After Gelatigate, will anyone be able to look at a bowl of chocolate ice-cream the same way again? We may be in the midst of a global financial meltdown and a historic US presidential election, but the story on everyone's lips, from Malta to Denver, Bombay to Madrid, is the mysterious case of the poo in the ice-cream at the Coogee Bay Hotel."Faeces confirmed in gelato" United Press International flashed around the world this week."Accusations of 'kitchen revenge' [have] shocked Australians, leading into an expected searing, gelato-friendly summer," reported Malaysia's Straits Times. Reuters India reported daintily on "the tainted sweet".Under a picture of an ice-cream with the caption "Chocolate?", one Spanish website expounded on the "escandalo [at] El hotel Coogee Bay [of the] materia fecal humana en un plato de helado". Yuk in anyone's language.How human fecal matter came to be in a "massive goblet" of complimentary ice-cream served to the Whyte family, of Queens Park, on October 5, is the subject of intense investigation by NSW authorities, overseen by the Primary Industries Minister, Ian MacDonald, with closed-circuit TV footage examined and DNA tests under way to determine the sex and possible identity of the "producer".The story began innocently enough four weeks ago, when Stephen and Jessica Whyte and their three sons went to the recently refurbished brasserie of the Coogee Bay Hotel to eat lunch with friends and watch the NRL grand final. But they were unhappy with the prices and service, and complained repeatedly.And then, at the end of the meal, came a peace offering from the kitchen - a generous, heaping family-sized serving of vanilla, hazelnut and chocolate gelati with spoons for all. "I dug in with a spoon; it was quite hard to get out," Mrs Whyte told journalists this week."The minute I put the spoon to my lips the stench went through my nostrils. I retched and spat it into the napkin."My friend thought I was over-reacting, but when she smelt it, she started screaming, 'Oh my God, they've served us shit."'All hell broke loose. "The whole family became hysterical. My poor son screamed at one of their staff: 'You made my mum eat poo,"' Mrs Whyte said.It's one way of putting your establishment on the map. Although its owners are defending its "exemplary hygiene standards", the Coogee Bay Hotel is destined always to be known as "the poo pub" and the world media is having a ball.
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Topic: Australian restaurant serves ice cream with poopie (Read 326 times)
