarket, in a unit on the site of the former HMV store, which closed in 2014.

The restaurant will open before the end of the year and prospective staff have been interviewed.