Eatery accused of selling watered down and counterfeit gin and vodka

A popular Aberdeen city centre restaurant is facing allegations it sold watered-down and counterfeit alcoholic drinks to the public.

Italian restaurant La Lombarda is accused of selling gin and vodka that was not the brand it suggested and that its alcohol percentage was less than advertised.

The charges state that a La Lombarda boss replaced Gordon’s Dry Gin and Smirnoff Triple Distilled Vodka with another, less alcoholic spirit, but advertised and sold them as the well-known brands.

It is claimed the alleged food regulation breaches were discovered on March 21 2019, when the King Street restaurant was visited by an environmental health officer, who ordered and was sold the drinks.

The restaurant and its owner deny all the charges against them.

The case, which called at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, accuses La Lombarda’s managing director Nabil Naoum, the restaurant and its holding company of falsely putting drinks on display that were not Gordon’s Gin or Smirnoff Vodka. The restaurant is facing additional charges that it sold drinks that were less than the 37.7% alcohol by volume (abv) measure.

The restaurant and its 41-year-old managing director are also charged with later failing to hand over information about who supplied the alcohol to Environmental Health.

Sheriff William Summers ordered La Lombarda Aberdeen Limited, Lombarda Ltd and Nabil Naoum, of Wellington Street, Aberdeen, to appear at court next year.

La Lombarda Italian restaurant at Castlegate.