Giant rat prowls Maritime Square kitchen zone

1st November 2026 – (Hong Kong) Hong Kong’s “gourmet paradise” brand took another hit after a Halloween-night photo showed a plump brown rat perched openly in a Maritime Square restaurant’s prep and store area beside the kitchen.

A social media user posted the unsettling shot, saying it was taken at about 11.30pm on 31st October. In the frame, a hefty “Mickey” — street slang for a rat — climbs and surveys the back-of-house space as if it owns the place, a hygiene scene that left viewers nauseous.

Yellow signs marked “dining table”, stainless cutlery basins and large catering tins of canned goods place the spot firmly in kitchen logistics or food preparation rather than the public dining floor. The brown-furred, heavy-set rat climbed a stack of paper egg trays, then reared up on its hind legs to peer around, long tail on full display, lively and unbothered by the chance that staff could walk in at any moment.

The trays it had scrambled over sat next to stored ingredients, raising a clear risk of food contamination. Experts note that rats carry bacteria and parasites; once they cross utensils or ingredients, the health stakes climb fast for any kitchen that serves the public.

The poster said two rats were present at the same time and that the second darted off before a photo could catch it. Online jokes followed: one imagined the rodent surprised that its usual quiet hour was suddenly busy; another asked what shop stocked both eggs and bread and left the rat “eating its fill”.

The Maritime Square sighting fits a run of recent restaurant and supermarket rodent reports. Chain outlets in Hung Hom and at Telford Plaza have already faced “Mickey dining companion” rows, feeding a wider sense that mall and high-street kitchens are not sealed off from street vermin.