2 April 2012

The crimson tide sweeps over Belconnen's Prince Palace

| johnboy
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prince palace prohibition order

The seemingly unending waves of prohibition notices sweeping over the ACT in the wake of the Silo Laws enactment (restauranteurs will really be thanking the Silo Bakery team for pushing the envelope) has now hit the Prince Palace on Belconnen’s Emu Bank.

If you see a prohibition notice be sure to snap a pic and fire it in to images@the-riotact.com .

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Vindalu said :

Hi ho

I haven’t seen one of these closure notices. Are they specific in their allegations? If not they should be. The public has a right to know whether the establishment is actually endangering their health or is just a bit lax with the bookwork or fails on a technicality. I remember sitting in my favourite eatery one lunchtime when an irate public servant started banging on about a meet delivery remaining for quite a while on the concrete outside. It didn’t look good but it was 4’C outside that day, colder than most fridges. Things aint always what they seem.

The reasons for the closure must be specific, though the red notice itself isn’t. The detailed reasons are stated on a separate form which some establishments have put up beside the red notice. I’m not sure if the additional forms though are mandatory for display like the red notice is.

Hi ho

I haven’t seen one of these closure notices. Are they specific in their allegations? If not they should be. The public has a right to know whether the establishment is actually endangering their health or is just a bit lax with the bookwork or fails on a technicality. I remember sitting in my favourite eatery one lunchtime when an irate public servant started banging on about a meet delivery remaining for quite a while on the concrete outside. It didn’t look good but it was 4’C outside that day, colder than most fridges. Things aint always what they seem.

Mr Evil said :

MsAnnoyed sums it up nicely: “my money and my business is more important than the your right to food safety”.

If all your ‘friends’ have the same attitude as you, then I’m glad that they were shut down for four days – and I hope that they keep failing their inspections until they either change their attitude and take food safety seriously, or they go belly up before poisoning some innocent third party.

Agreed. People die from food poisoning, those food safety laws exist for a reason. It’s really not that hard, don’t violate the regulations and you wont be closed down. If you think that the existing regulations are too tough too meet, well I hope you go belly up too, there are plenty of operators around willing to do the right thing.

bikhet said :

“The crimson tide sweeps over Belconnen’s Prince Palace” – jeez, it’s a long way to come from Alabama!

ANU will shortly be hosting a group of students from UA who come to do a couple comparative law classes during their summer break, but somehow I think we won’t be taking them along here.

johnboy said :

Rolltide!

Roll tide.

neanderthalsis3:01 pm 18 Jun 12

EvanJames said :

Mr Evil said :

MsAnnoyed sums it up nicely: “my money and my business is more important than the your right to food safety”.

It’s an attitude you encounter a lot in Australian businesses, small and some no-so small. Apparently, because they turn up and work hard, the world owes them a living.

No, they just don’t like governments interfering with their ability to make money. Which is understandable given that most small business owners stand to lose their house/livelihood if the money stops flowing.

D’oh! I love the dumpling house! Not that I’m endorsing poor health practices, but if my guts can hold up to three years living in SE Asia (doing the “intrepid ex-pat” thing), then I’m pretty sure the dumpling house can’t take me down!

All I got from Ms Annoyed’s rant was blah blah blah clean your kitchen blah blah blah. Thanks for that – I’ll get right onto it!

fromthecapital said :

XY was closed over the weekend aswell? Is this related

That place has been shut down a number of times in the past 18 months for this type of thing, it should not be allowed open again!

Mr Evil said :

MsAnnoyed sums it up nicely: “my money and my business is more important than the your right to food safety”.

It’s an attitude you encounter a lot in Australian businesses, small and some no-so small. Apparently, because they turn up and work hard, the world owes them a living.

Restaurateur, not restauranteur. Unless it’s McDonald’s.

fromthecapital11:07 am 18 Jun 12

XY was closed over the weekend aswell? Is this related

MsAnnoyed sums it up nicely: “my money and my business is more important than the your right to food safety”.

If all your ‘friends’ have the same attitude as you, then I’m glad that they were shut down for four days – and I hope that they keep failing their inspections until they either change their attitude and take food safety seriously, or they go belly up before poisoning some innocent third party.

