Michelin-listed restaurant is launching a new drinks menu — of just bottled water

The French are known for their good vino — but this edifice is making a scatter pinch a caller benignant of menu.

Michelin Guide-listed edifice La Popote successful bluish England has an extended paper featuring astir 140 varieties of wine.

Now, nan French-style edifice is jumping successful nan heavy extremity and making a daring move to indulge those who don’t drink intoxicant — aliases who simply wish to enactment hydrated successful style — by offering a full paper of bottled water.

Starting Friday, those who dine astatine La Popote will person a prime of 3 different bottles of still h2o and 4 options of sparkling water, arsenic good arsenic complimentary pat water.

The thought of a h2o paper was first brought to co-founders Chef Joseph Rawlins and Gaëlle Radigon 3 years agone by Doran Binder, a h2o sommelier certified by nan Fine Water Academy who was already supplying nan restaurant’s “house” h2o pinch his Crag Spring Water brand.

“I laughed it off,” Rawlins told CNN. “I initially thought it was a ridiculous idea.”

Binder yet invited nan brace to a tasting astatine his “water bar” and sold them connected nan idea.

They tried 5 aliases six different varieties of water, past they did a 2nd tasting that they paired pinch definite foods specified arsenic Manchego cheese, Comté cheese, chocolate, Parma ham and olives — and “like pinch a wine, nan sensation conscionable changed.”

“It was mind-blowing,” Rawlins said, adding that he learned that “water isn’t conscionable water.”

Binder shared that La Popote is nan first edifice successful Britain to connection a h2o paper to diners, and 1 of only a mini fistful successful nan world.

The h2o sommelier curated nan restaurant’s h2o paper featuring a action from crossed Europe, including Britain, France, Spain and Portugal.

“The measurement of minerals successful h2o is what drives sensation and flavor,” Binder told CNN. The measurement is called Total Dissolved Solids, aliases TDS, he explained.

“Distilled h2o is zero TDS. It’s superb for cleaning windows, superb for electrical appliances, superb for your car artillery — rubbish for nan quality being,” he said. On nan different hand, seawater is astatine nan other extremity of nan spectrum pinch 30,000-40,000 TDS.

La Popote has a wide TDS range, pinch 14 TDS successful nan Lauretana sparkling mineral h2o from Italy to 3,300 TDS successful nan Vichy Celastins from France.

Rawlins shared that nan French h2o initially tastes salty, but “then you put it pinch thing that’s rather salty for illustration a Parma ham and they some people equilibrium each different out, truthful nan h2o is not salty anymore and it’s a longer-lasting spirit of nan ham successful your mouth.”

How nan h2o is served is besides an important facet to consider.

“We urge it astatine room somesthesia pinch crystal and a portion of lemon,” Rawlins said. “Water is for illustration vino — if it’s excessively cold, it kills each nan flavor.”

The prices of nan h2o paper scope from £5 ($6.80) for a ample vessel of nan Crag marque to £19 ($26) for a Portuguese sparkling h2o called The Palace of Vidago.

La Popote is tapping into nan world trend of decreased intoxicant consumption pinch its caller h2o menu. that allows diners to person “another dimension.”

“There are much and much group who don’t portion alcohol, for illustration me,” Binder said. “I’m a monolithic foodie and erstwhile I spell to a restaurant, they can’t hold to propulsion a vino paper successful beforehand of my nose, which will ne'er beryllium of liking to me.”

“But put a h2o paper successful beforehand of me, and now you’ve opened up a full caller gross stream. It’s appealing to restaurants, and it’s appealing to much and much health-conscious peopl,e and really it’s each astir nan epicurean experience.”