Chiltern Firehouse gets 2/5 hygiene rating score
Marylebone restaurant and celebrity haunt the Chiltern Firehouse has been given a score of just 2/5 by environmental health officials.
The restaurant in Marylebone, which opened earlier this year within Andre Balazs's hotel of the same name, was inspected on 19 June.
The score, which means that improvement in hygiene practices is necessary, was communicated to the restaurant in a letter to the business dated 30 June.
Among problems highlighted in the report were:
• A lack of hot water to the wash hand basins in a number of the food preparation areas. There was also no soap available at some basins.
• A hole in the wall in one of the food preparation areas.
• A ceiling in one of the preparation areas that was not suitable to be used in a food room.
• Dirty fly screens in the rear food preparation room.
• A dirty service fridge, freezer, fryer, dishwashing area, and a dirty floor in the dry store area.
The report also criticised a lack of documented procedures for sous vide cooking, steak tartare, vacuum packing and liquid nitrogen use (these have been provided since the inspection).
The restaurant has proven very popular with celebrities since it opened, and has played host to guests including Prime Minister David Cameron, Bill Clinton, David Beckham, Nigella Lawson and Kylie Minogue.
In a statement the restaurant said: "We are very proud of the restaurant at Chiltern Firehouse, and appreciate the tremendously supportive reviews it has received.
"The vast majority of the issues identified in the council report were related to the expansion of the kitchen and have already been rectified. We have requested a re-inspection and look forward to a significantly higher rating at the earliest opportunity."