A would-be food influencer known online as the “dine-and-dash diva” has been jailed in Brooklyn, New York after multiple previous arrests for allegedly skipping out on the bill at high-end restaurants.
Pei Chung, 34, is said to have developed a habit of going to fancy restaurants around New York City, ordering extensively off the menu – and then trying to get out of paying.
Chung has been banned from at least seven restaurants, according to the establishments, and police have said they keep arresting her for her refusal to pay restaurant bills. Chung allegedly skipped out on paying at Williamsburg restaurants at least six times – including one Michelin-starred brasserie, Francie, twice.
At one sitting in October, she reportedly ordered $15 foie gras, $32 carpaccio, $28 bucatini, $52 lamb, and $19 hot chocolate mousse – before skipping out on the check.
The Instagram influencer also visited Peter Luger steakhouse where she ordered nearly $150 worth of steak, sides and dessert for herself, posted pictures of her meal and offered a glowing review.
But employees at the famous steak joint told NBC News it was odd that Chung stayed for hours. And when she was given the check, she allegedly told employees that she couldn’t pay and offered items, including kitchen scissors, from her handbag in exchange.
On Friday, Chung went to Mole in Brooklyn, and her alleged dine-and-dash run came to an end. The owner said that when the Prada-, Louis Vuitton- and Hermes-wearing influencer showed up for a third go at the menu, they wised up.
Cops say Chung ordered $149 in food and then refused to pay. She was arraigned on a theft of services charge Saturday after her arrest – and jailed on Rikers Island on a total $4,500 cash bail for that charge as well as failing to show up in court on previous dine-and-dash warrants.
Evidently referring to Chung’s online following, the owner of Mole told the New York Post: “It’s only in New York City where someone like this becomes a folk hero.”
A manager at Peter Luger told the Post, “I’m glad there’s some sort of recognition being brought to the matter. She was getting away with it – way too often. And it’s just not right.”
Describing herself on Instagram in part as “99 lb No plastic surgery,” Chung reportedly faces eviction from her $3,350 per-month Williamsburg apartment. Her landlord is Eliot Spitzer, who resigned as New York governor in disgrace in 2008 after police implicated him as a regular client of a prostitution ring.
Chung’s arrest comes as restaurants increasingly rely on Instagram-able dishes and influencers to attract business. A 2021 report by the advertising agency MGH found that 36% of TikTok users patronized a restaurant after seeing it in a video. MGH’s report also found that 55% went to a restaurant they saw on the app “simply because the food looked appetizing”.
Chung had been known to bring her own lighting equipment and camera to record herself trying out the dishes, the Post reported.
