A shocked diner at a trendy inner Brisbane pub found a cockroach in his gourmet “wild mushroom” sauce, a court has heard.

The historic Normanby Hotel in Red Hill has been slapped with 17 counts of breaching food safety laws after it allegedly sold the meal with mushroom sauce on September 14 2014.

According to a complaint lodged in the Brisbane Magistrate’s Court, in the days following the sauce incident Brisbane City Council inspectors found 17 breaches of the Food Standards Code during five raids of the “infested” hotel kitchen.

In the first raid on September 17, inspectors allegedly found live cockroaches in various areas including crawling over the splashback of the food preparation bench, dead cockroaches and cockroach faeces, as well as a build up of grime and grease.

“There was evidence of an active infestation of cockroaches on the premises,” the complaint states.

“There was a live cockroach in direct contact with the paper towels under the plate-up bench.”

Further raids on September 18, 19, 22 24 and 30 allegedly found the hotel owners had “failed to take steps to eradicate” the cockroaches.

On September 22 they found “a cockroach on a clean plate” on a shelf, on the ceiling and in the door jamb.

The Normanby Hotel at Red Hill is a popular spot, particularly on Sundays.

The case is in its early stages. No defence has been filed by the hotel owner Revestar Pty Ltd.

The case returns to court on August 28.