Hygiene doesn't get tougher than this: blow for Masterchef judge

MasterChef presenter and judge John Torode demands perfection from contestants on the hit BBC1 cookery show - but his London restaurant appears to have fallen short of his exacting standards.

Smiths of Smithfields has been awarded only two out of a possible five stars for cleanliness by Islington council health inspectors.

They rated its hygiene and safety as merely "fair" and declared they only had "some" confidence in the management, at their last inspection. One official wrote: "Hand-washing in cooking and preparation areas requires improving," and noted that health regulations had been breached because there were no paper towels in the dispenser for staff to dry their hands after washing them.

Islington councillor Paul Smith said the restaurant was only "broadly compliant" with the rules. But the news is not all bad for the Aussie chef, 45, who began a new series of MasterChef last night. The restaurant suffered a worse rating in 2007, when inspectors described its hygiene standards as "poor".

A spokesman for Torode said the report was from "a while ago" and there would be no further comment.