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These spices were available at luxury prices.
Johnny Depp spent more than $62,000 (£50,000) on a special celebratory curry dinner with his friends on Sunday night in Birmingham, England.
Depp, 58, indulged in a feast of “authentic Indian cuisine,” cocktails and rosé champagne at Varanasi restaurant, which serves “heavenly recipes and soothing ambience,” according to his website.
The actor — dubbed a “down-to-earth guy” by restaurant staff — famously won a major victory on Wednesday when he was awarded a $10.35 million verdict in his brutal defamation trial of his ex-wife Amber Heard, 36 became.
The ‘Edward Scissorhands’ star hung out with his musician friend Jeff Beck, 77, and 20 other people at their party at ‘Birmingham’s largest Indian restaurant’.
Depp has been in the UK to accompany Beck on his tour. He’s even appeared on stage at several of the guitarist’s shows, including at London’s Royal Albert Hall late last month.
The father-of-two traveled to Birmingham to appear on stage with Beck at his show at the city’s Symphony Hall. Depp and his entourage arrived at the trendy venue at 7 p.m. and posed for photos with fans, the Daily Mail reported.
The 20,000-square-foot restaurant was closed to allow Depp and his friends to dine in private, and they left around midnight.
Mohammed Hussain, operations manager of Varanasi, told the outlet: “We had a call out of the blue on Sunday afternoon saying that Johnny Depp was coming to dinner with a group of people.”
“I was shocked, and at first I thought it might have been a twist. But then his security team arrived [and] looked at the restaurant and we gave them the whole place because we were worried it might be harassed by other guests,” he continued.
Hussain described how the chefs prepared a feast for the Pirates of the Caribbean star that included delicacies like shish kebabs, chicken tikka, paneer tikka masala, lamb karahi and tandoori king prawns.
The executive also shed some light on the evening, noting that Depp is a “very lovely, down to earth guy.”
“[He] spent a lot of time talking to the staff, our friends and family and enjoyed posing for photos with them. You never thought he would be such a big star. He had a lot of time for all of us,” enthused Hussain.
Hussain also explained that he had promised not to disclose the full amount of the bill, but said that “money was not an issue and was easily in five figures”.
He added, “We made more money from Depp’s visit than we did from our busiest night of the week, a Saturday when we have about 400 guests.” The feast ended with a simple cheesecake and panna cotta for dessert.
Hussain then recalled the most surprising moment of the night when Depp “wanted a little break from everyone” for around 20 minutes and sat with him in his office.
Hussain said the A-lister wanted to watch people on CCTV in his office and was interested in how the cameras worked.
He explained that he did not ask the Kentucky native about the court case. “It was just a nice conversation with a very humble man. I’m still pinching myself because I never dreamed Johnny Depp would be in my office talking about how the CCTV works in the restaurant,” Hussain said. “It was a real honor to have him here.”
