A St Andrews' takeaway is delivering Scottish lobster and crab with Champagne - with some customers spending £500 on a meal

Haar Restaurant was forced to close due to the lockdown

Britain's poshest takeaway is delivering Scottish lobster and crab with Champagne - with some customers spending £500 on a meal.

Chef Dean Banks, 32, was forced to close his restaurant, Haar, in St Andrews, Fife, due to the lockdown.

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But the Masterchef finalist was having an Indian takeaway at home which cost £40 when it occurred to him that for not much more, he could provide customers with restaurant meals they could eat at home.

A St Andrew's takeaway is delivering Scottish lobster and crab with ChampagneA St Andrew's takeaway is delivering Scottish lobster and crab with Champagne
A St Andrew's takeaway is delivering Scottish lobster and crab with Champagne

The dad-of-one came up with the idea of doing home deliveries using a logistics company, which have proved so successful they will continue after the lockdown.

Customers can choose a lobster and crab, served dressed and with tenderstem broccoli, a mango salad and seaweed potatoes, for £60.

Or they can order another box containing lobster, crab and a 32-day dry aged ribeye steak, costing £90.

Booze starts at a bottle of Charles Heidsieck Champagne, for £40.

A St Andrew's takeaway is delivering Scottish lobster and crab with ChampagneA St Andrew's takeaway is delivering Scottish lobster and crab with Champagne
A St Andrew's takeaway is delivering Scottish lobster and crab with Champagne

Some boxes delivered during the lockdown have contained food and booze worth £500.

Dean said: "We are at capacity, we are doing 500 deliveries a week and we can't do anymore.

"We are getting a lease for a unit nearby, we have outgrown the restaurant.

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"It was hard to start with, but this has taken off. It is doing better than the restaurant.

A St Andrew's takeaway is delivering Scottish lobster and crab with ChampagneA St Andrew's takeaway is delivering Scottish lobster and crab with Champagne
A St Andrew's takeaway is delivering Scottish lobster and crab with Champagne

"We have sold boxes with a value of £500.

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"During one of the first weeks of lockdown I was having an Indian takeaway and I was thinking 'I could get food from the restaurant to people's homes'.

"The takeaway was £40 and I thought 'for an extra £15 I could supply lobster and crab'.

"A lot of people have been looking for something for a special occasion, they can't go out and celebrate.

"People have told us 'you have lifted the spirits in our household', and a lot of people have posted pictures of themselves setting up a table really nicely and having a lovely dinner.

"There was a hole in the market for this.

"We are going to keep going with it and growing it, it is like thinking outside the box, within a box.

"I think it has secured job roles.

"There are a lot of people who haven't dined in the restaurant who have been ordering, we have delivered as far away as Cornwall."

Plans are afoot to open the restaurant on August 1, with lower table numbers - going from 90 to 100 covers a day, to 55 covers.

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But Dean is anticipating that many diners would rather be at home even when restrictions do ease.

He said: "I think for the next 12 months it is going to be very different to how it was before.

"When we reopen, we will have less customers, we will have less chefs - we are putting them in the unit.

"I think everyone's a little bit scared still, especially the elderly.

"There will be a big percentage of the population who won't be going out.

"We directly support local businesses, there are five boats going out fishing for us, and we work closely with a local butcher."

Around half the boxes delivered per week are to customers down south.

The boxes are insulated and filled with ice packs, and include instructions on reheating and allergies.

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Dean added: "When we first started in the restaurant, my worry was getting the plate to the customer.

"Now it is for it leaving the restaurant, to when it arrives at their home."

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