Perth Road in Dundee was closed to traffic as firefighters fought an outbreak in the Spice Indian restaurant on Monday evening.
The alarm was raised shortly after 9pm when the smoke alarms sounded. The blaze was in a store room on the first floor of the two-storey building and quickly spread to the roofspace.
There were no customers in the restaurant at the time but four staff were present attending to various duties.
Tayside Fire and Rescue received a number of calls about the incident and sent five units to the scene, where they found smoke pouring from the first floor and the roofspace.
Firefighters with breathing apparatus made their way into the building and up to the store room to train a hose reel in the area of a freezer which seemed to be the source of the outbreak.
Another team in a hydraulic platform trained a jet on the roof to tackle the outbreak from above and prevent it from spreading to neighbouring buildings.
Firefighters brought the blaze under control but remained at the scene well into the night to ensure that it did not break out again.
The drama was witnessed by crowds of onlookers, some of them customers of the Art Bar and Drouthy Neebors, the two licensed premises next door which were evacuated as a precaution.
Keith Dyer, manager of the Blackness Road station, said that as Spice occupied an older building, his crews would remain for some time to ensure the outbreak was quelled.
The cause would be investigated, and he did not want to comment on the possible reason. It was also too early to give an estimate for the cost of the damage.
Mohammed Shakari (47), partner in the restaurant, said: ”The fire was in a room upstairs where we keep the freezer for holding the ice cream that we serve to our guests. The fire seemed to begin in the area of the freezer.
”I am pleased that no customers were in the dining area on the ground floor at the time. I don’t think the damage is too bad and I hope that we can open for business as normal on Tuesday.”
Jamie Adams (33), manager of the Art Bar, said: ”Our alarm went off just as we were about to start our quiz night. Our pub was quite busy and everyone rushed outside, and we saw smoke coming from the upstairs windows and the roof.”
With the entrance to the Art Bar being in the basement below Spice Restaurant, the pub was closed for the night.
Perth Road was completely closed outside the restaurant as a result of the fire, and buses and other traffic were rerouted.