Restaurant owner defends menu request after offending customers who order tap water
The owner of a London restaurant has defended his business after diners said they felt ‘guilt-tripped’ after ordering water with their meal.
Jane Breeds and her boyfriend went to Danish steakhouse Köd London, in north east London, to treat themselves to the £30-per-head all-you-can roast dinner.
But they say they were stunned after spotting a note on the menu that read: “You can have tap water… but please remember we're running a restaurant, not a charity - wink, wink.”
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The note then goes on to suggest ‘if you want to have just tap water, we encourage you to donate £1 to Red Cross. Everybody wins'.
Breeds, 27, said the ‘cheeky’ message led to her and her partner ordering a jug of tap water so that they could ‘make a point.’
The 27-year-old claims she and her partner 'made a point' of not buying a drink because of it and instead ordered a jug of tap water.
Breeds, from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, said: "It's a bit cheeky to imply that I'm treating the restaurant as a charity when I'm spending £60.
"When I first saw the menu I laughed and told my boyfriend that we're not ordering any drinks.
"He asked why and I passed him the menu. He found it funny too and agreed to just stick to tap water.
"I was given a jug and I didn't request for it to be refilled but I'm sure they would have done so.
"[The donation] is a nice idea but I don't think I should be guilt-tripped into donating to charity just because I only wanted to drink tap water.
"I didn't make a donation but I did happily pay the 15 per cent tip that is automatically added on though as the staff were great.
"They didn't say anything about us only drinking tap water and gave great service."
However, Köd owner, Morten Ortwed, has hit back at the criticism, claiming his restaurant wouldn't be able to run the 'great' Sunday-exclusive deal if nobody bought drinks.
He went on to say it was ‘Danish humour’, but admits he has ‘things to learn’ about living and working in the UK.
Ortwed is an ambassador for the Red Cross and the menu's message ends by telling customers they can inform waiters if they wish to donate.
Ortwed, from Skanderborg, Denmark, said: "It's a really good offer that people like but it's not possible to make an offer like this if everyone just has free tap water.
"This is a way in Danish humour to tell people to also buy something to drink so we can continue to have this great offer.
"We're not forcing people to buy drinks. They can have free tap water.
"I understand [they find it cheeky] but to come to a restaurant and have tap water I think it would be nice to also donate something. That shouldn't be a bad thing.
"It's the first time I saw something critical about it. I will of course think about it for the future but I don't think we should change something because one person doesn't agree.
"There are still some things we need to learn about Danish humour working in the UK."
Topics: Food And Drink, UK News, London, Money
Claire Reid