Though it probably should be, the first thought when you eat out isn’t how hygienic the kitchen is. Instead, cost, value and taste understandably occupy our minds. It’s difficult to entertain the cleanliness of the kitchen when you eat somewhere: more often than not, if it’s out of sight, it’s out of mind. Unless there are visible signs of distress with the kitchen’s efforts to serve you food prepared under the correct conditions, it’s hard to force yourself to consider whether you’d be happy to eat in a restaurant if you could see the state of the kitchen.
Short of carrying out an impromptu inspection yourself, there are ways to find out what standards eateries uphold in their kitchens. The Food Standards Agency, a non-ministerial government department, scours the kitchens of the country to adjudicate how safely food served to the public is prepared.
The ratings, which range from 0 (urgent improvement necessary) to 5 (very good), apply to Bangor thus:
Three-rated establishments:
- Beach Road Chippy
- Costa
- Dragon Noodle Bar
- Eastern Origin
- Mike’s Bites
- Spicy Vujon
- Star Kebabs
- Tai Sing
- The Royal Tandoori
- Varsity
Two-rated establishments:
- Bangor Chinese Takeaway
- Bella Bella
- Castle Bakery
- G.Williams & Son
- The Greek
- Hong Kong House
- The Fat Cat
- Yates
- Ying Wah
Four-rated establishments:
- Antelope Inn
- Batty’s Fish and Chips
- Crêperie Café
- Yellow Bar
- KFC
- Oscar’s Lounge
- Sunshine Take Away
- The University Plaice
- Whistlestop Café
Five stars:
- 1815
- All University food outlets
- Blue Sky Café
- Burger King
- Crumbs
- Domino’s
- Garden Restaurant
- Gerrard’s
- Greggs
- Jade City
- Kebab House
- Kyffin
- Late Stop
- McDonald’s
- Morrisons
- Noodle One
- Options
- Pizza House
- Ristorante Pulcinella
- Subway
- Tap and Spile
- Tesco
- The Boat Yard
- The Menai
- Skerries
- Wetherspoons
- Yo’ Mamas
Fortunately Bangor has more five-rated establishments than all others and no zeroes or ones. It would be unfair and wholly inaccurate to suggest that these five-rated restaurants are automatically of a higher standard than their contemporaries in terms of food served but invariably, the Food Standards Agency’s ratings act as a reliable indicator of whether you should be eating in a particular venue.
There’s no excuse for having a sub-three rating; the FSA stresses its commitment to providing all establishments with detailed reports on what they need to do to reach the five-rated pinnacle.
