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One of
London's highly-regarded Italian restaurants has closed after
undercover investigators filmed a catalogue of hygiene breaches.
They found
food stored by a doorless lavatory and being dripped on by a water
leak ; a chef was caught swigging from a bottle of cream -
transferring bacteria from her mouth onto diners' puddings and the
head chef failed to wash his hands between handling meat and chopping
an avocado.
Council
inspectors found inadequate pest control, staff smoking in food
storage areas, and the same equipment used for raw and ready-to-eat foods.
A food
hygiene consultant described conditions at the Chelsea establishment
L'Incontro in Pimlico Road, where a typical three-course meal for two
with wine is £120, as having "all the elements of
devastation". Matt Allwright, a presenter of BBC1's Rogue
Restaurants said: "We could knock out the top strata of
society just from the hygiene practices in this one establishment."
Westminster
council stripped the restaurant of its three hygiene stars and the
owners have now shut it. It is due to reopen under new managers and a
new kitchen team.
Mr Allwright,
who posed as a kitchen hand, found the food storage area was a
courtyard covered by a leaking roof. It was also next to a lavatory
without a door. A hidden camera recorded a tub of washed spinach next
to the lavatory where the head chef relieves himself.
Dr Lisa
Ackerley, a hygiene expert, said the proximity meant "faecal
matter could be sprayed all over the area". The
investigators also saw lobster and chicken dropped on the floor and
then served after a cursory rinse.
Dr Ackerley
said: "Put all those together in a filthy premises where
nobody cares and you have a food poisoning outbreak waiting to happen."
A lawyer for
L'Incontro's proprietors Charlotte and Cristiano Chiarin said "Problems
were identified in June. The restaurant has been closed by the
owners - it was not shut down - the site is being fully refurbished."
Ubon E14, the
much touted offshoot of Nobu has also closed suddenly but this time
not for health reasons but due to poor evening business.
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