A restaurant has been served with an enforcement notice after a horrified customer reported finding a cockroach on his plate.

Aidan Jefferson visited Ashford Indian Diner to celebrate his mum’s birthday when he claims he made the grim discovery after finishing his chicken curry.

Having visited the restaurant in the Lower High Street before, the 18-year-old from Kennington had always found the food tasty – but has now vowed never to return.

After a complaint to Ashford Borough Council, the restaurant has been served with a notice from the authority’s environmental health team.

But the owner of the business and head chef Fayez Noor insists the bug did not come from his food.

Mr Jefferson said: “It happened an hour after sitting down. I had finished eating because I'm a pretty fast eater.

“When I found it, everyone thought it was a bean, or me just joking around.

“I said: ‘No, it's not a bean, it has got legs – I'm being serious’.

“The waitress came over and I told her what we found in the food.

“She went to speak to the owner who came over and tried to justify that it must have gone into the food after they cooked it, but that doesn't make it any better.

“It’s just not forgivable.”

The restaurant offered the party of six a discount – but after being put off their meals, the family did not want to pay.

“We said we would pay for the drinks, not the food because it's not the quality you expect,” said Mr Jefferson.

“Then the owner got involved and told us we were barred but we wouldn't want to go back there now anyway.”

While unsure where the cockroach came from, Mr Noor says he is “100% certain” it was not in the curry and is confused as to how nobody spotted the bug sooner.

He added the food is cooked at incredibly high temperatures, and if the bug was in the food it would have been covered in sauce, “blended in” or ”melted”.

After Mr Jefferson left a review on Google, Mr Noor responded online calling the claims “fake”.

He said: “I have been running this restaurant for the last 13 years, I never had complaints about my food. I’ve always looked after my customers.

“Six customers came to eat food, when the food was finished, the customers refused to pay for food.

“Then I asked why don’t you want to pay for food the customer said the food wasn’t tasty.

“Then I said to them the food is finished you have to pay.

“The customer refuse to pay, then left without paying, the customer made fake complaints.”

After reading the reply, Mr Jefferson added: “He is trying to say I'm lying but the photo is right there.

“We have never had any major issues with them before. We found the odd hair in a meal once, but they made the food again.

“That’s replaceable, this is just not forgivable.”

The metadata for the picture, which has been checked by KentOnline, shows it was taken at 8.37pm on Friday, June 30 – the night of the meal.

Mr Jefferson’s mum lodged a complaint with Ashford Borough Council following the incident.

A spokesman for the local authority confirmed the complaint was received on July 9 and officials have since attended to carry out an inspection.

They added: “The business has since been served with a notice in line with our enforcement policy and further visits have since taken place to ensure compliance.

“We continue to work with them to ensure all pest issues have been addressed.”

Ashford Indian Diner has a five-star food hygiene rating and is rated four out of five on Tripadvisor.

Speaking to KentOnline, Mr Noor added that the hot plate is passed through at least four members of staff before it is handed to the customer.

He feels staff, or other members of the party, would have spotted the insect at the start of the meal if it was in the food.

He added: “We’re sure it did not come from the curry.

“I look after all my customers.

“I have more the 20 years of experience as a chef and nothing has happened in all this time.”