A new restaurant could be opening in one of Norwich's shopping malls.

The restaurant chain Cafe Rouge is applying for a premises licence for one of the units in Chapelfield shopping centre, and a notice of Cafe Rouge's application to Norwich City Council has been posted on the unit which used to house the clothes store Esprit before it closed at the end of last month.

A Cafe Rouge spokesman told the Evening News: 'We are currently looking into opening a second Caf� Rouge restaurant in Norwich. We are unable to comment further at this time.'

The restaurant chain, which describes itself as serving classic French dishes with a contemporary twist and bringing the essence of the Parisian cafe culture to the UK, already has one Norwich restaurant which is in Exchange Street.

Earlier this month the Cafe Rouge website was advertising for an assistant manager for a new restaurant opening in Norwich.

The advert said: 'This new restaurant is due to open in Norwich in September 2012.'

Cafe Rouge is part of the Tragus group which also owns the restaurant chain Bella Italia.

There are more than 100 Cafe Rouge restaurants across the country.

Another new restaurant planned to open in Norwich is Jamie's Italian.

As previously reported, the Jamie Oliver eatery is due to open in the former Waterstones site in the city's Royal Arcade in the summer.