Melbourne Nepalese restaurant Old Durbar Flinders exposed public after food act breaches

A cockroach-infested Melbourne restaurant strewn with rat droppings exposed diners to deadly diseases “lurking in the background”.

Health inspectors shut down Melbourne Nepalese restaurant Old Durbar Flinders after discovering grotty conditions including rodent and cockroach activity. Supplied.

A grubby Melbourne restaurant infested with rats and cockroaches and littered with rodent droppings could have risked customers to deadly diseases, a magistrate declared.

The owner of city restaurant Old Durbar Flinders pleaded guilty at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Thursday to multiple food safety act breaches.

The City of Melbourne prosecuted Old Durbar Flinders owner Ramesh KC Pty Ltd after a customer complained about an “alleged sighting of pests” at the Nepalese eatery.

A council health inspector who investigated detected multiple alarming food safety breaches at the prominently placed venue directly opposite Flinders St Station.

The court heard the inspector eyeballed grotty conditions throughout the premises including “cockroach activity” in a bar cupboard.

Cockroaches were also discovered nestled above and beneath the dishwasher and in gaps along the wall.

Fridge temperatures were found to be at dangerously high levels and more cockroaches were also discovered in the kitchen.

Rodent droppings were also discovered in a storage shelf above a food preparation bench and on other kitchen shelves.

Cockroach and rat droppings found at Old Durbar Flinders.

Exposed food was also discovered in the fridge and freezer units and the stove and ovens were found to be dirty with grease build up and “other visible matter”.

A benchtop chopping board was stained due to inadequate cleaning and grease was found built up on the floors and wall of the kitchen.

The rear door to the alleyway allowed “pest entry” to the restaurant, the court was told.

“Heavy rodent droppings” were also discovered throughout the dry storage area and on multiple food packets.

The court heard several food items and containers were found to be “contaminated” and cockroaches were also discovered in the rear food storage area.

The inspector also observed a live rodent scurrying along the shelf of a food storage area.

Cockroach found near food.

Conditions in the dry store including unrequited equipment “enabled the harbourage and breeding of pests”.

The inspector immediately advised the chef all “contaminated food items” will be seized and the council will be enforcing a food act closure order.

The council ordered Old Durbar Flinders, which was first registered in October 2021, shut its doors on June 20.

The owners were also ordered to affix a food act closure order notice in a prominent position at the entrance of the restaurant.

The restaurant was ordered to remain closed until the owners had rectified grubby conditions and could not reopen until it was safe to serve food to the public.

The owner, represented at court by co-director Suganya Navaratnam, closed its doors but defied council orders to display the notice.

Food was prepared in grubby cleaning areas.

Inspectors swarmed the restaurant the next day and found some breaches had been rectified but “significant rodent activity” was “still evident”.

Old Durbar Flinders reopened after all breaches had been rectified and the closure order was revoked on June 23.

The court heard inspectors examined Old Durbar Flinders again on August 19 but the restaurant passed without any further breaches.

The defence submitted the owners, who the court heard also run Old Durbar Brunswick and have 15 employees across its two locations, were “remorseful and embarrassed”.

“It was a disappointment they found themselves in this position,” the defence submitted.

However, Magistrate Abigail Burchill was scathing in her evaluation of the operating standards.

“It would’ve been plain even before the health inspections … (the owners) were running a filthy, disgusting kitchen would put the public at risk, so where was the remorse then,” she said.

Grotty food preparation area and badly stained benchtop chopping board.

“This was otherwise a business that was operating properly … it got away from them at the last minute,” the defence answered.

“I disagree … this takes a long time to build what happened and what was seen in this inspection …,” Magistrate Burchill responded.

“No one should be in the restaurant business if that’s going to happen to them …

“Imagine if you were eating there and I was in the back of that restaurant and all of those rat droppings everywhere and disgusting kitchen and food is being served …

“Without people even knowing what was lurking in the background … which was filth.”

Rat crap and nestling material on dry store shelf.

The defence also submitted the owners were “overwhelmed” and another Nepalese restaurant owner in the area also had “challenges in dealing with pest control”.

“It’s about (what the public is exposed to) … the filth, especially the rodent droppings and the diseases that can spread …,” Magistrate Burchill said.

“Things like listeria … there have been deaths from that in Melbourne … and there is the risk to pregnant women if they’re eating at a place like this

“It isn’t just about taking pride in the business it is about what the community and public face and protection of the community is a particularly important …

Rats nibbled through food packaging to gnaw at produce.

“The environmental health inspection (on June 19) is shocking … it showed a filthy kitchen with rodent activity and droppings …

“This is the exact kind of activity which is present in many harmful diseases that have hurt and damaged the community and public … particularly with listeria …

“The filth of this kitchen was a magnet for pests … the condition of the kitchen was plainly unacceptable for anybody running a restaurant business …”

Ramesh KC Pty Ltd avoided a conviction but was fined $2000 and ordered to pay $4780 in court costs.