• By Swati Singh
  • Thu, 21 Aug 2025 11:59 PM (IST)
  • Source:JND

Gauri Khan's Mumbai restaurant Torii has been dominating headlines since the beginning. The restaurant sparked controversy after the fake-paneer allegations, however, later it was clarified that the reaction was due to soy-based ingredients, which are common in Asian cuisine, and not due to adulteration. Torii is once again in news, this time due to founder Abhayraj Kohli's statement on food safety and hygiene.

Kohli stated that certain slip-ups like a small probably a fly or insect or a piece of hair are unavoidable. He said in a conversation with Pop Diaries, "A small probably a fly or insect or a piece of hair that comes into your food, that’s part and parcel of doing work. It happens at your homes, it happens at your workplace and it will happen at a restaurant, and nothing can change that."

The restaurateur emphasised that it is important to check how the food is stored, adding that several restaurants just focus on how the food is treated. "A lot of restaurants, they are not very clean with what they do but restaurants of our caliber, we pay utmost and most importance on how food is treated. It’s not only the hygiene of the kitchen or how clean it is but also how the food is stored from the time it comes in from the suppliers to the time it gets on to a person’s plate," he said.

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The restaurateur went into detail about the importance of storage, especially when it comes to raw dishes like sushi, sashimi and ceviche. “At Torii, we serve raw meat. We have sushi, sashimi, ceviche, we have raw meats. Is it safe to just remove the meat from the freezer and serve it? No. The food has to be kept in a particular piece of equipment called a superfreezer. And the superfreezer takes the food down to -60 and -70 degrees, which does not let any bacteria grow in the food."

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Further explaining the importance of storage, Abhayraj Kohli said, "At Torii, we serve raw meat. We have sushi, sashimi, ceviche, we have raw meats. Is it safe to just remove the meat from the freezer and serve it? No. The food has to be kept in a particular piece of equipment called a superfreezer. And the superfreezer takes the food down to -60 and -70 degrees, which does not let any bacteria grow in the food."