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by William Hicks
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- Food Industry News
***2022 Update*** Please see the updated ranking of the world’s most expensive Michelin restaurants.
Not every restaurant-goer is looking for the best deals when it comes to eating out, making their pennies stretch as far as they can. Some search for truly transcendent dining experiences that only money can buy. Lots and lots of money.
These Michelin-starred restaurants serve as the most expensive option for the budget-unconscious, splattering the senses with the most extravagant culinary smorgasbords that go beyond just the food.
Following up on our at a top-starred Michelin restaurant, our team has researched prices for close to 500 Michelin-starred restaurants and ranked the restaurants with the highest priced full tasting menus.
The top tasting menu is usually an 8-12 course served at dinner, with some restaurants offering multiple menus that can be priced very differently. For this study we have selected the most expensive full-tasting course, which for some restaurants can be up to $300 more expensive than other courses.
Beverages are generally not included in the price, though a small number of restaurants do include them. The same is true for tips and other government charges (service charge, VAT).
Prices are in US$, though slight variations may occur due to currency exchange rates.
1. Sublimotion (Ibiza, Spain)
Top tasting menu: USD $1,740 per head (1500 Euros)
To call Sublimotion “just a restaurant” is to call the Roman Colosseum “just a set of pillars”. For the bank-busting price of US$1,740 per head (the most expensive restaurant in the world), Sublimotion offers its diners something truly unexpected. Thanks to hybrid reality, a Cyber-chef cooks in front of each diner, giving them the opportunity to eat a delicious meal within a virtual world.
While Sublimotion hasn’t yet received any Michelin stars, the restaurant’s Head Chef and one of its founders – Paco Roncero – has two Michelin stars under his belt.
2. Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet (Shanghai, China)
Top tasting menu: USD $1,422 per head (8,888 CNY)
Similar to Sublimotion, Ultraviolet blends gastronomy and visual technology, giving Shanghai diners a Western menu filled with the occasional Asian flair. Each table is surrounded by walls of moving pictures as they delite on perplexingly inspired small plates such as foie gras cigarettes and moon cakes baked with traditionally French ingredients.
The restaurant aims to live up to its hefty price point by leaving its customers’ senses overwhelmed with an onslaught of tastes, smells and sights.
3. Kitcho Arashiyama Honten (Kyoto, Japan)
Top tasting menu: USD $910 per head (100,000 Yen)
Kitcho Arashiyama Honten, located in Kyoto, eschews the high tech flair for a stunning traditional ambience, giving its diners the finest of Japanese food and architecture. Each of its seven dining rooms have views of a meticulously maintained Japanese garden, while the menu leans heavily on its fresh seasonal ingredients, ranging from wild radishes to ise-ebi lobster.
4. Azabu Kadowaki (Tokyo, Japan)
Top tasting menu: USD $825 per head (90,750 Yen)
Azabu Kadowaki in Tokyo elevates traditional Japanese cooking through the use of modern gastronomical techniques and international ingredients.
Guests sit at a six-person hinoki wood counter to watch the chef cook their meal on an open charcoal grill, while they take in the smells of freshly cooked luxurious ingredients such as white truffles and controversial shark fins. World-class head chef Toshiya Kadowaki ensures his customers the finest experience by serving each meal in intricately crafted Japanese pottery with beautifully painted designs.
5. Masa (New York City, United States)
Top tasting menu: USD $800 per head
The first entry from North America, Masa represents the finest (and most expensive) Japanese cuisine in New York City.
Head chef Masayoshi Takayama grew up working at his family’s fish market in Japan, and brings his passion for fresh seafood all the way to the Big Apple, where he delivers New Yorkers exquisite sushi creations on plateware designed by the chef himself.
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6 (Tie). Joël Robuchon (Tokyo, Japan)
Top tasting menu: USD $637 per head (70,000 Yen)
The restaurant may be in Tokyo, but the décor is unapologetically French. The building uses a château design, standing out magnificently against the surrounding architecture of Japanese castles. Patrons dine like kings in Versailles, amidst crystal chandeliers, enjoying dishes that meld fine European cooking with subtle Japanese elements.
6 (Tie). Kikunoi Honten (Kyoto, Japan)
Top tasting menu: USD $637 per head (70,000 Yen)
ThisKyoto restaurant blends fine Western ingredients like foie gras with Japanese delicacies. Head chef Yoshihiro Murata once worked aboard a fishing boat, where he learned the art of selecting the perfect seafood to guarantee his customers the freshest fare.
The restaurant serves as a museum of Japanese culture, set dazzlingly inside a garden amidst an ancient temple.
