Unhealthy attitude

An old castle in Co. Carlow has gone down in the annals of catering as being the domain of a fearsome owner / chef called McCarthy.

One story — of many —  relates how a customer witnessed a fly landing on a slab of ham on the bar counter. McCarthy took the biggest meat cleaver the customer had ever seen and with a great wallop flattened the hapless fly onto the ham. “Ah, we’re fierce particular about hygiene round here,” he explained.

This incident was recently mirrored in England

Environmental health officers were horrified when the owner of an Indian takeaway restaurant in Tooting killed a rat in front of them in the middle of an environmental health inspection — leaving a pool of blood on the floor.

It seems the owner Rajakumar Rajalingam, may have felt that his prompt action would impress the officers — as it would have done back home in Uttar Pradesh, or indeed in Co. Carlow.

Sadly, this was not the case and Mr Rajalingam was fined £20,000.