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A Toxteth man described the stomach-churning moment he found mould on a slice of cake at Red Hot World Buffet - moments after taking a bite.

Roger Kinvig, 44, said he felt sick after spotting the furry green patch on his dessert at the Liverpool ONE restaurant on Saturday.

The city centre restaurant today said the mould was an “isolated incident” and that it prided itself on its “high standards”.

But Red Hot hit the headlines in January last year when it voluntarily closed down after a visit from environmental health officers.

Concerns were raised about hygiene and “general cleanliness” in all four of its kitchens and the restaurant was given a zero-star food hygiene rating.

Mr Kinvig, who dined at the restaurant with his wife, told the ECHO: “I thought, you can’t go wrong with cake, so I got a couple of slices.

“I ate one slice and, as I went to eat the second piece, I saw the mould.

“I wanted to vomit, especially after already eating one slice.”

Mr Kinvig spoke to the manager about the mould on the caramel cake and asked for a refund on the £18.99- a-head buffet.

The Royal Mail postman alleged that the manager demanded he delete pictures from his mobile phone, which he did before later retrieving them from an online back-up folder.

Mr Kinvig said: “He wasn’t nice, we got no apology.

“He offered to let us see the kitchens but I wouldn’t be comfortable doing that.”

When asked if he would attend the restaurant again, Mr Kinvig replied: “Oh God, no. Somebody could get ill.”

Red Hot World Buffet said it was working to ensure there is no repeat.

A spokesman said: “We are aware of this isolated incident and have done all we can to reimburse the customer involved and ensure this doesn’t happen again.

“We serve hundreds of different dishes at our restaurants everyday and pride ourselves on our high standards of food quality and customer service.”

Red Hot World Buffet was founded in 2004 by husband and wife team Parmjit and Helen Dhaliwal.

It now has seven large restaurants across the UK, including the Liverpool One retail centre, Manchester, Leicester, Milton Keynes and Cardiff, and employs 600 people with a turnover of £22m.

The buffet restaurant group serves English, Indian, Chinese, Italian, Tex-Mex and Japanese dishes, among others.

The restaurant’s website boasts it has “something for everyone”, adding: “Each Red Hot World Buffet restaurant has a unique atmosphere that provides a dining experience unlike any other and you can enjoy your visit in your own way.

“Food is prepared at live cooking stations by specially trained chefs that only use fresh ingredients. The hardest part is choosing from such a huge variety of tempting treats.”

Red Hot reopened a week after being voluntarily shut down to carry out a deep clean.

Liverpool council has been approached for comment - while ECHO readers have been having their say here.

News updates throughout the day in our live feed here