6 (Tie). Gion Maruyama (Kyoto, Japan)
Top tasting menu: USD $637 per head (70,000 Yen)
The third restaurant on this list to hail from Kyoto, Gion Maruyama sets itself apart through its commitment to highlighting natural flavors and ingredients. Its seasonally shifting menu gives visitors more than enough reasons to return, serving bamboo shoots and pregnant grouper in spring, hamo pike in summer, matsutake mushrooms in autumn, and snow crabs and pufferfish in the winter months.
9. Guy Savoy (Paris, France)
Top tasting menu: USD $615 per head (530 Euro)
Guy Savoy in Paris is a sight for the eyes thanks to its colorful dishes, and the contemporary fine art that adorns the walls of its six rooms. Dolops of foam and spring flowers catch the eye, giving diners a refined experience on the Seine river.
10. Piazza Duomo (Alba, Italy)
Top tasting menu: USD $580 per head (500 Euro)
As the first Italian restaurant on the list, Piazza Duomo combines French flourishes with Italian flavors. The restaurant operates its own “biodynamic” garden, ensuring its leafy greens and vegetables only travel a short distance before landing on the plate.
Located in the Piedmont region, Piazza Duomo sets the standard for local cuisine, for which it serves as an advocate in the world of Italian cooking.
11. Ciel Bleu (Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Top tasting menu: USD $574 per head (495 euros)
This two-star Michelin restaurant situated in Amsterdam’s Zuid district is known for its king crab with Baeri caviar and Beurre blanc ice cream. The white table cloth dining experience grants a panoramic view of the city from the 23rd floor of the Okura hotel. VIPs can book the “chef’s table,” a U-shaped marble slab, where they can sit and watch their meal being prepared right in front of them.
While its standard tasting menu is priced more moderately for 225 euros, the exclusive caviar menu, dubbed Ciel Bleu Caviar, costs 495 euros, but we hear it’s worth every penny.
12. Alchemist (Copenhagen, Denmark)
Top-priced tasting menu: USD $560 per head (3500 DKK)
Alchemist aims to overwhelm the senses with a 50-course tasting menu, estimated to require 4-6 hours, as well as live performances and unique art installations.
The restaurant boasts a 10,000-bottle wine cellar, and is militant about the standards of its wine pairings. Its menu items inspire awe and perplexion. Among these unusual creations we can find tomato water fashioned into a snowball, pigeon breast with beeswax, and lamb brain, sliced thinly right in front of the patrons.
13. Arpège (Paris)
Top-priced tasting menu: USD $533 per head (460 euros)
Probably the most famous restaurant in the world for exquisite vegetarian dishes, Arpège and its Head Chef Alain Passard need no introduction. Alain Passard retained his three Michelin stars for two decades, and his restaurant consistently ranks among the world’s best 50 restaurants in the world.
14. Forum (Hong Kong, China)
Top-priced tasting menu: USD $530 per head
Forum represents the finest of Chinese culinary craft, and has served dignitaries like former Chinese prime Minister Deng Xiaoping. The restaurant’s head chef, Yeung Koon-yat , rose to prominence for his special method of preparing abalone, a mollusk coveted as a delicacy in China.
Today the restaurant attracts Hong Kong’s rich and famous, all eager to snag a taste of the expensive shellfish.
15. Hélène Darroze at The Connaught (London)
Top-priced tasting menu: USD $527 per head
This is one of London’s finest restaurants, and one of the city’s only five three-starred Michelin restaurants. Hélène Darroze features an exclusive truffle-based menu priced at £395 (roughly $527).
The restaurant is run by acclaimed French Chef Hélène Darroze, who also runs a two-starred Michelin restaurant in Paris, and was voted the best female chef in 2015. Note that you can enjoy a more affordably priced seasonal menu at the Connaught for £185.
Methodology
Chef’s Pencil has analyzed the menus of over 450 Michelin-starred restaurants in high-priced cities such as Tokyo, Paris, New York or San Francisco. For restaurants where prices were not easily available, we relied on media reporting, the Michelin Guide or restaurant reservation services such as Table All.
We ranked the restaurants with the highest priced full tasting menus. The top tasting menu is usually an 8-12 course served at dinner, with some restaurants offering multiple menus that can be priced very differently. For this study we have selected the most expensive full-tasting course, which for some restaurants can be up to $300 more expensive than other courses.
While Sublimotion hasn’t yet received any Michelin stars, the restaurant’s Head Chef and one of its founders – Paco Roncero – has two Michelin stars under his belt.
Featured photo by Lili Liu.
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William Hicks
William Hicks is a reporter and editor who previously worked at the Bangkok Post and Dow Jones.
