The owner of Aki's has hit back following the Woolloomooloo restaurant's appearance on the NSW Food Authority's Name and Shame list.
Fined $880 for failing to ''maintain the food premises to the required standard of cleanliness'', Kumar Mahadevan, owner of the top-rated Indian restaurant in the current SMH Good Food Guide, feels he's been hard done by with the fine.
''Concord Council has just awarded us a five-star hygiene standard for our other restaurant, Abhi's. We employ the same standards across both, yet the City of Sydney Council fine us. It's a joke.''
Mahadevan claims inspectors pulled Aki's up for having a knife rack too close to the sink. ''It's been in the same place for 10 years. I think they should visit before or after service. The kitchen tried to tell them something wasn't being stored, it had been pulled out of the coolroom to be used.''
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