Low hygiene rating given to top restaurant

IT IS one of Wales’ most popular restaurants, with tables booked months in advance, and its founders have even landed a TV cookery series.

But Hang Fire Southern Kitchen in Barry has been awarded a food hygiene rating of just one.

The award-winning southern American-style barbecue restaurant, which opened in 2016, was given the rating – the second lowest on a scale of zero to five – by the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

The report said the management of food safety was marked “major improvement necessary”.

Sam Evans and Shauna Guinn, the restaurant’s owners, say the rating is based on paperwork and not the cleanliness or hygiene of its kitchen.

And they spoke of their devastation at the rating of “one” – which was awarded after they appealed an earlier rating of “three”.

Ms Guinn said that in 2017 Hang Fire was awarded a rating of four and that they were disappointed because they wanted the highest rating of five.

They said they set about making improvements but were shocked when they instead received a rating of three in May.

“We were very upset that the council felt we had regressed as a business, despite the fact that we had made even more improvements since the previous year,” said Ms Guinn.

They had two options: apply for a rerating or appeal. The pair chose to appeal.

Ms Guinn said the score was then reduced to a one, but claimed no-one visited their premises or discussed the reduction with them.

The Vale of Glamorgan Council said a senior examiner reviewed existing evidence and decided a one was the correct rating.

Ms Guinn said they are due to have a formal meeting with the Vale of Glamorgan Council imminently and hope to have this resolved within the next week.

A Vale of Glamorgan Council spokesperson said: “The business in question is working with the council to improve the situation and has already taken steps to rectify some issues.”

Ms Guinn said: “Anyone who knows Sam and I, anyone who has ever eaten at our Street Food stall or in the restaurant, will know how devastated we and our team are with the score.

“We don’t feel that the one score in any way shape or form represents who we are as a business.

“We can assure everyone that we are working tirelessly to get this issue resolved.”

The report for Hang Fire found that hygienic food handling was “generally satisfactory”, the cleanliness and condition of facilities and building was deemed “good”, but it was the management of food safety that was marked as “major improvement necessary”.

Hang Fire’s owners quit their previous careers in 2012 and went on a road trip around America to discover the secrets behind the successful “slow and low” American barbecue.

Their adventures saw them help cook for a rodeo in Houston (smoking 50 briskets, 300 chickens, and 500 racks of spare rib) and being entrusted with spice rub secrets that they have to “take to the grave”.

Two years ago they opened the Hang Fire Southern Kitchen in Barry, but not before their street food business won Best Street Food at the BBC Food and Farming Awards.

When the restaurant opened for bookings they received more than 1,300 bookings in less than 24 hours.

Their successes led to them landing a TV cookery series on the BBC – Sam and Shauna’s Big Cook Out – in which the chefs hit the road to celebrate the achievements of community champions across Wales.

Using food to bring together the whole community, each cook-out saw Sam and Shauna host huge parties to reward the work of a variety of organisations and individuals, such as the Brecon Mountain Rescue Team, Barry Town United and Llandysul Paddlers Canoe Centre.