A Melbourne restaurant in a trendy suburb defied requests to close down after health inspectors discovered food in contact with rodent faeces.

Hawthorn East eatery La Cabra Modern Mexican was fined $5,000 after the business and its directors fronted the Melbourne Magistrates' Court for food safety breaches.

The court heard that council health inspectors who swarmed the Camberwell Road business in July last year discovered 'high rodent activity' throughout the premises.

Boroondara health inspector Chelsea Ward first visited La Cabra on July 10, 2025, and discovered multiple food safety red flags.

These red flags included 'generally unclean' and grimy food preparation conditions and a 'high level of food debris' on the floor of the kitchen.

Ms Ward also discovered meat stored in a bain-marie was just over 34°C while salad mix found in a salad bar was over 11°C.

The court heard that cold food stored above 5°C and hot food below 60°C poses a high risk of allowing potentially harmful bacteria to thrive.

Ms Ward also spotted uncovered and unlabelled food stored on the floor under benches and cook tops, and an 'accumulation of rubbish' in the back of the kitchen.

Kitchen staff told the inspector they cleaned the food-preparation areas frequently throughout the day but were unable to produce a cleaning sanitiser when requested.

Alarm bells rang when Ms Ward spotted rodent faeces throughout the food preparation areas and under kitchen appliances.

Ms Ward also requested to see the business' pest management plan after she detected 'high rodent activity' in the dishwashing area.

The inspection escalated after Ms Ward inspected the cool room and found that rat faeces had been 'seen to have come into contact with food'.

The rodent faeces were discovered in the cool room among partially uncovered trays and boxes of raw meat and vegetables.

The court heard that Ms Ward lifted a box of meat and discovered rat faeces beneath the food container.

Ms Ward checked two of the business' pest reports which 'showed high rodent activity throughout the premises' dating back to 2024.

La Cabra management assured the inspector that all the food would be disposed of before business director Sherinder Kohli arrived at the venue.

Mr Kohli 'acknowledged' rodent activity was an ongoing issue and said he believed that planter boxes at the front of the premises were the source of the rat problem.

Ms Ward requested all uncovered food, including goods stored in the cool room, be disposed of.

However, the La Cabra business development manager advised her that they had a 50-person booking coming in that night.

'The potential threat to public health was severe,' Ms Ward responded.

She decided to force the business to close, but the necessary form to action this required sign-off by the council's CEO, who was not available at the time.

Ms Ward left the venue and called the business development manager, asking them to voluntarily close, but he declined due to the 50-person booking.

Ms Ward returned to La Cabra in person to again implore the business development manager to close that evening so the restaurant could be cleaned 'to ensure members of the public did not fall ill after consuming the food produced'.

La Cabra remained open, so a team of inspectors arrived at the restaurant the next day.

The council team discovered 'evidence of overnight rodent activity', including scattered fresh rat faeces.

Ms Ward also highlighted the rodents' prime entry and egress (exit) points into the food-preparation areas, which had traces of rat hair.

Health inspectors then forced the business to close down.

Management requested the closure order not commence until after the weekend because they wanted to capitalise on the busy days, but this was denied by the council.

The business directors were ordered to display the closure order in a prominent position at the front of the venue. 

Director Kohli got to work as he and staff gave the restaurant a deep clean while a pest expert was called in to seal off entry points used by the rats.

Mr Kohli later said he was aware of the rats while 'actively trying to deal with the issue'.

When the council inspectors put to Mr Kohli that they saw food placed directly on rodent faeces, he said the restaurant had been cleaned 'daily' and 'no one anticipated any [rat] activity in the cool room'.

Mr Kohli also said he did not think that any of the staff knew the debris in the cool room was actually rat faeces.

The director also said he did not realise the rat entry 'holes' would create a pest issue and they had 'now taken every possible measure to eradicate the problem'.

La Cabra staff, led by Mr Kohli, were able to clean the restaurant within a day and the council rescinded the closure order.

The court heard that Mr Kohli and co-directors Joshua Smith and Derrick Chandra one another while working in the hospitality industry.

The trio employ 50 staff working at multiple venues, including the Hawthorn East restaurant and businesses at Mordialloc and Ballarat, the court was told. 

There are also multiple other La Cabra locations throughout Melbourne.  

Lawyers for La Cabra and its directors told the court that staff disposed of food despite pushing back at the council's request to close.

Mr Chandra now visits the venue three times a week in his role as the group's food safety officer.

The court also heard that three staff responsible for food safety standards were sacked after the rat faeces discovery.

The legal team for La Cabra, which has donated 500 free burritos for a charity, pleaded with the court to spare the business and its director convictions.

The court heard La Cabra Pty Ltd only made a profit of $3500 in 2024 and the directors take a $90,000 salary each but the trio previously boasted publicly their 'innovative Mexican restaurant chain' was worth $12million. 

The council prosecutor said he had never encountered a proprietor who had not voluntarily closed after food was found to have made contact with rat faeces.

'Most of them will happily close,' the prosecutor said.

'It's unfathomable... rodent faeces on food can lead to illnesses such as salmonellosis [salmonella infection] and dangerous others such as hantavirus. These illnesses can cause food poisoning, respiratory failure and potentially fatal organ damage.

'As I've previously mentioned, the most alarming aspect of this offending is the accused declined to follow the advice of a qualified health environment officer to close the business and resolve the issue, instead choosing to prioritise their profits  and continue to operate.

'If a business can't comply... with the most basic of food safety code practices then they must close until they can. We say the offending is serious and posed a significant risk.'

Magistrate Siobhan Whittle fined La Cabra $5,000 while handing Kohli, Chandra and Smith 12-month good behaviour bonds without conviction.