A man burst into a busy central London restaurant and chopped off his own penis with a knife in front of horrified diners, police and reports said today.

The man - identified by the Sun as a 35-year-old Polish national - ran into Zizzi, in the Strand, at 9pm on Sunday.

"This guy came running in then charged into the kitchen, got a massive knife and started waving it about," Stuart McMahon, who was eating at the restaurant with his girlfriend, told the paper. "Everyone was screaming and running out as he jumped on a table, dropped his trousers and popped his penis out. Then he cut it off. I couldn't believe it."

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said a man aged between 30 and 40 was the only person hurt in the incident, and that his injuries were self-inflicted.

He was taken to hospital, where his condition was described as stable. According to the Sun, the man was being assessed by psychiatrists and was expected to be detained under the Mental Health Act.

The paper reported that police had subdued the man with CS gas spray and recovered his severed penis, which surgeons at St Thomas' hospital in central London attempted to re-attach. It was not known whether the operation had been a success.