Buffet Nightmare

Popular Chinese Restaurant, Buffet Star, breached several health and safety regulations and was threatened with immediate closure.

The self-service buffet restaurant, located on Hanover Street, was visitied six times between March and October 2012 by Health and Safety.

Chicken chow mein anyone?

One of the more serious breaches was evidence of rat droppings in the food storage rooms.  While it is uncertain as to whether rat droppings made it into the food, The Tab can confirm they certainly did not make it on to the menu.

Along with evidence of rat droppings, the restaurant:

• Defrosted chicken next to chicken that had already been cooked
• Failed to regularly clean rooms where food was being prepared
• Wear dirty clothes in the kitchen and allow the establishment to fall into a state of general filth and disrepair.

Health officials visited the premises on six occasions. Having found no noticeable improvement on the sixth visit, they were threatened with immediate closure.

Buffet Star was not closed immediately, despite the serious breaches

Owner John Wai Hui this week pleaded guilty to 20 counts of breaching health regulations and was forced to pay £24,000 in costs.

The Tab is left to question how this restaurant still remains open and why it took officials so long to take action. The high ratings it enjoys across internet reviews sites also begs the question as to whether the public really know what they are eating.

Like The Tab on Faceook and follow us on Twitter.