A Thai restaurant was handed a one-star hygiene rating after inspectors found dirt, flaking ceilings and no hand wash basin.

When a Canterbury City Council officer visited the city’s Lanna Thai they unearthed a litany of issues – including poor cleanliness throughout the kitchen.

Following the March 12 probe, the inspector wrote: “Equipment, filters, fridge and freezer seals and pipework were all dirty.

“The cleanliness throughout the kitchen is poor. You must maintain a clean condition.”

The Dover Street building’s structure was also highlighted as a problem, with “shelves, walls and ceilings,” of substandard quality.

“They are cracked and flaking, and the conditions of the windows were also poor,” the report says.

“All areas must be in a good condition and capable of being kept clean.”

The hygeine inspector also stressed practices around food safety were not up to standard.

All food at the diner and takeaway were unlabelled, meaning dates were not being effectively tracked.

Addressing the restaurant’s bosses directly, the inspector wrote in the report: “You have removed the hand wash basin.

“You must install a separate hand wash basin with hot and cold water or appropriately mixed running water connected to mains drainage.

“You were hot holding rice all day without performing temperature checks.

“You must ensure it is cooked to 75 degrees and check it every two hours to ensure it is above 63 degrees.”

Lanna Thai was subsequently served with the second lowest rating of one-star out of five – it means environmental health deem “major improvement is necessary” at the establishment.

But despite the damning report, the business has a 4.3 out of five rating on Google reviews and comes highly recommended by some guests.

“Amazing Thai food and super friendly staff, wrote Pinn Sat, following a visit last month.

“We tried tom yum kung, yum beef and duck rice and the duck dish is awesome.”

Kevin H, who visited a month before, wrote: “Wonderful food. It was all absolutely delicious. I’m very impressed.

“We collected our food order and it was ready when we arrived, with quick service from phone call to collection.

“The restaurant looked really lovely too so we will definitely come back for an evening meal to try all the other dishes.

“Thank you Lanna Thai, we thoroughly loved our food!”

Lanna Thai was contacted for comment via email, phone and social media, but did not supply a response within eight days.