An example of the accumulation of grease and gunk. "It was pretty obvious by the photos that this place had not seen the underside of a wire brush for some time. The grease build up on the tiles and throughout the cooking area was sickening," one of the workers told WAtoday.com.au. "Removing the extraction vents for the cookers we stumbled across tendrils of white grease hanging from the top of the vent and the galvanised grey of the sheeting used to construct the flume or vent was indistinguishable. "On the sides and roof of the vent system was a minimum of five millimetres of black tar. The base of the vent system had a pool that had between 12-15 millimetres of a black glassy goop. "As we cleaned out the stove we were delighted to see how easily it came out. Oh sorry, that was came apart...or fell apart.

This notice dated back to 1994. "Most of the fittings holding the gas flame spacers were rusted through and covered with gunk. Gunk is the only word I can use to describe it because it was a combination of….everything that had once or ever passed through that kitchen. "The cooking elements were caked in this composite of organic refuse from the food preparation. I'm sure you would be able to use some sort of ring dating process and MSG level comparison to see what the changing special has been over the years there. Workers were impressed at how easily things came apart...or fell apart. "The crew and I began to play a game as we cleaned out the storage area: 'animal or vegetable'.There were more long, old and shrivelled things in this kitchen than the movie Cocoon.

"No amount of swimming with alien pods was going to give new life to these though." But that wasn't the most disgusting part of the process, according to the worker. "The worst thing about the place was the fact that it had only been closed for 48 hours when we got to it on a Monday. They were cooking and serving people food from this place on the Friday," the worker said. "The whole place had a smell to it that was like finding a container of sweet and sour pork at the back of the fridge that you know you haven't cleaned for three years and you make that stupid decision to open it when you know you shouldn't. "Oddly enough, however, the toilets were remarkably clean. Clean enough to eat off."

WAtoday.com.au has chosen not to name the restaurant - to provide anonymity to those undertaking the demolition work - but can confirm it was in Perth's northern suburbs. Although cockroaches scurried out when our worker removed newspapers from kitchen shelves, locals were apparently unperturbed by the mess. "While we were cleaning we would have a local resident stick his head in and ask if the restaurant was renovating," the worker said. "Without exception each person was visibly upset at the news that the restaurant was closing down and we had no idea if it was opening up somewhere else. "Even after we showed them a couple of the photos of where their beef and black bean was prepared they would simply shrug their shoulders and and say 'but it was really tasty and cheap'."

The worker, who said a screwdriver used in the cleaning was so tainted it had to be thrown away, has not been able to eat Chinese food since being involved in the job. Further ignominy waited at home. Loading "A side note is that I ruined a pair of shoes on this job because they were coated with the grease and filth so I decided to give it to the dog to chew," the worker said. "He refused."