Vegan restaurant overrun by cockroaches because owner didn't want to harm them.
This restaurant is the safest place to eat if you are a cockroach. If you're a human... not so much.
It isn't just a kitchen, it's a wildlife sanctuary.
Australian restaurant Kingsland Vegan promises that, "weather you're a vegan or a staunch carnivore, you'll be delighted by Kingsland's unique and diverse range of tastes and textures."
One of the things that could be making those tastes and textures so unique and diverse could be related to ACT Health inspectors discovering live and dead cockroaches in the kitchen in April 2013.
When Kingsland Vegan owner Khanh Hoang was interviewed about the bugs by health officials, Hoang said he was aware of the infestation but, as the Brisbane Times noted, "did not carry out pest control measures as it involved 'killing.'"
Hoang's lawyer said "his client had passionate vegan values but accepted, in hindsight, that his morals had been misguided."
His passionate vegan values must have also misguided him from cleaning his restaurant at all. In addition to the protected cockroach population, the ACT found a number of other health violations of the Food Act, including:
"The toilet did not have an air-lock or self-closing door, which meant it opened directly into the kitchen.
Food had been stored in uncovered containers inside the dishwasher and freezer.
A missing tap handle meant the hand washing basin could not supply warm running water.
Surfaces and equipment – such as stove top and dirty pots, pans and trays – had been left uncleansed [sic], and covered in dirt, food waste and debris.
Parts of the walls and floors had not been cleaned for a considerable period and had a thick accumulation of grease, dirt, and other material."
WHAT OTHER MATERIAL????
While saving his bug brethren, this guy was clearly endangering the lives of his humans.
Despite being immediately shut down for obvious and disgusting reasons, the restaurant was allowed to reopen six days later and has since been held in a "pristine" state.
Shame. Now I ask you, would you rather eat some cockroaches, or try whatever is in this "Fish Lagoon?"
