A council inspection found Clayton’s Cafe Student Curries and Pizza restaurant failed to provide safe and clean food premises, leaving the restaurant with a $24,500 bill.

The breaches included inadequate pest control, poor food storage and hand washing facilities.

The council’s environmental health officer visited the premises on eight occasions, and found a litany of disgusting food handling practices, including bags of wheat and rice stored on the floor of a toilet area.

The restaurant was covered in grime and its hot water unit was not operating, a cooking pot was on the floor of the toilet area, with remnants of rice on it, and a dough mixing bowl was on the floor next to a mop bucket.

The inspector found drink serving trays, which were covered in grime and food residue, were being used to cover trays of dough and a cockroach was crawling behind a slicer on the microwave bench.

On the first visit in March, the inspector found 51 including no hand soap and foods like cheese and yoghurt kept in a broken fridge.

The council later issued a notice to the company for 68 non-compliances to the Food Act.

The cafe reopened once council officers were happy with the level of cleanliness and safety required under the Food Safety Act.

The restaurant serves Indo-Pakisanti food and a range of pizzas.