On ice til 2028! Keith McNally's offer of champagne to diners is retracted after Trump wins

The corner of SoHo occupied by New York eatery Balthazar should have been awash with the sound of corks popping overnight - after the restaurant's British owner said he would gift every table with a bottle of Taittinger if Kamala Harris made it to the White House .

Instead, Keith McNally will have to keep the champagne - a bottle of Taittinger which is listed on the menu at £490 (around £380) a bottle - firmly on ice for another four years, after Donald Trump romped to a second term.

An optimistic McNally, 73, who famously banned James Corden from his restaurant after a spat last year, told those who'd booked at the celebrity favourite: 'If at some point during the night it appears that Kamala Harris is going to win, I'm going to offer every table at Balthazar a free bottle of Taittinger Champagne.'

McNally, who is publishing his autobiography later this year, added 'Bar customers and all my staff - from the servers to the dishwashers - will be given a glass of champagne also.'

The restaurateur is often known as the man 'who invented downtown' thanks to his success with the Parisian-style brasserie

He had previously laid his cards on the table, saying he had been impressed by Harris after meeting her years earlier.

He wrote: 'Kamala Harris left such a powerful impression on me that I'm definitely going to vote for her to be the next president of the United States,' the caption wrote.

McNally recalled being dragged to Jim Belushi's fourth of July party at his house on Martha's Vineyard in 2008 despite 'loathing' parties and fireworks.

But he ran into a surprise on his way out.

'Jim or his wife, Jenny, introduced me to a woman in her mid-forties,' he wrote. 'The woman was African-American and alarmingly intelligent.

'She was also sassy, attractive and extremely witty. Even though I was anxious to leave the party, I wanted to talk with this woman more.'

The woman's name was Kamala Harris.

McNally recalled clicking with the now-Vice President, who was the District Attorney of San Francisco at the time.

He noted how despite Harris being far more intelligent than him, she was interested in talking with him - so much so that they had a conversation for about 20 minutes and agreed to meet for coffee later that week.

Although they never did get around to a coffee meet-up, the two exchanged emails a few times over the next year.

'One of the endless things I regret in life is not staying in touch with her,' McNally wrote.

'If it looks like Harris is going to win before the night's over, I plan to give every table at the restaurant a great bottle of champagne. It's the very least I can do.'

But this wouldn't be the first time he's offered to give out free items from his eatery.

McNally - who is also considered 'New York's most provocative restaurateur' - has been the center of a slew of 'internet beef' throughout the years, including with Adam Platt, a restaurant critic, and comedian James Corden.

In June of this year, the sharp-tongued owner spilled the beans on the celebrity whose identity was censored by Instagram after he offered the 'raw truth' about them.

He was inundated with guesses after offering a free dinner to anyone naming the person he had singled out in a post that was immediately deleted for 'violent or graphic content'.

'Judging by the amount of individuals you have fallen out with, this bet has worse odds than the Euro lottery,' wrote one user.

His 131,000 Instagram followers may have had in mind his torrent of abuse against Lauren Sánchez , fiancée of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who he called 'absolutely revolting' in an April post.

'What an ugly and f***ing SMUG - LOOKING couple they make,' he added. 'Is this what having 1000 Billion dollars does to people?'

In September of this year, he took to the platform again, slamming Lauren Sánchez and some of the Kardashian clan by calling them 'repulsive.'

But the comments under his most recent post were mostly filled with support, despite making headlines dozens of times throughout the years for savage social media posts .

'See you on Tuesday for that champagne!!!' one user wrote.

Another said: 'FILL MY FLUTE!'

'Amazing!' another wrote. 'I sure hope it goes the way you are thinking! I'll be having champagne too!!!!! Cheers to that!!!'