The Sultan, a Turkish restaurant in Cardiff Bay, has seen its food hygiene rating improve from one to five after successfully appealing a previous inspection it deemed unfair. The new rating was awarded following a reinspection last week, with the restaurant marked as "good" in all categories.
Appeal over 'misunderstanding'
Kerem 'Kay' Kavak, director of the restaurant in Stuart Place, said the economic climate is already challenging for small family-run businesses like the Sultan. "Situations like this can put a great deal of pressure on small businesses," he said. "At the same time we recognise how important food hygiene is and we would never want our customers to have concerns about the standards in our kitchen."
In May, an inspector from Cardiff council scored the restaurant as needing improvement in its hygienic food handling and "major" improvement in its management of food safety. Mr Kavak explained that the initial inspection took place on May 24, a bank holiday during the first heatwave of the year, on what was at that point the restaurant's busiest day since opening.
Reinspection and new score
"During the inspection there was a misunderstanding regarding some of our temperature records. We had evidence available which we believed demonstrated that the records and procedures were in place," he said. "We were prepared to provide this to the environmental health office as part of the appeal process. We followed the appropriate process and had both physical and video evidence ready to support our position. Despite this we were initially awarded a food hygiene rating of one."
The rating was published while the restaurant was still in communication with Cardiff council and before the 21-day period available to appeal had elapsed, which Mr Kavak found "unusual and disappointing". The Sultan applied for a reinspection as soon as possible and hired external instructors to provide staff with hygiene training and refreshed certificates.
Praise for staff and customers
"We had expected the reinspection to take a couple of weeks but in the end it took nearly two months," said Mr Kavak. He is "very pleased" with the new score and thanked the council for "working with us through the reinspection process", as well as customers for their "continued support and patience".
The Sultan, based in the Grade II-listed Big Windsor building, opened in 2023 and was named Turkish restaurant of the year in 2025 and 2026 at the Food Awards Wales. It has an average rating of 4.8 stars after more than 1,300 Google reviews. Mr Kavak said he is proud of the Sultan's 15 staff and described the new rating as a reflection of "the standards we work hard to maintain". "We take food hygiene and cleanliness very seriously," he added. "It has always been an integral part of how we run our restaurant."
The council has been approached for comment.
