ONTARIO: Health authorities shut down Chinatown restaurant after rat photos surface

15.feb.08
National Post
Rob Roberts

Barfblog

Toronto public health authorities shut down one of Chinatown's most prominent restaurants yesterday, after a passerby took a photo of rats on a countertop. 
Passerby Vivian Hui was cited as saying rats were visible through a window of the Dumpling House Restaurant yesterday afternoon, adding, "I noticed what I thought was a cat on the counter inside Dumpling House but it turned out to be four or five rats piled on top of each other eating from a bowl of flour or something."
She e-mailed her boyfriend, Matt Alexander, who alerted health authorities. He also sent the photo to blogto.com, a popular Toronto city blog "for some quick exposure," he said last night. "We were both so disgusted we wanted to make sure something was done about as soon as possible."
Toronto Public Health was cited as saying inspectors went to the restaurant immediately, saw evidence of an infestation, and shut the restaurant down. The story says that the Dumpling House, at 328 Spadina Ave., has hosted a photo op by-then Liberal leadership candidate Paul Martin during the April, 2003, SARS crisis, is popular with other celebrities, and has been reviewed well by various publications.
A gracious manager who answered the phone at the restaurant last night was cited as saying they agreed with health inspectors that the restaurant needed to be shut down, adding, "I fully agree. If there's a problem, some indication, we have to take it seriously. We have pest control guys working on the case right now."
He said the shutdown and cleanup will likely cost the restaurant about $10,000, but will likely be open again by next Wednesday.
"We have a very good reputation. That's why we are taking this very seriously. I think [this shutdown] may affect business for a very short time, but not very much because our cleaning conditions are good."
The manager said he had never seen rats himself in the restaurant, and said any rat problem is not confined to Dumpling House. He said downtown has a rat problem generally, and the city needs to do something about it.