Famed Oxford eatery closed by hygiene inspectors (From Oxford Mail)

Famed Oxford eatery closed by hygiene inspectors

9:00am Saturday 20th March 2010 in

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A LONGTIME restaurateur has expressed his shock after environmental health officers shut down his popular eaterie.

The Al-Shami Lebanese Restaurant, in Jericho, Oxford was closed by city council inspectors who issued an emergency prohibition hygiene order after checking the premises on Tuesday.

It was made after officers said they found widespread evidence of cross contamination between open raw meats and ready-to-eat food such as cooked chicken, yoghurt, cheese and salad.

Yesterday, that order was upheld by Oxford magistrates and the restaurant will remain closed until officers are satisfied that any risk to health has been rectified.

The restaurant, in Walton Crescent, has featured in The Which? Good Food Guide for the past 20 years.

Mimo Mahfouz, who has owned Al-Shami for 22 years, admitted the standards were a “disaster” at the time of the inspection as a big delivery from London had been unpacked an hour previously. But he said staff calling in sick meant there were not enough to put all the meat away.

Mr Mahfouz, who turned 66 yesterday, reckons the closure of his 100-cover restaurant will cost him £15,000 as he was fully booked over the weekend.

He said: “I agree it was an absolute disaster at the time. If they had come the day before or the day after it wouldn’t have happened.

“Quite rightly they had to close us down but for me it’s absolutely amazing. I couldn’t believe it happened. I thought Candid Camera was on. We never had problems like this before in 22 years.

“It was a mistake on an inspection on a very bad day.”

Mr Mahfouz, hopes to re-open the restaurant on Monday or Tuesday after a re-inspection by officers.

Council environmental health officer Richard Kuziara, who inspected the restaurant, said the cases of cross contamination were some of the worst he had seen in 14 years as an inspector.

Last year, the council closed two premises for breaches of environmental health standards and five closed voluntarily after inspections.

Mr Kuziara said: “A year ago standards were not good so we were expecting it to be poor, but the risk of cross contamination was very high.

“When dangerous conditions such as these are found we will always take the necessary action to protect the public.

“Since the closure I feel he’s taken it very seriously and if it transpires tangible action has been taken I’m not keeping it closed longer than necessary.”

Neil Bacon, an independent environmental health consultant, was delivering a basic food hygiene refresher course to Al-Shami staff when the Oxford Mail went to speak to Mr Mahfouz yesterday.

He said: “Mimo called me on the day it closed, which is an indication of how committed he is to sort this problem out. He is looking at sorting out the whole business rather than patching up bits to set it up for the next 22 years.”