I’m sure that the 11 or so people who spent time in hospital recently (some of whom were in Intensive Care) after the Silo food poisoning incident agree wholeheartedly that small business owners deserve to be treated with more respect by ACT Health; after all, it’s quite obvious that some small business owners have had no respect for ACT Health or food safety regulations for the past few years!

Now, instead of wasting your time bleating about how harsh the rules are, go and spend some time fixing your ‘friends’ kitchen and restaurant up.

patrick_keogh8:47 am 18 Jun 12

MsAnnoyed said :

I have read that they are targeting Asian restaurants? Why is that??

You have read it because someone wrote it. Is it true? Well I’m not sure that Kingsley’s Chicken, My Cafe, Cafe Garema and Gus’s Cafe count as Asian restaurants. They have all been closed. A rough count tells me that of the ones I know of it is about 50/50 Asian to non Asian. I’m sorry that this reality is probably at variance to the “targeting Asian restaurants” paranoid delusion.

MsAnnoyed said :

Restaurant owners, food providers, and small businesses have so many things on their plates to merely exist nowadays, let alone having to figure out how to write up documents on cleaning, pesticide (etc) plans, (which they are not trained to do) to appease a bureaucratic paper and process driven ACT Government.

If you can’t document a simple cleaning plan or pest management plan then please close down. There are lots of competent small businesses to take your place. A first attempt using Google (you’ve heard of that?) gives me http://goo.gl/WShnB as a template cleaning plan and http://goo.gl/HvbL7 as a restaurant IPM Plan. Can’t be too hard can it?

MsAnnoyed said :

I’m disgusted by this latest attack on small business.

I’m disgusted by these businesses’ attacks on public health. What is it about food safety regulations that they don’t understand?

Good on ACT Health for doing a great job. Long may they do so.

“The crimson tide sweeps over Belconnen’s Prince Palace” – jeez, it’s a long way to come from Alabama!

MsAnnoyed said :

I’m disgusted by this latest attack on small business. .

This was 3 months ago…are you saying they’ve been shut again?

“Many home kitchens are worse than your average commercial kitchen. Many home cooks are far more unhygenic, and eat food of a lesser quality than what you would get in your average commercial kitchen.”

They are…but then they’re not preparing or selling food as a business….much more liability involved.

People who travel overseas and go to dodgy local eateries, or eat off the street and come home bragging about how they are intrepid travellers and ate all the “local” food, but then come home to Australia and pass uneducated judgements and comments make me laugh.

The difference is with local street food is that they don’t tend to store food, it’s simple, fresh and cooked over a very high heat immediately before you consume it. Extremely safe way of preparing.
In places like Singapore, KL public food is highly regulated and safety checked by the Govt., moreso than in Oz where you have bigger menu’s and static restaurants with full kitchens, so no excuse for inadequate training.

I’m disgusted by this latest attack on small business. As if its not hard enough already without bureaucratic ladder climbers, arrogant, industry lacking experienced “health inspectors” and some members of the public who clearly have no idea on the realities of a commercial kitchen.

I have spent the majority of my life in both a successful small family run business, as well as in a government organisation, and while I agree with the need for food safety and food handling regulations, from what I have heard, read and seen, I am totally disgusted by this governments unrealistic approach.

Many home kitchens are worse than your average commercial kitchen. Many home cooks are far more unhygenic, and eat food of a lesser quality than what you would get in your average commercial kitchen.

People who travel overseas and go to dodgy local eateries, or eat off the street and come home bragging about how they are intrepid travellers and ate all the “local” food, but then come home to Australia and pass uneducated judgements and comments make me laugh.

I have friends who are not only in the restaurant business, but also other food providors, who have had the “pleasure” of having been inspected by “health inspectors” who have had alot to be desired. Where is the ACT Government getting these people from????

When closing one place down after being told they were the cleanest of establishments of their type, and trust me they are, to be closed for MINOR offences for 4 days is disgraceful. There was not warning, no time to fix the problem, they were closed then and there. THIS IS NOT FAIR.

