Brown Eagle at Old Church Road, and Melek’s Kitchen in Chingford Mount, were both given a zero-out-of-five rating by the Food Standards Agency last month, reports Marco Marcelline
Two Chingford restaurants received a minimum food hygiene rating of zero-out-of-five by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) last month.
Caribbean eatery Brown Eagle, at 107 Old Church Road and Turkish spot Melek’s Kitchen, at 240 Chingford Mount Road were both handed the minimum rating after assessments on 20th August.
Brown Eagle serves classic Caribbean dishes like ackee and salt fish, curried goat, and oxtail. The Caribbean chain also has branches in Wood Green, Enfield, and Tottenham. The chain was founded in Tottenham in 2002 by husband and wife Shawn and Sonia Douglas, before expanding across North London. Shawn passed away in July last year.
When approached for comment today (30th September) Brown Eagle’s owner Sonia told the Echo that the minimum rating was partly due to “minor buildings works” that were occurring during the first inspection. She added that Brown Eagle had been re-inspected today by Waltham Forest Council who handed them a “three-out-of-five” rating meaning “generally satisfactory”.
The council was contacted to confirm the alleged re-inspection. Brown Eagle’s Tottenham, Enfield and Wood Green restaurants have received “very good” or “good” ratings this year.
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Meanwhile, Melek’s Kitchen say they “serve the best of Turkish food”. On its website, the restaurant say they have “daily changing meze dishes” which they serve alongside flatbread. They also serve traditional gozleme’s. They have a five star rating on Google based on 36 reviews, with one customer saying the gozleme’s they had were “beautiful [and] freshly made in front of you”.
Melek’s Kitchen did not respond to a request for comment.
The ratings mean that of Waltham Forest’s 580 restaurants, cafes and canteens with ratings, 257 (44%) have ratings of five and 30 (5%) have zero ratings.
In July, Waltham Forest was found to have the worst average food hygiene rating than any other local authority in the UK.
London’s average food hygiene rating was 4.36, significantly higher than Waltham Forest’s rating of 3.74.
Joining Waltham Forest in the bottom three for average food hygiene ratings in the capital were Barking and Dagenham (3.95) , and Ealing (3.92).
Recently, a street food vendor with a residency at a popular Leyton pub was fined £2,464 after food hygiene inspectors uncovered a “severe” rat, cockroach, and mouse infestation in their kitchen.
Kamu Streetfood, a Sri Lankan vendor which operates at Leyton’s Coach & Horses pub, was also made to pay over £2,256 in costs following a July hearing at Thames Magistrates Court.
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