This is the moment a brazen ‘porch pirate’ casually swiped £300 worth of langoustines from outside a Michelin-starred restaurant in the heart of Chelsea.

CCTV captured the woman, dressed in jeans and what appear to be slippers, walking up to the front of Elystan Street at around 8am on Tuesday, picking up a box of fresh seafood and wandering off with her head down.

The footage was posted online by furious chef Phil Howard, who owns the restaurant, after discovering the day’s shellfish delivery had vanished.

Calling the person responsible a ‘low-life scum bag’, he raged on Instagram: ‘Caught stealing our precious langoustines this morning – you low-life scum bag. Hope you rot in hell with your other hard working mates.’

Restaurant staff said the missing delivery contained around £300 of high-quality langoustines intended for the restaurant’s lunch service.

Becky McLaughlin, Elystan Street’s manager, joked that the thief would ‘have a very lovely supper’ but admitted the loss was a serious blow. 

Posting the clip, the restaurant appealed for help: ‘Our Elystan Street seafood delivery went missing this morning. 

‘The incident was captured on CCTV. If you recognise this woman or have any information, please get in touch. We’d like to resolve this quickly and fairly. DMs open.’

CCTV captured the woman, dressed in jeans and what appear to be slippers, walking up to the front of Elystan Street at around 8am on Tuesday

Restaurant staff said the missing delivery contained around £300 of high-quality langoustines intended for the restaurant’s lunch service

Speaking to The Telegraph, Ms McLaughlin said the restaurant would be reporting the theft to police.

She said: ‘We have absolutely no idea why she did it, that’s why we reached out to social media to try and understand and help us a little bit. 

‘We have reached out to local businesses as well to alert them in case the same thing happens to them. It’s pretty wild.’

She added: ‘It’s a cost that somebody just doesn’t realise, where it’s now going to have to be swallowed. In these times it’s incredibly different for restaurants so things like this can be so damaging which people don’t realise.’

‘I don’t know what they’ll do with them but they’ll have a very lovely supper,’ she said, noting the woman clearly read the label on the box. 

‘You can tell in the footage that she can see what’s written on the box, the contents of what’s inside it, and if they were smart then they would know how much it was worth. She was probably just walking past and chanced her luck.’

The incident comes amid a wave of parcel thefts across the UK, with so-called ‘porch pirates’ striking in record numbers. 

The footage was posted online by furious chef Phil Howard, who owns the restaurant (pictured), after discovering the day’s shellfish delivery had vanished

Police data shows £666.5 million worth of packages were stolen in the 12 months to July, up from £377 million the year before, affecting nearly five million households.

Elystan Street, which holds one Michelin star, serves contemporary European cuisine and is one of several acclaimed restaurants run by Mr Howard. 

The South African-born chef trained under the Roux brothers and Marco Pierre White before earning a formidable reputation at The Square, his two-star Mayfair restaurant of 25 years. 

He opened Elystan Street in 2016 and also runs The Ledbury, Kitchen W8, Church Road, Perilla and Lorne.

The Metropolitan Police has been contacted for comment.