Neighbouring restaurant in Dubai suffering an identity crisis

Dubai: At The Garden, what was once a bustling lunchtime trade two weeks ago was reduced to a trickle on Wednesday.

The Indian restaurant has the misfortune of being located directly next door to the Lotus Garden, a Chinese restaurant implicated in the food poisoning deaths of Nathan and Chelsea.

"It's a case of mistaken identity," Jacob Abraham, a manager of operations at The Garden, explains. "A lot of people seem to think we were the restaurant involved in the food poisoning incident. We're not."

As well as being located directly next door to the now-infamous Baghdad Street Lotus Garden, the victim of mistaken identity is also called The Garden.

While their shuttered neighbours served Chinese food, The Garden is a full-service Indian restaurant.

"People think it's us," he says. "It's not."

The crisis has hit The Garden hard. Since the food poisoning scare hit the neighbourhood, the restaurant's daily takings at the till have fallen by 85 per cent.

"It's really hurting us, all of the negative publicity about eating out and hot weather," he says.

"Not only are we unfortunate enough to be located next door to the closed restaurant, we're also called 'Garden' and people think it's us," Abraham says. "I think the management will have to think about changing our name."