La Popote, a French restaurant located in England, offers nearly 140 wines and starting Friday, seven waters.
The new water menu includes three still and four sparkling varieties (tap water remains complementary).
While La Popote is the first UK restaurant to launch a water menu, per CNN Business, it’s not the first restaurant to do so.
In 2013, LA’s Ray’s & Stark Bar, then located at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, launched a 45-page water menu curated by water sommelier Martin Riese. The menu’s 20 items included Riese’s own brand, 9OH2O, a pun so terrible Conan O’Brien once told him he’d “go to prison.”
What’s the point?
For Riese, there really is a difference among waters, something he noticed as a small child whenever his family would go on vacation and he’d try the various tap waters.
A water can taste vastly different depending on the amount of total dissolved solids (TDS) — magnesium, sodium, calcium, etc. — it contains. Mineral water, which has a higher TDS than distilled water, may taste stronger or saltier. Some waters do, like wine, have different mouthfeels.
La Popote Chef Joseph Rawlins told CNN that when water sommelier Doran Binder suggested the water menu three years ago, he laughed. But after visiting Binder’s “water bar,” he was sold on how different waters could pair with various foods, just like wine.
For people not fascinated…
… by water’s mouthfeel or pairings, La Popote’s water menu may reflect a growing interest in wellness. Binder, who is sober, noted it's a “whole new revenue stream” for customers like him.
While over 54% of Americans still consume alcohol, per a recent Gallup poll, that’s down from 67% in 2022. Many people are cutting back or abstaining entirely to save money — La Popote’s waters range between ~$7 and $26 — or for health reasons, resulting in an uptick in mocktails, NA beers and wines, and other sober options.
For those who also abstain from high sugar content, flavored waters like LaCroix and the ever-popular Liquid Death are appealing — and fancy water menus could be, too.