Roaches and filth: Popular Ipswich restaurant fails food standards

A company that operates 14 restaurants across Queensland has landed in hot water after their Ipswich store put customers at risk.

A company which operates a number of Indian restaurants across Queensland was found guilty of failing to comply with food standards after an inspector found pests, grime, and contamination issues at their Ipswich store.

Bombay Bliss at Springfield before it closed its doors. Picture: TripAdvisor

Ipswich City Council prosecutor Kevin Lynch said the Bombay Bliss restaurant at Springfield's Orion failed six consecutive health inspections from February to December 2020.

Mr Lynch said a senior inspector found cockroaches throughout the store, seafood thawed at dangerous temperatures, improper hand cleaning facilities, a build-up of food and grime on multiple cooking facilities, which even included the fire extinguisher.

The court heard the restaurant’s operation was most concerning because despite being spoken to about the breaches it continued to operate in an unsafe manner.

The re-occurring issues Mr Lynch said, revolved around a build-up of food and grime on the stove tops, dials, knobs, and the rice cooker which was obviously integral to most dishes.

Bombay Bliss at Springfield before it closed its doors. Picture: TripAdvisor

The inability to provide staff with single use paper towels to ensure clean hand hygiene was also a re-occurring issue, along with cross-contamination issues such as utensils “laden with food build up” being stored with clean utensils.

Mr Lynch said the offending continued over a period of years and after repeatedly breaching standards the council was forced to take criminal action even though it had threatened to cancel Bombay Bliss’s food license in 2019.

Acting Magistrate Seaholm said the restaurant was clearly putting the community’s health at risk by not adhering to food standards.

Magistrate Seaholme fined the company $40,000 after it was found guilty of 25 charges of failing to comply with the requirements of section 39(1) of the food standards code.

Springfield Orion’s dining area, south of Ipswich where a number of chain foodarys operate. Picture: Steve Ryan

The company director of RSLAL PTY LTD T/A Bombay Bliss, S. Kumar was required in court but sent a late email saying he wasn’t appearing due to Covid-19 symptoms.

The court heard Kumar was given a stern warning that the case would be proceeding on February 3 at the Ipswich Magistrates Court because it had already been “dragged” out for over a year.

Magistrate Seaholme said he was content to proceed without Kumar but noted he had the right to appeal the case.

Bombay Bliss closed the Springfield store in 2020 and handed their license in although it continues to run other restaurants across Queensland.