Bosses at an Indian restaurant - hailed as the town’s best by customers - have been forced to clean up their act after inspectors found a “significant risk to public health”, but insist they’re still the area’ top offering.

Shobab in Whitstable was visited by Canterbury City Council hygiene inspectors on June 24.

Issues such as dirty surfaces and the previous day’s rice being left out on the side were found and the business voluntarily shut down to address the immediate concerns.

But the staff scrubbed and cleaned for six hours during a clean-up operation and were back open later that same day after inspectors approved it was safe to do so.

Owner Mohammad Abdul Hannan said: “We've done everything - all the cleaning. Everything was okay but cleaning wasn’t good.

“Now you can see all over the site, we’ve done at least 85 to 90% of the work.”

New freezers for the kitchen are currently on order.

The inspector said in his report: “The premises are generally in a poor state of cleanliness and a full deep clean is required.

“Low-level cleaning is poor, hand contact points are dirty and there is a significant build-up of grease and food debris in and behind equipment.”

They also noted the strip lights had no cover, but these have now been replaced.

Issues with the way food was stored were also found.

The inspector said: “Prawns were defrosting in a bucket in the rear storage area. Food must be defrosted in the fridge.

“A large amount of food was found at room temperature, including rice from the previous day's service at 30C and rice cooked at 2pm at 54C at 5.45pm.

“You must ensure food is cooled to below 8C within 90 minutes, using proactive cooling methods or cooking fresh.”

Mr Hannan, 61, says this has also been addressed, adding: “We have looked at it and it’s okay now. Every time before we were okay, but this time I don’t know what happened.”

Shobab has a glowing reputation with most of its customers.

Scoring a 4.2-star rating on Google, customer Mitch Storyboard - who visited a month ago - wrote: “The food here is the best I have had, and I’ve had countless meals in India, Asia and even the humblest home cooking or fine dining in hotels. Shobab is a mile above the competition.”

Sharing similar sentiments, Lanin Ahmed said: “I highly recommended Shobab. Great service and piping hot food. It’s the best in Whitstable.”

Mr Hannan, the owner and restaurateur of the business for 22 years, is confident it is still number one despite the setback.

He said: “I stand by being the best in Whitstable. I think the customers are right.”

“We respect the hygiene inspector and we agreed with it. It’s better for our customers. They gave me the job of cleaning everything and we did it within six hours.

“It’s good that they came and found it and we have now fixed the issues.”

Also at the inspection in June, pest prevention strips were not in place at the bottom of some entrances and staff were told to remove a sticky tape fly trap.

Food containers were found to be dirty and damaged, and floors were not kept clear and clean.

Previously holding a four-out-of-five rating, bosses are “confident” they will be able to score that again.

Canterbury City Council spokesman Robert Davies added: “An environmental health officer visited Shobab on June 24 and found a number of issues that caused concern.

"The officer concluded there was a significant risk to public health due to poor cooling practices, as a large amount of food was out of refrigeration.

“There were also very poor cleaning standards throughout the premises and no sanitiser on site.

"Discussions were had with the owner of the business, and they voluntarily closed on the same day.

"The officer returned the following day and saw a large amount of cleaning had taken place to an acceptable standard.

“Sanitiser and cleaning products were on site and no food was found cooling at room temperature.

"It was made clear to the owner that these improved standards must be maintained and the business reopened the same day.

"In due course, the business will be rescored and we hope to be able to award it a higher score than the current one star."