Executive finds insect in fastfood dish

Dining in a restaurant in a popular Manila shopping mall proved to be a most unpleasant experience for a Makati human resource executive the other night.

Krasnaya Dumotan, 27, a human resource executive of a Makati banking systems company, was shocked to discover a small cockroach in the beef ampalaya and rice she ordered for dinner at Dimsum ’N Dumplings restaurant in Robinson’s Place, Ermita, Manila.

In her complaint filed with the General Assignments Section of the Western Police District, Dumotan said she had started eating the dish when she noticed the small cockroach on top of the rice that accompanied the dish.

Dumotan said that when she called for the duty manager Alvin Eugenio, she was informed by the restaurant’s crew that he was on break. She then asked for his cellular phone number but was told by the crew that he do not have one. Almost an hour later, Eugenio, branch manager of the restaurant for just a year, arrived and was apologetic about the incident. He said that the insect in the dish was just "accidental."

Dumotan then asked to talk to the restaurant’s owner, Andrew Masigan. Later while filing her complaint at the WPD headquarters, Sandee Masigan, one of the owners of the restaurant sent a text message expressing regret for the incident through this reporter’s cellphone.

"I’m sorry to hear that you had an unpleasant experience with one of our stores," Masigan said.

When this reporter replied that the matter had already been referred to the police, Masigan replied,"I am sorry to hear that sir. Wouldn’t it be better to talk about this in person? No one wants things like this to happen," said Masigan in her text message.

Later, Sandee Masigan, told this reporter that they had already investigated the matter.

She also said that she gave an assistant cook and Eugenio their walking papers due to incident.

"We sent our general manager there. We’ve taken out one person from the kitchen. We believe that person has not been alert," she said.

Masigan said that regular cleanliness measures are being practiced in their restaurants since they went into the business 13 years ago. Their branch at the Robinson’s Place was established in 1997. "We are doing everything to be clean as possible. We regularly check our kitchens. I don’t know how that could have happened," she said.

Erwin Wu, complex manager of Robinson’s Place said he would still have to verify the incident with the owners of Dimsun ’N Dumplings. – Mike Frialde