Inspectors visited the food business last month
Zero star food hygiene rating(Image: Copyright Unknown)
A Liverpool restaurant set up by a rising star of the city’s hospitality industry – who featured on the BBC’s Great British Menu – has been hit with the lowest possible score for food hygiene. Livia Alarcon shot to success on the Liverpool hospitality scene when she became the head chef of popular city restaurant Maray at the age of just 21.
Under her stewardship, Maray went from strength to strength, before the young chef went on to work at another highly regarded Liverpool venue in Queens Bistro. During her time there the restaurant, in Queen Avenue, received glowing praise from renowned food critic Jay Rayner.
In 2023 it was announced that Ms Alarcon would be launching her first solo venture in the shape of La Bistroteca – a venue within the Baltic Market complex offering European bistro food.
Earlier this year, the city chef, from Wavertree, took part on the BBC’s Great British Menu competition, where she chose to pay tribute to her roots with a dishes like a Strawberry Fields-themed dessert.
La Bistroteca was inspected by food hygiene inspectors from Liverpool City Council on July 2.
Following the inspection, the business was slapped with a zero rating for food hygiene, which is the lowest rating possible.
According to the Food Standards Agency website, inspectors found issues with hygienic food handling at the business, where they said major improvement is necessary.
Major improvement was also found to be necessary in terms of the management of food safety at the premises. This includes the systems or checks that ensure that food being sold is safe to eat and evidence that staff know about food safety.
Inspectors also found that improvement was necessary in terms of the cleanliness and condition of the facilities at the premises.
The ECHO understands that after the inspection, the business worked immediately to remedy the issues raised and bosses are confident that those problems have now been dealt with.
We were told that the business has rigorous cleaning and hygiene management procedures in place, including weekly and monthly stock and hygiene checks and daily cleaning rotas.
Bosses at La Bistroteca have scheduled the site for a reinspection and expect to have a much-improved rating very shortly.
A spokesperson for La Bistroteca said: “The results of this inspection were very disappointing and, having immediately worked to address the concerns raised, we are confident this will be reflected in our reinspection very soon.”