The latest luxury in fine dining: Water menus with bottles up to $26

You think you’ve seen it all, and then out pops a French restaurant full of $30 bottled water in the north of England.

And not only is this happening in England, where many wallets are tighter than a duck’s arse, but up North, where open wallets are rarer than hen’s teeth.

I must confess, Cheshire, where the restaurant in question is located, is home to Manchester United and Liverpool footballers and their pampered families: where people think they need to drive Range Rovers because they sometimes get leaves on their driveway.

Anyway, back to ‘La Popote’. Founded and run by Chef Joseph Rawlins along with his wife Gaëlle Radigon, the restaurant is a Michelin star experience and has over 130 different wines. However, apparently due to the increase in non-drinkers, the idea of a water menu was presented to the couple by Doran Binder — ahem — a water sommelier. They promptly arranged for the selection to be added to the offerings.

Speaking to CNN, Rawlins said: “I laughed it off. I initially thought it was a ridiculous idea... It was mind-blowing; water isn’t just water.”

“We did a second tasting with exactly the same waters but we paired them with certain foods”, he explained: “like Manchego cheese, Comté cheese, chocolate, Parma ham, olives. Like with a wine, the taste just changed.”

Look away now, northerners. Prices for water in the restaurant range from £5 ($6.80) for a large bottle of Doran Binder‘s Crag brand to £19 ($26) for The Palace of Vidago, a Portuguese sparkling water.

Binder himself has never drunk alcohol. He told CNN: “There are more and more people who don’t drink alcohol, like me. I’m a massive foodie and when I go to a restaurant they can’t wait to throw a wine menu in front of my nose, which will never be of interest to me.

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“But put a water menu in front of me and now you’ve opened up a whole new revenue stream. It’s appealing to restaurants and it’s appealing to more and more health-conscious people and really it’s all about the epicurean experience.”

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