'Beautiful' customers dine for free

A Korean eatery has employed a team of plastic surgeons to judge its prettiest customers- they will then offer them free meals.

The Jeju Island restaurant, based in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, says the 50 most gorgeous people to arrive at the venue will be spared paying their bills.

Customers entering the contest will have their looks evaluated by the local surgeons whose tummy-tucking talents the restaurant is attempting to promote, reports The Telegraph.

Twitter user Steve 史進 (@ChineseCurrents) branded the scheme 'shameful'.

The restaurant's owners hung a bright pink sign outside the eatery saying "Free meal for Goodlooking," to advertise the promotion.

"I reckon I can get a one per cent discount with my face," joked one user of Weibo, the social media site.

Diners will be taken to a "beauty identification area" where they are photographed and considered.

They will be judged on the quality of their faces, eyes, noses and mouths.

Protruding foreheads are a particular advantage, according to reports The Telegraph.

As news of the controversial stunt spread, Chinese social media sites were filled with debates on how they might fare in the competition.

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"Do the ugly have to pay twice?" one of the potential diners debated.

Sadly for the restaurant owner his sign did not last too long as security guards and demolition workers descended on the restaurant to remove the sign, China News Service reported.

Restaurant manager Xue Hexin, vowed that the free meals for the beautiful would not be stopped.

She said: "We will be more prudent with our advertising in future.

"But the promotion will continue despite the demolition of our sign."