A RESTAURATEUR has been given permission to reopen his Oxford eaterie just days after environmental health inspectors opened his eyes to his very own kitchen nightmare.

The Al-Shami Lebanese restaurant, in Walton Crescent, Jericho, was closed by city council inspectors 10 days ago when they issued an emergency prohibition order after a routine hygiene check.

When officers inspected the restaurant’s kitchen, it had just received a delivery of fresh food.

They found widespread evidence of cross-contamination between raw meat and ready-to-eat food such as cooked chicken, yoghurt, cheese and salad.

Now owner Mimo Mahfouz has been praised by the same inspectors for overhauling food safety standards and constructing a “sparkling” new kitchen.

Mr Mahfouz, 66, has spent more than £25,000 on the refurbishment including installing new fridges and freezers to keep raw and cooked meat separate at all times and establishing a separate area specifically for the preparation of raw meat.

The father-of-four said: “I’m really excited. I feel that I have learned a lot from this and I thank environmental health for opening my eyes to a lot of things.

“After 22 years of opening we started to relax about some things.

“They came and drew our attention to it and now we are like new again and following all the instructions on hygiene to the letter.

“Everybody was shocked that we were closed, but we are concentrating on hygiene now at least 10 times more than before.

“We owe it to our customers that we are in top condition everywhere.

“We have used this as an opportunity to look at the whole business and this is like opening for the first time again.”

Mr Mahfouz estimated the closure cost him £30,000 in lost trade as the popular 100- cover restaurant was fully booked up for many of the nights he was shut.

He said: “I don’t look at it from a money point of view because we were on the wrong track – we have got it back on the right track now and that’s worth more than the loss of money. Now we’re properly set up for another 22 years.”

Council environmental health officer Richard Kuziara, who inspected the restaurant, said he interviewed all the kitchen staff face-to-face and they were now fully aware of all their hygiene responsibilities.

Mr Kuziara, who gave the restaurant zero stars for food hygiene last week, said if he had carried out the inspection this week it would have scored three stars.

However, he cannot formally change the star rating until another random routine inspection is carried out within the next six months.

He said “Mimo has really thrown all his effort into sorting this all out and this is the best I have ever seen the restaurant in 10 years.

“The key difference is all the staff understand exactly what the hazards are now and how to avoid them.

“It’s great. Mimo’s a nice guy, he’s spent a considerable sum of money turning it around and it’s good to see him open again.”