Top 10 Most Expensive Restaurants in the World
If you?re one of those with the opinion that eating out, even at the restaurant around the corner, is bound to end up costing you dearly, then this list is not for you. The price of one meal ? dinner, drink and tip per person ? at these upscale diners costs much more than an average third world countryman?s monthly salary. But then, food connoisseurs the world over are constantly on the lookout for new gourmet experiences that tease, tantalize and satiate the senses. They have the money to burn, a taste for adventure and a hankering for a sensory overload, and the pricey restaurants dotted across the globe are only too happy to indulge their weaknesses.
1. Masa, New York City, USA - $366: The first two on our list have a Japanese connection, although only one is actually in Japan. Masa, the New York restaurant devoted to Japanese cuisine, with emphasis on omakase — the chef’s selection centering on sushi uses the words “shibui” and “umami” to describe its style. The words sum up the essence of the restaurant: simple, subtle and unobtrusive sensations to cater to those who crave the finest seafood flown in from Japan. Chef and owner Takayama Masayoshi rose from humble beginnings in Japan to become the authority for Japanese cuisine in the United States. There?s a variety in the menu, though the daily fare includes five appetizers, a sushi entre 20 types of seafood, and desert and tea.
2. Aragawa, Tokyo, Japan -
$277: Known as the ?finest steakhouse in Japan? (also the first), this restaurant is renowned
for its hand-fed Kobe beef supplied fresh from a nearby farm. The decor is authentic Japanese, with a
European feel added through the dark wood paneling and chandeliers. The specialty of the house is the
Sumiyaki or the charcoal-broiled steak served with only pepper and mustard for relishes.
3. Arpege, Paris, France - $211: A must-visit for vegetable gourmets. This French restaurant caters to the calorie-conscious with a large percentage of its menu ear-marked for artfully prepared vegetarian food. The decor is not too ostentatious, but the food (dubbed “incredibly design-oriented”) and the prices definitely are. Chef Alain Passard is used to the mixed reviews from his customers, even though they will take some time to get accustomed to the rising prices.
4. Alinea, Chicago, USA - $192: Chef Grant Achatz has earned a reputation for introducing unconventional food that explodes your senses to the American connoisseur. The dishes served at Alinea are interactive, if you can accord that adjective to food. Pulling a pin drops a cheesy potato puff into a soup that you slurp like an oyster. Truffle-filled ravioli bursts in your mouth to bombard you with a pleasurable taste. These are just a couple of samples of the unusual fare at Alinea. Repeat visits are not routine affairs — you can wait with bated breath to taste the new treats that Achatz has cooked up.
5. Sketch, London, UK - $176: This restaurant offers an eclectic mix of food, drink and entertainment. It’s as famous for its food as for its in-house disc jockeys and impressive art collection. Billed as a stylish drop-in center, Sketch fills two massive floors of a renovated and redesigned 18th century building in Mayfair with delights not just for the palate, but visual and aural ones as well.
6. The Herbfarm, Seattle, USA - $152: Elaborate, five-hour, nine-course meals are not unusual at this Northwest restaurant that prides itself on home-grown herbs and vegetables and wine with sophisticated fruit and herb flavors. Each course is paired with a suitable wine, all enjoyable in aesthetic surroundings to the accompaniment of live guitar music.
7. Petermann?s Kunstsuben, Zurich, Switzerland - $151: Voted the best in Europe by Zagat, this restaurant boasts ?inventive? dishes such as stuffed squid with a confit of fennel and young hen stuffed with shrimp. Sumptuous desserts tempt those with a sweet tooth - a gratin of wild strawberries with cannelloni stuffed with almond paste and millefeuille with pineapple are favorites with the regulars. Good service and tasteful trimmings add to the ambience and provide a wonderful eating experience.
8. Tetsuya?s Restaurant, Sydney, Australia - $135: A combination of Japanese and French cuisine down under ? that?s what chef and owner Tetusya Wakuda is offering to the city of Sydney. The restaurant is famed for its ever-changing degustation set menu with up to ten courses and wines (one of Sydney?s best wine lists) to match each course. Dishes that tempt the palate include signature fare such as confit of ocean trout served with un-pasteurized ocean trout roe, gazpacho with spiced tomato sorbet and west Australian marron with asparagus and truffle mayonnaise. A Three Chef?s Hat rating from the Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2006 and the Restaurant of the Year and Best Fine Dining award at the Restaurant & Catering Association Awards 2005 are just a couple of the feathers in this fine restaurant?s cap.
9. French Laundry, San Francisco, USA - $135: Quixotic names dominate the menu - Oysters and Pearls for pearl tapioca custard served with caviar and oyster ? at this upscale restaurant on the western coast. A two-month waiting list shows why this eatery is a must-dine location in California. The strange name comes from the building that houses the restaurant ? the two-story stone house was originally a French steam laundry in the 1890s.
10. Inn at Little Washington, Washington, D.C., USA - $129: Set in the small town of Little Washington, 70 miles west of Washington, D.C., this lodging and dining destination lays claim to service nonpareil. An old-world charm, thanks to the offbeat location and a Victorian design, characterizes the restaurant and inn which won the best restaurant in America award from the James Beard Foundation in 1993. The menu features different and filling appetizers and entr饳 like lobster napoleon or a "salmon five ways" starter. Diners are also wooed with homemade bread baskets featuring poppy seed rolls and slices of rye bread filled with currants and nuts and topped with poppy seeds and kosher salt.
[Source: Forbes]
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Michelle
March 29th, 2007 at 7:43 am
No wonder I’ve never eaten at any of these restaurants!!
Ursula
April 10th, 2007 at 8:55 am
Interesting list - of course us Brits can say that the US$ rate at the moment makes these ones particularly good value - however despite many visits all over the US -can’t say that ever found an American restaurant that is anything like a Michelin-starred place this side of the pond. Never been to Sketch - maybe I should - but there are other (and better) UK eating houses more expensive I bet! Sorrento, Italy is also an extremely expensive place to eat!
Kyle
May 17th, 2007 at 11:15 am
Wow! I don’t think I’ll ever be able to dine at these restaurants, but the thought is amazing. I am a lover of food, and I’m always on the lookout for new and different tastes, it seems like these restaurants are trying to be really cutting edge. Interesting! Anyways, I work with Gourmet magazine, and we have a contest going on where they are giving away 35 first prize trips for two with airfare to hot spots in CA, Austin,
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from a top NY chef, answer 5 simple questions, and find out INSTANTLY if you’ve won or not. 10 second prize winners will receive a $100 American Express gift card.
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