A ‘fine-dining’ restaurant in Leicester has been given a zero food hygiene rating due to serious cross-contamination concerns and ‘poor’ cleaning standards.

Varanasi, in High Street, Leicester, has been given the poor hygiene rating after an inspection by Leicester City Council’s Food Safety Team on March 12.

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Varanasi is an Indian fine-dining restaurant in Leicester which touts itself as the ‘best’ in the city, with a similar branch also located in Birmingham.

The West Midlands branch also received a one out of five with “major improvement necessary”, according to the Food Standards Agency, with zero being the lowest score possible.

According to a report, inspectors ordered ‘immediate’ changes to the way the restaurant operates and prepares its food after they found the same surface in the kitchen was being used for preparing raw meat and plating up cooked rice.

It also found that chefs were using the “same cutting board … being used for raw and cooked/ready to eat foods” as well as “fish [being] stored in the shelf
above cooked foods in the refrigerator drawers”, with food safety teams fearing that raw meat may “drip or fall into items below”.

Leicester City food chiefs told Varanasi it needed to “use separate work surfaces for raw and ready to eat foods” and, if not, it must “prepare these foods at different times with adequate cleaning and disinfection of the work surfaces between uses”.

Food inspectors also found that the same table was being used for both desserts and ready-to-eat food – but was located next to the raw meat freezer, forcing food chiefs to tell the restaurant to “rearrange the layout of the
equipment and work surfaces to prevent cross-contamination”

The report also found that Varanasi had “no hot water to the wash hand
basins in the kitchen” and that “soap was watered down”. Inspectors also found multiple pieces of equipment were ‘dirty’ including the meat freezer, food containers and bar equipment.

Staff also had an ‘inadequate’ level of food hygiene awareness according to inspectors and restaurant bosses were not carrying out food safety checks that were “critical to food safety”.

Food inspectors also found that information about allergens was ‘not correct’, leading them to tell the restaurant to “not serve any customer who asks about the allergen content of dishes or identifies themselves as having a food allergy”.

As a result, inspectors told Varanasi to “review [their] menu urgently to ensure
that all allergens are correctly declared” and “carefully check labels”.

The inspection also found that the restaurant was using cooking oil that contained genetically modified ingredients – but were not informing customers.

A spokesperson for Varanasi said cross-contamination concerns were “addressed immediately” due to “the incorrect use of colour-coded chopping boards at the time of inspection”. It added that staff have been retrained and “correct procedures have been enforced”.

The spokesperson added: “Regarding hot water, we confirm that hot water has always been available on site. The tap tested just needed running a bit longer to receive hot water  from the boiler. We demonstrated this to the inspector.

“We also confirm that there is no pest activity at the premises.

“Following the inspection, cleaning across the kitchen and bar areas was significantly improved, and temperature control measures were reviewed and addressed. All required actions were completed within three days, and the Environmental Health Officer returned to inspect the premises and was satisfied with the improvements made.

“The unfair part in all of this is that, despite the issues being addressed immediately, the business is still required to wait for the formal revisit process, which can take up to three months. This means the published rating does not reflect the current standards now in place.

“It is also important to note that our Head Chef was off work on the day of the inspection, meaning we did not have the full opportunity to present all records and procedures as we normally would. The rating was therefore the result of a combination of factors on that particular day, rather than an accurate reflection of our day-to-day operations.

“We take food hygiene and customer safety extremely seriously. Since the inspection, we have worked proactively with the local authority, acted immediately on all points raised, and continue to maintain improved cleaning standards, staff training, temperature control measures and food safety procedures…

“The current rating does not represent the present standards at Varanasi Leicester.”

By Chris Harper (Local Democracy Reporter)