There's pricey and then there's the most expensive tasting menus from around the world with meals starting at a cool $250 US per person. Now that's destination dining.
A recent Forbes Magazine piece by Pascale Le Draoulec took a look around the globe for the most expensive tasting menu meals on offer today. The findings? Chef Thomas Keller's NYC restaurant, Per Se, at $250 US per person was the LEAST expensive of the bunch! (GULP!).
So for those of you with a yen to eat at some of the most lavishly appointed dining rooms while enjoying a particular chef's singular vision- this list is for you. I'm also pleased to say that Canada's own Chef Michael Stadtlander made it on the list. His upscale rustic place, called Eigensinn Farms in rural Singhampton, Ontario offers a farm-to-table eight course tasting menu sans vino. For $250US per person, you bring your own wine because he doesn't have a liquor license on the property, so most people call up ahead of time and ask for wine recommendations. Some diners pair courses to a particular wine and then hire a limo to take them home or to a nearby B&B.
The MOST expensive tasting menu on the list? According to Le Draoulec: "The most expensive was the $US465 tasting menu at L'Arpege in Paris, another restaurant that's been wowing foodies for more than 20 years. Alain Passard, who is often credited for having reinvented the vegetable after becoming more or less of a vegetarian himself, grows all of his fruits and vegetables on a bio-dynamic farm 100 miles outside of Paris. Vegetables are harvested in the morning, put on a high-speed train from Le Mans and delivered to the restaurant just in time for lunch service."
- To catch the slideshow of these over-the-top restos, click here for a little eye candy. L'Arpege included!
Chances are I won't be dining at L'Arpege soon- but if you do, I'd love to hear what it was like and it really was/is worth it! Bon Appetit!
