Hampstead restaurant uses iPhone to whet the appetite

Once the site of a shepherd’s cottage, a Hampstead restaurant has thrust itself into the modern age with an iPhone app.

La Gaffe in Heath Street serves food off the back of barrels and nips to the pub next door to get guests drinks.

But the family-run restaurant has joined the 21st century rolling out a free iPhone app to more than 50 customers.

The software allows them to check the menu and, if they shake their mobile phones, they are rewarded with a revolving discount.

General manager Lorenzo Stella: “I’m not the most gadgety minded person, but I have been quite inspired by the iPhone and I thought if an idiot like me can use it, it has got to be good.

“I thought it would be a really nice way to keep in contact with out old customers. For some young people their mobile phone is their life. This app could be a way of reaching a new audience.”

The restaurant will toast its 50th anniversary next March and, with a shake of the iPhone app, it may just welcome new customers.