- Do YOU know this woman? Email jose.ramos@dailymail.co.uk
Staff at a Michelin-starred restaurant say it too has fallen victim to a brazen ‘porch pirate’ after footage was released of £300 of langoustines being swiped from outside a Chelsea kitchen.
High-end Chelsea food joint Elystan Street this week shared a clip of a woman taking off with the fine seafood. And now staff five miles away at Galvin La Chapelle claimed the same ‘thief’ snagged £800 of premium meat from them.
The so-called ‘fine dining bandit’ is the prime suspect in the high-end food heists after staff at Spitalfields restaurant Galvin La Chapelle re-checked their CCTV footage from a crime earlier this month.
The Chelsea theft hit headlines when Elystan Street chefs released CCTV showing a woman calmly picking up a box of fresh langoustines at 8am on Tuesday and walking off with her head down.
The clip went viral, prompting Galvin La Chapelle to re-examine their own footage from November 4.
Insiders claim the thief is the same woman. Their footage shows a hooded figure in a white top, black trousers and trainers darting up and down steps, rummaging through deliveries and making off with an £800 haul of high-value meat.
Theysaid: ‘The same woman appears to have stolen £800 worth of meat from the delivery, using an almost identical method to the Chelsea theft now making headlines.
‘This suggests London is dealing with a repeat, targeted restaurant thief – quickly becoming known as the “fine-dining bandit”.’
Footage of this month’s Chelsea alleged theft was posted online by chef Phil Howard, who owns the restaurant.
Footage has emerged of a woman lifting bags of meat from outside Galvin La Chapelle, the Michelin-starred Spitalfields restaurant, earlier this month
Entrance of Galvin La Chapelle restaurant in London
CCTV also captured a woman, dressed in jeans and what appear to be slippers, walking up to the front of Elystan Street at around 8am on Tuesday
The footage was posted online by furious chef Phil Howard, who owns the restaurant (pictured), after discovering the day’s shellfish delivery had vanished
Phil wrote on Instagram: ‘Caught stealing our precious langoustines this morning – you low-life scum bag.
‘Hope you rot in hell with your other hard working mates.’
Becky McLaughlin, restaurant manager, added: ‘It’s a cost that somebody just doesn’t realise, where it’s now going to have to be swallowed.
‘In these times it’s incredibly different for restaurants so things like this can be so damaging which people don’t realise.
‘I don’t know what they’ll do with them but they’ll have a very lovely supper.
‘You can tell in the footage that she can see what’s written on the box, the contents of what’s inside it, and if they were smart then they would know how much it was worth.’
Elystan Street appealed for the public’s help, asking people to contact them.
The incident comes amid a wave of parcel thefts across the UK, with so-called ‘porch pirates’ striking in record numbers.
Police data shows £666.5 million worth of packages were stolen in the 12 months to July, up from £377 million the year before, affecting nearly five million households.
Elystan Street, which holds one Michelin star, serves contemporary European cuisine and is one of several acclaimed restaurants run by Mr Howard.
The South African-born chef trained under the Roux brothers and Marco Pierre White before earning a formidable reputation at The Square, his two-star Mayfair restaurant of 25 years.
He opened Elystan Street in 2016 and also runs The Ledbury, Kitchen W8, Church Road, Perilla and Lorne.
The Metropolitan Police has been contacted for comment.
