The owners of a Chinese restaurant in south-west Moscow are to be charged after it was found they were serving dog meat to customers – disguised as beef, pork and lamb.

Police raided the eatery when neighbours became suspicious of whimpering packages delivered in the night. Officers later discovered some of Moscow's many stray dogs ended up on the menu after reportedly being cruelly butchered by chef's at the restaurant.

The dogs' butchered carcasses were found in the kitchen

Press secretary of Moscow police Irina Volk said officers first visited the restaurant as ordinary paying clients.

“They even had to taste what turned out to be real dog meat,” Irina Volk said.

“They ordered different courses from soup to salad, then put pieces of food into containers and sent them for expert analysis,” she said.

Laboratory tests proved everyone's worst fears. The main ingredient of the tasty chow mein and sweet and sour dishes turned out not to be pork or beef, but dog.

“The experts determined that the dog meat was of two kinds – stray sick dogs and domestic pets who'd gone missing,” Irina Volk said.

“The dogs must have been caught on the streets of the capital and brought over to the restaurant. Their butchered carcasses were found in its kitchen”.

At this point police returned to the restaurant for a thorough inspection. They were shocked at what they found.

Officers say they witnessed cooks cruelly and violently cutting up live dogs who had been earlier snatched in the capital.
 
“We live nearby. Our windows face the restaurant. And we have seen many times dogs being brought here. We heard them yelping in the night. We turned to the police and we are happy measures were taken,” said Svetlana Davydova, local resident.

The restaurant is now closed.

The owners of the business face legal charges for selling food dangerous for human consumption and animal cruelty.

Police are also checking other Chinese restaurants in Moscow.

This is not the first case of its kind in Russia.

In 2004 police closed a cafe in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk that served their clients dog meat as if it were beef.