When told that if they were to be closed down for minor NON health related “offences” -they were not given the opportunity to rectify the minor issues (ie; cracked floor tile out the back) within a decent time frame, they were closed down on the spot. When advised if the ACT Government were to close them down they stood to lose X dollars and their livelihood would be affected to a point of severe financial hardship, and by being so unrealistic and unbending on their approach they would send them broke- to be told by the “health inspector”, that was not their problem. When countered by the shop owner that they were making things so impossible for them and it would make many people give up their business, the “health inspector” replied, “well if you don’t do it someone else will”. This shop owner is a second generation in his field, and comes from a very old Canberra family. His son who wanted to follow in his grandfather and his fathers profession has been told a firm no, not anymore. Go to school and get a job in computers.

The future probems this is going to cause goes without saying.

I have read that they are targeting Asian restaurants? Why is that??

Restaurant owners, food providers, and small businesses have so many things on their plates to merely exist nowadays, let alone having to figure out how to write up documents on cleaning, pesticide (etc) plans, (which they are not trained to do) to appease a bureaucratic paper and process driven ACT Government.

For the uneducated public, open your mind, spend time in a busy small business (“walk a mile in my shoes….”), look at your own kitchens and homes, and if you can’t do that, if you still think that its fair what the ACT Government is doing to many small businesses (unfairly), then think of the businesses that will inevitably close, the families and employees who will be affected and the ultimate demise of small businesses and choice. See how you would feel if it was your livelihood that was in the hands of an unsympathetic and vote driven ACT Government.

Yes, have rules and regulations, but be fair, be understanding, be inclusive and coehesive, provide training, give people time to fix offences. Employ the right people to do this job. People who have commercial and industry knowledge.

Thats all we ask.

guess I won’t be following up on the take away menu from prince Palace that was in the letter box yesterday then!!!

I-filed said :

milkman said :

The simple fact is that food prepared at McDonalds is probably handled under far more sanitary conditions than your average independent restaurant.

Yep – read George Orwell’s “Down and Out in Paris and London” and you’ll never eat in a fancy restaurant again …

well, not in last millenium paris, f’sure… 🙂

Anyone know if they have now started a website listing violations a la NSW? Couldn’t find anything on ACT Gov’s websites…..

Rawhide Kid Part39:03 am 02 Apr 12

Greta said :

How about naming the restaurants that actually passed the health check. Might be easier.

You mean:
Name and Shame
and
Name and Fame.

How about naming the restaurants that actually passed the health check. Might be easier.

If you know someone who works in food delivery (for example, Bidvest), ask them what they see in the kitchens. It can be a bit of an eye opener.

This place vies for the position of most desultory restaurant in Belconnen. It won’t be missed.

milkman said :

The simple fact is that food prepared at McDonalds is probably handled under far more sanitary conditions than your average independent restaurant.

Yep – read George Orwell’s “Down and Out in Paris and London” and you’ll never eat in a fancy restaurant again …

Gee whiz, there are a lot of food places in Canberra that forget to put their paper towel roll on the paper towel holder!

I wonder how many of these places would fail again for the same reasons if another inspection took place in six months or so time?

milkman said :

The simple fact is that food prepared at McDonalds is probably handled under far more sanitary conditions than your average independent restaurant.

I recall a couple of years ago it was revealed that a huge number of KFC outlets failed their own internal health checks. A quick check of the NSW registrar reveals a heap of well known chains with serious breaches, including Maccas, KFC, Gloria Jeans and Max Brenner.

I actually wonder how long it will be before a local Maccas get a red notice. Operating 24hrs a day raises some questions.

The simple fact is that food prepared at McDonalds is probably handled under far more sanitary conditions than your average independent restaurant.

PantsMan said :

Woundering when some of those large chains purveying burgers of all types and endless permutations and combinations of chicken will feel the banhammer.

The big chains tend to have pretty ruthless internal compliance teams who are far tougher than a government inspector.

That’s not to say semi-literate staff can’t cock things up on game day, but the big chains do have extensive processes to prevent this type of trouble (not that it worked for Dominos).

Woundering when some of those large chains purveying burgers of all types and endless permutations and combinations of chicken will feel the banhammer.

Hooray. Soon there will be no more eateries in Canberra and we can start from scratch!

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