Robin Birley’s 5 Hertford Street, the eye-wateringly expensive club in Mayfair, has been given until March to sort out its kitchens or face serious consequences after receiving an abysmal one star rating for hygiene from the food inspectors of Westminster Council.
This comes after the departure last summer, in apparently acrimonious circumstances, of the designer of the kitchens, former executive chef Alberico Penati. Penati, who used to work for Birley’s father at Harry’s Bar and Aspinall’s, has had a chequered history: a waitress who worked under him at another establishment was awarded £124,000 by a tribunal for sexual harassment in 2006.
James Armitage, Westminster City Council Food Safety Manager, revealed:
‘Following an inspection of the kitchens at 5 Hertford Street Limited in September 2013, Environmental Health Officers from Westminster City Council sent a report to its operators.
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