Diners at a Michelin-starred chef’s restaurant get charged £100 a bottle to drink their own wine.
Customers at Alex Dilling’s new venue can order from the wine list or take their own plonk – then pay the sky-high corkage fee.
Foodies claim the policy has been designed to put off the “bring your own brigade”.
Some restaurants charge as little as £3 to £5 to open a bottle. Wine writer Jane Clare, from One Foot in the Grapes, said Dilling’s eatery had “probably the highest corkage fee in Britain”.
But she added: “I suspect they very rarely have to charge it.
“The clientele are not going to be bringing in a couple of cheap bottles of pinot grigio from Lidl.
“Ultra-high corkage fees are a deliberate disincentive so people choose off their fine wine list, allowing them to bank profits.”
The 34-seat French restaurant, named Alex Dilling at Hotel Café Royal, opened in Mayfair, West London, last month.
It calls itself an “exceptional exercise in sheer pleasure”.
The restaurant offers 422 wines ranging from £40 to £9,500. There are 38 bottles under £75.
Andy Hayler, the first person to eat in every three-Michelin-starred restaurant, said Dilling’s “restrictive” BYO policy “will not endear it to wine lovers”.
In a review, he added: “Corkage was £100 per bottle with a maximum of two bottles however many diners at your table – a particularly unfriendly policy to any groups who want to bring their own wine.
“There is no corkage option for anyone taking the set lunch.”
Victoria Sheppard, owner of Alex Dilling at Hotel Café Royal, said: “Our policy is in place to protect our business.
“Margins on wine are not there for pure profit but to cover operating costs.”
