Staff at a Turkish restaurant say they are mystified as to how what appears to be a cigarette butt ended up in a couple's takeaway dinner.

Becky Allard and her partner Sarah were tucking into their £50 meal from Gem of Kent in Maidstone on Saturday evening when the shocking discovery was made.

After plating up her £12.95 portion of iskender – a kebab-style dish of lamb served with bread, tomato sauce and yogurt – Ms Allard went in with her fork, only to uncover the unwanted additional ingredient.

"I can't say I was impressed," she said of the Deliveroo-ordered dish. "The food has always been amazing there, but have their standards slipped?

"I spoke to them and the manager said none of the staff smoke, let alone in the kitchen. He did not know where it had come from."

The High Street restaurant, which boasts an impressive 4.5 out of 5 rating on Tripadvisor, has long been a favourite of the couple and they would regularly dine-in before Covid-19 restrictions were put in place.

But now the 31-year-old, who is from Barming, says they will likely go elsewhere.

Asked about the discovery of the rogue item, the restaurant's front-of-house manager Burhan Yigit said they had no idea how it could have found its way into the food.

"There's two people in the kitchen, I have spoken to both of them," he said.

"No one smokes in the kitchen, and our kitchen is open anyway. If you stand out on the street outside the restaurant you can see the kitchen from there.

"We refunded the customer. , we didn't want to say it was the customer trying to get their money back, or it was the Deliveroo driver who picked it up.

"The two chefs in the kitchen are adamant that it has got nothing to do with them. They have been working here since we opened, so almost seven years, so we were shocked as well, you know?

"We were trying to figure out what had happened."

A spokesman for Deliveroo said: "We are committed to delivering the highest quality food experience to our customers.

"We are urgently investigating this matter with the restaurant."

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