Have you had your lunch? Great, because the following video clip is not a sight for queasy eyes.
Popular banana leaf chain Raj’s Banana Leaf found itself in hot water yesterday, after a video clip of its workers washing food trays in a pothole with rain-gutter water went viral. It’s the kind of flagrant flout of basic hygiene laws that would almost have you believe that the clip was from another time, another place, and not from a popular shop corner in our beloved neighborhood of Bangsar.
If you can handle the muck, here is the widely shared clip we’re referring to:
Any doubts over the provenance or credibility of the clip were laid to rest within hours of the clip circulating on social media and WhatsApp: Raj’s Banana Leaf wrote a panicked statement on their Facebook page, assuring their customers that this was not common practice at the outlet, and that the employees were “new staffs”.
They also offered a free buka puasa (breaking fast) dinner tomorrow evening as a show of sorry and a thank you for continued patronage. (Ed. Note: No thanks.)
Whether this freebie meal will even happen at all is now in question after health authorities today shuttered the restaurant indefinitely, citing that there were NO PROPER FACILITIES TO WASH DISHES. Right, so it’s not really the “new staffs” fault now, is it?
The deputy director of of the Environmental Health Department added that the eatery had passed previous health checks with an A- rating, without giving explanation as to how any establishment could get a five-star rating without anywhere to do the dishes.
