You might expect to find lamb on the menu in many a New York restaurant, but never 'a' lamb, sitting at the table, enjoying his day out in the city.

Meet Smokey: the three-week-old orphan lamb who has been fostered by a Manhattan restaurant owner, and now spends his days enjoying the sights and sounds of the Big Apple, gaining fans wherever he goes.

Sandy Dee Hall, 34, and his girlfriend Maxine Cher, 24, took Smokey into their care after they heard he been abandoned by his mother in the freezing fields of West Winfield's Violet Hill Farm, the same farm - ironically - which supplies Mr Hall's restaurant with pork.

City lamb: Smokey (right) is a three-week-old orphaned lamb who is being fostered by New York City restaurant owner Sandy Dee Hall (right), and he's gaining fans everywhere he goes

According to The New York Post, Mr Hall had been inexplicably wanting to foster a baby sheep 'for a while', despite serving lamb shepherd's pie at his eatery, Black Tree.

So when Mr Hall was contacted by his farmer about Smokey's plight, he jumped at the chance to bring the lamb home to his Manhattan apartment.

'That night I was supposed to go out, but I was like, "Nope, I’m staying here. Forever”', he says.

Smokey requires bottle feeding three times a day, and sleeps for around 14 hours. Mr Hall and Ms Cher, who also works at Black Tree, have scheduled their shifts so that someone is always home to care for the little lamb.

Lucky: Mr Hall and his girlfriend took Smokey into their care after they heard he been abandoned by his mother in the freezing fields of West Winfield's Violet Hill Farm - Mr Hall's pork supplier

A new fleece of life: Smokey, pictured with a passer-by, requires bottle feeding three times a day, and sleeps for around 14 hours

A wolf in lamb's clothing? Several New Yorkers 'unfamiliar' with farm animals in their space have apparently mistaken Smokey for creatures including a goat, a poodle, a kangaroo and a llama

Smokey is not potty-trained, so the couple have lined their apartment floors with puppy training pads, and when they bathe him, they use Woolite to keep his coat from shrinking.

Unsurprisingly, Smokey has attracted a great deal of admiration everywhere he's been taken, which includes a number of trendy New York restaurants.

According to Ms Cher, several New Yorkers 'unfamiliar' with farm animals in their urban space have mistaken Smokey for creatures including a goat, a poodle, a kangaroo and a llama.

Don't tumble dry: Smokey is not potty-trained, so the couple have lined their apartment floors with puppy training pads, and when they bathe him, they use Woolite to keep his coat from shrinking

Bah humbug! Unsurprisingly, Smokey has attracted a great deal of admiration, and in this case confusion, everywhere he's been taken

Little Bo Weep: Once the lamb is weaned from his bottle, he will return to a life at Violet Hill Farm, where Mr Hall (pictured) plans to 'adopt' him so he never ends up in the slaughterhouse

Sadly for the doting pair, their fluffy little friend will have to leave them once he's weaned from the bottle.

'He’ll grow to be 140 pounds, and his hooves make a lot of noise,' Ms Cher explains. 'In a New York apartment, with neighbors, that just wouldn’t work.'

Smokey is destined to return to Violet Hill Farm, but never to anyone's dinner plate. The couple plan to 'adopt' him so he won't be slaughtered.

Mr Hall has now removed lamb dishes from his restaurant menu, and Ms Cher has reportedly 'sworn off mutton'.