The waiter rushed to his table and removed the food from his table immediately and offered to bring another plate of Kothu Parotta . “Why would I prefer to eat that again, when I had noticed a cockroach in the food item just a few seconds before. So they served me tomato uthappam,” he said and added the restaurant manager, Sudheer, apologised to him and offered to waive off the bill.

“But I refused. When they insisted they would not charge me anything, I put my feet down and said I would lodge a complaint with the authorities if they don’t give my bill. After which they obliged,” Mohanraj added.

“I didn’t want to create a scene there. Many people were still eating, some had just ordered; I didn’t want to spoil their appetite.”

Restaurant authorities confirmed the incident. “We didn’t know how it happened. Such incidents will never recur. We can assure our customers that,” said an employee. However, Mohanraj later posted the picture of the Kothu Parotta along with the cockroach on Facebook.

Cockroaches in Annapoorna outlets are not isolated incidents. Covai Post has reported on several such incidents before.