An infestation of filth flies and mice has forced the world’s cheapest Michelin-starred restaurant chain to close one of its outlets.

Tim Ho Wan in New York’s East Village was shuttered on August 12 by the city’s Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene after they discovered multiple stomach-churning sanitation violations.

Those blunders – detailed on the department’s website – include ‘evidence of mice or live mice present in (the) facility’s food and/or non-food areas.’

Tim Ho Wan was also blasted after ‘filth flies or food/refuse/sewage-associated flies (were found) present in facility’s food and/or non-food areas.’

The Health and Mental Hygiene website explains that such insects pose a danger to safety because of their fondness for landing on dirt and even feces before flying onto food.

Their report – which saw Tim Ho Wan forced to shut after clocking up 47 violation points, five of them critical – said the restaurant has not implemented measures to protect itself from vermin.

Inspectors further condemned Tim Ho Wan for storing cold food at temperatures above 41F (5C) ‘except during necessary preparation.’

They taped a closure notice to the front door of the restaurant.

Tim Ho Wan’s website said they had ‘temporarily closed’ the location, but did not explain why. It will reopen on August 15.

Two potential customers standing outside the darkened restaurant when Metro US visited on Wednesday were shocked to learn of why its kitchen had been shuttered.

Award-winning chefs Mak Kwai-Pui and Leung Fai Keung opened the first Tim Ho Wan in Hong Kong in 2009.

It was awarded its Michelin Star – a coveted gong normally given to expensive fine dining restaurants – just a year later.

Tim Ho Wan arrived in New York in December 2016, and quickly attracted long lines of customers keen to try its famous barbecue pork buns and other savory treats, which cost just several dollars per dish.

It has since opened another restaurant in the city, as well as outlets in Texas and California.

Food bloggers have filled Instagram with snaps of themselves enjoying dim sum, with critics raving also raving about its food.

The Michelin Guide’s own Instagram page includes a photo of a diner eating a pork bun, with the caption ‘A pork bun a day keeps the doctor away.’

A Tim Ho Wan spokesman claimed the restaurant’s hygiene problems were down to nearby building works.

They said: ‘Because of the ongoing building construction across the street, we have been faced with problems of seeing overnight footprints by unwelcomed guests on our premises.

‘But we are putting our best efforts to address this issue.’

Source: Read Full Article