A Chinese restaurant has been fined and its owner banned for breaches of food hygiene rules.

Oriental Chef, in London Road, Enfield Town, stored cooked food in open, unchilled containers next to raw meat, had poor cleaning practices and broke rules relating to control of pests.

The restaurant's owner Quan Mai Yang, also known as Vanessa, 43, of Cumbrian Gardens, Cricklewood, has been banned from running food businesses.

She pleaded guilty to the charges and has been ordered to pay costs of £2,398.

The court heard that Enfield Borough Council visited the premises on six separate occasions and found several failings, with two, for cleaning and replacement of broken equipment, resulting in the closure of the premises.

Enfield Council’s cabinet member for environment, Councillor Chris Bond, said: “The state of this restaurant was nothing short of a disgrace and I’m frankly appalled that anyone would even consider cooking food in grimy, unpleasant and pest-infested condition such as the ones we found.

“When our inspectors visited these premises they found a quite abysmal standard of cleanliness, hygiene and pest control and despite trying to work with the business owner over an extended period of time there was scarcely any improvement."

Enfield Council’s cabinet member for finance and property, Councillor Andrew Stafford, said: “When the owners of food businesses show no inclination or interest in ensuring their premises do not jeopardise the health of their own customers, we need to take firm action.

“We honestly felt in this case that the only way to properly protect the public from food poisoning or worse was to prosecute the owner and do everything we can to prevent Ms Yang from ever running a food business again.”