A Filipino-American woman and her husband filed a lawsuit against a popular Koreatown restaurant in Manhattan, New York City, after allegedly finding a rodent floating in their ordered soup. (Photo courtesy of Eunice Lucero Lee’s Instagram account)
MANILA, Philippines — A Filipino-American woman and her husband filed a lawsuit against a popular Koreatown restaurant in Manhattan, New York City, after allegedly finding a rodent floating in their ordered soup.
Eunice Lucero-Lee said they ordered their food from Gammeeok — a restaurant they have been supporting for a decade — when they found a dead rat halfway through eating their food.
“After seeking legal counsel, my husband and I now feel free to share something [that] happened to us over the weekend. We ordered from a well-known restaurant called Gammon in K-Town and found the most disgusting thing in our food,” Lee posted on Instagram on March 14, along with videos and pictures.
Her post was edited on Thursday, saying they had already reported the incident to the New York City Health Department, and a lawsuit was filed against Hanpool Inc. or Gammeeok.
“We’re doing this to spread awareness and hopefully make sure the right people are held accountable,” she wrote.
In response, Gammeeok also wrote a lengthy Instagram post and said that the couple’s claim is nonsense.
“The other party submitted a health department record, but if you look at the details, most penalty points are due to the low temperature due to the use of an old refrigerator, and there is no information about cockroaches or rats. The issues are now completely fixed,” it captioned in a video showing how its crew prepared the couple’s food.
“If you look at the video, we are open 24 hours, and there are at least 3 or 4 people in the kitchen at all times. As you can see in the video, it doesn’t make sense for a rat to avoid people and enter a pot on a hot fire,” Gammeeok explained.
In several posts, the restaurant also claimed that the other party’s (the couple’s) Yelp account contained a review that flies “came out” of the food they ordered from another K-Town restaurant. The account already deleted its review posted in 2016.
For her part, Lee said they have been “proud supporters of Asian cuisine and culture” and are not using the incident to spread hate.
“We have been going to this restaurant for a decade and are otherwise proud supporters of Asian cuisine and culture. This incident is in no way to be used to fuel race-based hate or prejudice, and I will have an issue with anyone who uses these posts to fit that narrative,” she wrote.