Food hygiene in restaurants etc.

I was just reading a thread about Capital Kebabs, on The Cut (I've never had a bad chicken kebab there, but I do not recommend their cooked breakfast), which inspired me to write.

A friend of a friend works as a food hygiene inspector, and has told me about this site, which I've never heard mentioned by anyone else: http://www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk

You just enter the details of a restaurant / cafe / hotel / pub/ whatever and find out how many stars (out of five) it got in its last inspection.

It shows, for example, that Master Superfish only scored 3 stars, the same as Fishcotheque.

You can do all sorts of searches, e.g. for all places that scored only one star in the SE1 postcode; or you can search for the butcher or cafe with the highest rating.

Worth a look, but the scores should be taken with a small pinch of salt (I expect many of us have kitchens at home that would not get a five-star rating!)

JeandePierre Quote:(I expect many of us have kitchens at home that would not get a five-star rating!)



I keep recycling the same old gag.!

I wonder if Tower Tandoori is going to keep getting the praise it does on here once people look at the score on the door rating. I cant eat now in all my faviourite places.

There's also an iPhone app which will show you scores of nearby restaurants. It also does augmented reality where you point your camera at places and it labels them with the score!

Hurrah, Marias in Lower Marsh gets 4 stars.

Hi JeandePierre

Thank you for that interesting and useful link.

If anyone is wondering about your or a venue's kitchen's standard, concern yourself more about the hygiene of your hands while handling food. That's where most of the food poisoning originates: hands which touched (for example) raw eggs/chickens later touching salad or bread.

A 100% germ free workspace cannot help, if you do not wash your hands carefully before and while preparing food, or after visiting the bathroom.

Unfortunately this behaviour by kitchen staff is not checked by this country's health inspectors.

Interestingly one of the most high scoring restaurants in SE1 is the police station:

http://www.scoresonthedoors.org.uk/business/london/157474/police-station/metropolitan-police

Do they take bookings?

I downloaded this app for my iPhone - recommended!

Especially as you can check restaurants/takeaways etc wherever you happen to be.

A few suprises in SE1, that's for sure! Suffice to say, never judge a book by it's cover!

Came across this interesting thread and i actually had a word with some of the places i dine with in SE1! Sad i know!

One owner told me that their premises had not been inspected in 2 years, which means without an inspection, scores cannot be given.

Therefore, just because a location has one star or no stars, it doesn't mean they are not compliant with health and safety regulations, it could just be they have not been inspected yet or have not been inspected in some time. In addition, the council have not made it compulsory for locations to display their scores on the doors as my friend said?

Some of my favourite places including, the Garrison, Tower Tandoori and Tas have low ratings. These places have served the area for years and will most probably continue do so for a long time. Stars or no stars, i will carry on using them because i trust them and they do everything they can to keep me going back.

james78 wrote:

Therefore, just because a location has one star or no stars, it doesn't mean they are not compliant with health and safety regulations, it could just be they have not been inspected yet or have not been inspected in some time.

If a premises hasn't been inspected it will be listed as "No Data Available". A zero rating means "very poor" rather than not inspected.

The Scores On The Doors website also gives the date of the last inspection. Premises are inspected more regularly if they are high risk (takeaways, school kitchens etc) or if they received a low score at last inspection.