Mumbai: Chembur family served chicken, rice with cockroach on the side

Last week, a Chembur family headed to a restaurant to tuck into some chicken and rice, but the eatery also served them a protein they didn't ask for - cockroach.

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Swaroop S Revankar, 41, an architect, went to the Jewels of Chembur hotel on September 28 with his wife Amita and their son, and the family decided to dine at the Le Cafe restaurant there. They ordered some chicken dishes along with rice for their meal. When Amita was halfway through the rice on her place, she saw that a cockroach had also made its way into her dinner.

The family complained to the staff, who replaced the rice. While Revankar paid for the meal, he was not given a copy of the bill. "I paid Rs 4,355 through my credit card, but they just refused to give the bill. Despite repeated requests, they didn't listen to us, and things turned ugly. So, we rushed to the Chembur police station to file a complaint. But the police informed us that it didn't fall under their purview.

They did call the hotel manager and instructed him to provide the bill. It was then that I finally got the bill from the hotel," Revankar told mid-day. The eatery also levied a 10% service charge. Revankar filed a complaint against the restaurant with the health office of the M/W ward on September 29. Dr. Bhupendra Patil, the health officer of the ward said, "We have accepted the complaint and we would look into the matter as per the protocol."

Rajiv Gugnani, Le Cafe's senior restaurant manager said, "We have spoken to the guest's wife, who agrees that this is something that can be forgiven. As for the bill, our system was out of service as the time and hence we were issuing hand written bills complete with our GST number... We apologise for any inconvenience caused."