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Johnny Depp isn’t worried about spending too much at dinner. On Sunday, the actor enjoyed dinner a the Varanasi Indian restaurant in Birmingham, England where he reportedly spent more than $62,000 (£50,000). Mohammed Hussain, operations director of Varanasi, talked to Daily Mail and gave them all the delicious details, and while he promised he wouldn’t reveal the full bill total he said, “money was no issue, and it was easily in five figures.”
© Varanisi BirminghamThe restaurant posted photos of the occasion on their Facebook page with the caption, “The most talked about person on the planet right now joined us for dinner last night ! We had the greatest of pleasure to be in the presence of Johnny Depp @johnnydepp and Jeff Becks @jeffbeckofficial ! What an amazing and humble experience. Only at Varanasi Restaurant”
Hussain told the outlet they closed the “authentic Indian cuisine,” for the evening so that Depp and 20 of his friends, which included Jeff Beck, could enjoy the 20,000 square foot space by themselves. “We had a call out of the blue on Sunday afternoon saying that Johnny Depp wanted to come to eat with a group of people,” he told the outlet.
© Varanisi BirminghamThe restaurant specially prepared a banquet of Indian food along with cocktails and rosé Champagne. They arrived around seven and racked up the bill until around midnight.
“I was shocked, and at first, I thought it might have been a wind-up [joke]. But then his security team arrived [and] checked out the restaurant, and we let them have the whole place because we were concerned that he might be bothered by other diners,” he added.
As for what they ate? Hussain said the chefs prepared a feast that included shish kebabs, chicken tikka, paneer tikka masala, lamb karahi, and tandoori king prawns. “We made more money from Depp’s visit than we did from our busiest night of the week, which is a Saturday when we have around 400 diners,” Hussain continued. For dessert, they had a simple cheesecake and panna cotta.
He happily posed with staff who described him as a “down-to-earth bloke.” “[He] spent a lot of time speaking with the staff, our friends, and family and was happy to pose for pictures with them. You would never have thought that he was such a big star. He had a lot of time for us all,” Hussain said.
© Varanisi BirminghamHussain revealed an interesting detail, explaining that the “Pirates of a Caribbean” star “wanted a little break from everybody” for about 20 minutes and sat with him in his office. Depp was interred in the cameras and wanted to people-watch on CCTV.
While the world is still talking about his defamation trial against Amber Heard, Hussain said they didn’t talk about the case. “It was just a nice conversation with a very humble man. I’m still pinching myself, because I never dreamt that Johnny Depp would be in my office having a chat about how the CCTV in the restaurant works,” Hussain explained. “It was a real honor to have him here.”
Depp has been staying in the United Kingdom to join Beck on his tour which is why he wasn’t in Virginia for the reading of the verict. He joine the guitarisr on stage at several of his shows.
