Huge RAT is filmed crawling in the window of a restuarant

A Chinese restaurant in southwestern Sydney has suffered an embarrassing intrusion, with a rat spotted crawling in its front window.

A video of the rat’s appearance went viral on Thursday, sending the restaurant into damage control, showing it had a strong past record on health and hygiene issues.

‘I opened the door and it maybe came from the streets, trying to get into the kitchen,’ restaurant owner Emily Tang told the Daily Telegraph.

‘Every night we close the door, put down material at the door to stop the rats,’ the owners said

‘Every night we close the door, put down material at the door to stop the rats. We have never ever had any rats like this before. We called the pest control man straight away and got rid of the rat.’

The restaurant was able to provide documentation proving a long record of safe and clean facilities and a ‘good record’ with the health inspector.

After the rat was caught, Campbelltown Council city development director Jim Baldwin confirmed an inspection showed there was no cause for punishment of the restaurant as the incident was an aberration. 

‘The offending pest had been caught and contained,’ he said. ‘The officer’s inspection revealed nothing to validate a closure of the premises and records were presented to prove pest treatment in the last few weeks.’

‘This venue has a good compliance record and strong history of appropriate compliance with the Food Act 2003.

‘A thorough inspection of the premises was conducted and minor corrective actions were suggested that will be followed up by council to ensure that they are addressed appropriately.’ 

Ms Tang took to Facebook to issue a full apology for the ‘unacceptable incident’ at the venue

Ms Tang took to Facebook to issue a full apology for the ‘unacceptable incident’ and assured customers that she hired a pest consultant to deal with the rodent.

‘I would like to apologise to our customers and community for this isolated incident,’ she wrote. ‘We do not have a rodent problem and have never had one.

‘We believe in maintaining food quality and safety standards…Again I apologise for any distress caused to our customers, and the community, this is an isolated incident that will never happen again.’