KEY POINTS:
An Auckland restaurateur who has seen his share of high living says the $31,000 food and drink bill racked up by Doug Howlett and his mates is no big deal.
"Actually if it was me and I had five of my friends with me we wouldn't even be
pissed," said Tony Astle, who owns Antoines Restaurant in Parnell.
"I don't find that an excessive bill at all - I think you could ring around this town and find places where people have spent that anyway."
The All Blacks' record tryscorer, controversially left out of the team who played France, was arrested for allegedly stomping on two cars outside the Hilton London Heathrow Airport hotel early on Tuesday and later admitted alcohol was involved.
Efforts to get a price list from the bars at the London hotel were unsuccessful with one employee saying this was due to "health and safety reasons" but Mr Astle doubted the players were drinking "smart wines" - they were probably indulging in spirits and beer.
He said the airport hotel would likely have had top-line single malt whisky and cognacs, the best of which could set a punter back up to £500 (£1320) a glass.
Compare that with the Auckland Hilton where bottled water starts at $7 and the most expensive bottle of Dom Perignon 95 Rose champagne will set you back $1000 in its Bellinis bar.
Mr Astle said he had seen similar amounts splurged at his own eatery although he would not confirm the customer's name.
"We had one person I can't mention who had a bill of about $20,000, it would be a lot more now because they were drinking Chateau Margaux.
"That's a 1945 bottle too, and if you wanted to buy that now we would probably charge $15,000 a bottle."
"You can buy wines here for up to $60,000 for a Petrus 1982, it's very expensive and even a brand new one you would probably pay a couple of thousand for."
Mr Astle said the highest spending he had seen was before the stockmarket crash in 1987 when customers were buying $8000 bottles of wine "for the hell of it".
"The world's your oyster if you find a restaurant that has the right cellar."