A Prada-wearing dine-and-dasher with a penchant for Michelin-star restaurants has been posing as an influencer to score freebie haute cuisine — while ripping off some of the city’s top eateries, cops say.
Pei Chung, 34, of Brooklyn – who flaunts Prada heels, Louis Vuitton handbags and Hermes belts all over Instagram – has been arrested five times since late October for indulging at local high-end restaurants such as Peter Luger and Francie in Williamsburg, stiffing staffers and then blogging about her stolen fare, police and law-enforcement sources told The Post.
Chung allegedly poses as a food influencer — complete with a camera and lighting set-up — and posts dishes such as Colorado lamb from the Michelin-starred European brasserie Francie and marbled meat from the famed Peter Luger to her 13,000 followers.
She once even allegedly offered up sex in lieu of cash at Peter Luger.
“She’s going into established restaurants dressed to the nines, racking up hundreds of dollars in food, defrauding them, then posting on Instagram like the restaurant hired her,” said a source close to Williamsburg’s new American restaurant Meadowsweet, which was allegedly one of Chung’s victims, to The Post.
“All her cards were declined,” the source said.
“Our team was confused – shocked. She was so self-assured and brazen about it,” added the source, who saw Chung allegedly dine and dash and equated her behavior to the “Bling Ring,” an infamous group of fame-obsessed mainly teen robbers who targeted celebs’ homes in California nearly two decades ago.
The Brooklyn food fraudster — who lives in a luxury, waterfront high rise in Williamsburg — waltzed into Francie on Oct. 22, feasting on $15 foie gras, $32 carpaccio, $28 bucatini, $52 lamb, and $19 hot chocolate mousse, police and sources said.
She bartered instead of paying the $188 bill, according to the police report.
“She wanted to trade pictures and a blog post for the meal,” said John Winterman, an owner at Francie, to The Post, claiming Chung came in like the restaurant had hired her as an influencer.
“I said, ‘That would be something we would have to agree upon before, and we haven’t done that, so I need you to pay the check,’ ” he said.
When Chung’s cards were declined, she said she was waiting for money from her family, Winterman said.
He said she returned several times for more food but was refused service over her unsettled tab.
Chung then allegedly returned Friday, Nov. 7, just after 7:30 p.m. and ordered $83.83 worth of food and refused to pay.
Cops were called, and she was arrested and handcuffed at the bar on theft-of-services charges, authorities said.
“Police officers showed up. Two cars and four cops – they looked at her and said, ‘Oh yeah. That’s her. We know her,’ ” Winterman said. “I had a full bar, people standing around having drinks.
“The police went to the bar, read her her rights, handcuffed her at the bar and escorted her out.”
The co-owner said Chung’s alleged crime played out in front of Francie’s well-heeled customers, who could stand the heat in the kitchen.
“It was the most New York moment ever,” Winterman said of the nonplussed diners, who appeared more worried about their $148 dry-aged duck getting cold than the accused foodie scofflaw’s antics.
“There were a couple of comments – no one took a picture,” he said. “They just started eating and drinking again.”
Just a day earlier, Chung had slipped into the nearby Lavender Lake restaurant on Broadway in Williamsburg — where cocktails start at $16 — and allegedly racked up a $97 bill and left without paying.
Chung also visited Peter Luger on Oct. 27 around 6:45 p.m. and worked up a $146 tab she refused to pay, police said.
On Tuesday, Nov. 11, she then visited Motorino Pizza at 139 Broadway and refused to pay her $135 bill, police said.
She was arrested and charged with alleged theft of services that same day.
But the accused thief paints a wholly different story on her blog.
“Each slice reveals a deep rose center under a caramelized crust — a balance of char and tenderness perfected over decades,” Chung raved in a post about her Peter Luger steak, adding, “The fat melts like silk, carrying the essence of oak and iron from the grill.”
A day later, she was arrested and charged for the alleged theft of services and issued a desk-appearance ticket that orders her to appear in court.
A manager at the steakhouse told The Post that Chung went missing for “45 minutes” around bill time. They found her hiding in the restroom.
“She was in the bathroom. When she comes out to pay the check, she asked the waiter if he’d like to take care of her check and she’d pay him back in a different way and not cash,” said Jeckson Leonardo, a manager at Peter Luger to The Post, alleging Chung tried to pay for her steak for one in sexual favors.
“She said, ‘Is there anything else I can do for you because I don’t want to pay this check,” Leonardo said.
“We told her we’re going to call the police,” the manager said.
“Her hands were so tiny the cop had to put their fingers inside the handcuffs to escort her out,” Leonardo said.
Chung did not respond to Post requests for comment.
