Chowdery owner insists restaurant couldn’t have served soup with rat in it

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The owner of Crab Park Chowdery says his business has been wronged.

This comes following an internal investigation, after a video was posted to Instagram showing what appears to be a rat in a soup apparently served to a customer at the restaurant last week.

Ashton Phillips believes something was amiss with the video, and gave a number of reasons as to why the rat couldn’t have been served in the bowl of soup.

Chief among them was its size.

“We did extensive research,” he told NEWS 1130. “We went through and we conducted tests. We took objects that were the same size as the rat in question. We tried every possible way we could to get the rat to fit in to the soup, or in to the bread bowl, and it just wouldn’t happen.”

He adds that either the head or tail of the rat would have had to be sticking out of the ladle, and claims it would be impossible his staff would have missed that.

Phillips cites safety measures the restaurant has in place and the fact the rodent was supposedly found at the bottom of the bowl as other reasons for his disbelief.

“If it had gotten in to the 20 litre container somehow, those are kept lidded and they’re almost- they’re impossible for a rodent to climb up the side of them because it’s a plastic, clear surface. If the rodent was to sit in there for hours upon end, they float. So it would be sitting at the top. There are a lot of inconsistencies. It just doesn’t add up.”

He wouldn’t speculate on how the rat could have ended up in the bowl, but simply reiterated that it didn’t come from the kitchen.

Phillips also points out the Instagram post that made the incident public was made by a 3D graphic design artist. He wouldn’t go so far as to say he believes the video was doctored.

Meantime, while he’s adamant the rat didn’t come from his kitchen, Phillips adds people shouldn’t form their opinions based on a single, unverified post on social media.

“You know I just think that everybody in this day and age… it’s easy for people to jump to conclusions but if you haven’t seen it first hand… come down and enjoy some chowder and get to know us.”

Vancouver Coastal Health inspectors were called in after the video surfaced on social media.

It was forced to shut down the entire restaurant at Mamie Taylor’s, which rented out a commissary kitchen to the Chowdery, while it conducted its investigation. While evidence of rodents was found, they were determined to only be in the commissary kitchen.

Mamie Taylor’s has since reopened. Its owner, however, said the Chowdery would no longer be allowed to use the commissary kitchen in the basement.

-With files from Lauren Boothby, Taran Parmar