North Shore Malaysian restaurant slapped with D-rating by Auckland Council after customer’s ‘traumatic’ rat sighting

Henry Hew, owner of Langkawi Restaurant in Milford, holding a certificate showing he had pest control work carried out. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

A restaurant aiming to bring affordable Malaysian meals to Auckland’s North Shore is devastated that rats have come to spoil the party.

Langkawi Malaysian Restaurant has been slapped with a D-grade by Auckland Council following a complaint by a customer who came face-to-face with a rat in the eatery’s toilet.

Alan Ahmu, team leader Environmental Health Response, Auckland Council said a food safety officer visited the restaurant last Thursday and identified evidence of rodent droppings as well as some cleaning and maintenance issues.

“The restaurant has been issued with a D-grade as a result,” Ahmu said.

But he said the council was pleased that the restaurant had followed their Food Control Plan and recorded the customer’s complaint of a rat sighting.

“They had then contacted a pest control company who visited the restaurant on Wednesday,” said Ahmu.

Langkawi Malaysian Restaurant has been given a D grade by Auckland Council. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

Henry Hew, co-owner of Langkawi, said they took over the restaurant just over a year ago with a plan to offer affordable Malaysian food.

The eatery is known for its $9.99 Hainanese chicken rice set and other cheap and cheerful Malaysian noodles and rice offerings.

But the experience for one customer was far from cheerful when she claims she encountered a live rat in the restaurant’s bathroom.

In her post on Facebook and Google Review, the customer described her experience as “the most traumatic experience in a restaurant of my life”.

Langkawi Restaurant is located in Milford on Auckland's North Shore. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

She said a Malaysian colleague had recommended Langkawi as the best Malaysian food on the Shore.

“My friend and I decided to have lunch there. It all went well until I went to the bathroom and stood on a live rat,” she wrote.

“I only realised what I was standing on when it squealed very loudly. It tried to drag itself away as I legged it out as fast as I could. I tried to alert the staff, who didn’t understand my English.”

The customer said the first staff member screamed when she saw the rat and left fast, before a kitchen staff then went in, she presumed was to kill the rat.

“I felt sick for the rest of the afternoon,” she said.

“Having spent more than a year of my life in Latin America, seven months or so in Africa, on various trips to Asia, and eaten in numerous ethnic eateries in Auckland with very dubious hygiene, I have never encountered a rat in a restaurant before.”

Henry Hew, owner of Langkawi Restaurant in Milford, said the business was doing its best to rectify the pest problem. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

When contacted, the customer told the Herald she had been traumatised by the experience.

“I really wish I’d gone back in with my phone and photographed it. But I was truly in shock,” she said.

“I felt sick for the rest of the day, and even into Saturday.

“It was the standing on a live rat bit that traumatised me. The squeal was heart-wrenching. It was, I suspect, a dying animal that I then hurt more.”

Hew said he was deeply sorry to the customer for what happened and that the restaurant was doing everything it could with the possible infestation.

“A few of the neighbouring businesses told us they had problems with rats, so we are not the only ones,” Hew said.

“But until that afternoon of the incident, we had only seen droppings and not the rat.”

Langkawi Malaysian Restaurant is known for its $9.99 Hainanese chicken rice set.

Hew said they had always made it a point to keep the restaurant and kitchen as clean as possible to make it less appealing to these pests.

It has also now implemented plans for waste management, trash disposal and secure storage practices.

He said the business had spent thousands of dollars on pest control products and was now working with a council-recommended pest controller.

A D-grade meant the business required enforcement by food inspectors and issues needed to be rectified.

“Running a restaurant in these economic times is tough, to say the least, and this of course is damaging to our reputation and stressful for our staff,” Hew said.

“I hope people can see that we are doing our best to resolve the matter and be returned to A-grade, and hope customers continue to support our business.”