Horrid old pickled garlic smell every morning

[winnybella]

...in the stairwell and what follows, my flat, every single morning. It's so strong it makes me gag. Btw, I love garlic, I really do, but this is like someone's who ate a load of pickled garlic breath if that makes sense. It is very strong.

I think it may be coming from a new restaurant downstairs (not directly downstairs, but they have a permanently locked door in our stairwell). It's been going for the last few days. If it's part of their winter menu, I'm fucked.

I live in the city, I accept there will be a variety of smells coming through my window, but this is just horrible. At 6 am. Argh.

There's nothing I can do is there? Could I see if other neighbours feel the same and then maybe approach the restaurant people?

I have a smell in my house in the same place (terrace house). It's been there for years and I have come to the conclusion it's coming from next door. It's a similar sort of sour onion-y smell. I hate it and that I can't do anything about it. YANBU.

Yes, speak to your neighbours winnybella. It does rather sound as though the smell is coming from the restaurant.

By law, all commercial premises that cook food have to have an extraction system which should take cooking smells well away from the neighbours. Maybe their extraction system isn't working properly? So, yes, go and have a polite word with the restaurant people - perhaps they're not aware of it. I'm sure they'll do their best to rectify the problem, after all they won't want to be closed down by the Council.

The Council will not be in a hurry to shut down a successful business-rate paying business . . . but of course the owners of the restauarant may not know that!

If you live above a restaurant, its pretty much guaranteed you will get food or cooking smells wafting upwards. Fan or no fan.

Before we moved into our house, we rented a flat that was above an indian takeaway, and next door to that was a chinese restaurant... the smells were definately "interesting".

Quite, Andrewofgg. Which is why I think that the restaurant owners will probably be keen to try to eradicate the problem before it gets reported to the Council!

Actually, as the smell seems to be coming through the locked door in the stairwell there may be a simple solution anyway.

Oh, winnybella. I've just noticed that you don't live in the UK. I don't know what the law is in your country. But it's still worth having a polite word with the restaurant owners.

squeaky- yes, of course, but still, this smell is something special, and I say it as a garlic lover. I'm not directly above, it's their kitchen door that's blocked/locked that opens on our staircase.

They are a nice French restaurant, moved in few months ago after previous owners/management pulled out. The previous owner told me they are part of a huge chain.

Oddly enough, we do have a tiny kebab place directly underneath and there are no smells, even though they roast garlicky meat there every day