Rich people can afford to eat anything. Perhaps that's why the world is increasingly offering strange food—and charging a fortune for it, making it the stuff of the elite. In this post, you'll find 20 of the most expensive dishes imaginable (and worth trying, if you earn enough)!
1. Pizza Royale 007
This exclusive pizza costs $4,200. It was created by renowned chef Domenico Corolla. The "Royale 007" pizza measures 30 cm in diameter. The base is topped with the following ingredients: cognac-marinated lobster; caviar; Scottish smoked salmon; and venison medallions. The toppings also include tomato sauce and balsamic vinegar. The "Royale 007" pizza is garnished with leaves made of edible 24-karat gold.
2. FleurBurger 5000
The most expensive burger is called the "FleurBurger 5000" and costs $5,000. It can be enjoyed at the Fleur restaurant in Las Vegas. A crispy, fluffy bun is topped with foie gras and Kobe beef, drizzled with a truffle sauce. As a bonus, the FleurBurger 5000 comes with a bottle of Chateau Petrus, a 1990 vintage wine.
3. Iranian white caviar "Almas"«
Albino beluga caviar commands a hefty price tag. One kilogram of it costs approximately $7,000-$10,000. This caviar is produced by only one company in the world: House Almas, located in Iran.
4. Pizza «Louis XIII», $12000
A pizza like this costs $12,000. It's served in the southern Italian town of Agropoli. Chef Renato Violo prepares the "Louis XIII Pizza." Almost the entire cooking process (except for the crust) takes place in the customer's presence. The "Louis XIII Pizza" is a standard size, best suited for two people. It's served with a bottle of French champagne. The "Louis XIII Pizza" features traditional ingredients as well as unusual delicacies: three types of sturgeon caviar, southern Italian shrimp, and red lobster. This pizza is seasoned with pink Australian salt. Throughout the cooking process, the "Louis XIII Pizza" is drizzled with "Louis XIII Remy Martin" cognac. A bottle of this cognac costs approximately $2,500-$3,500.
5. Dessert "Fisherman on Stilts", $14500
This dessert costs $14,500. The Fortress, a luxury hotel in Sri Lanka, houses the Wine3 restaurant. It serves the "Fortress Stilt Fisherman Indulgence" dessert. This dish contains the following ingredients: Italian cassata (a sponge-based dessert flavored with Irish Cream liqueur); canned mango; canned pomegranate; and a Dom Perignon champagne-based sabayon. This expensive dessert is adorned with a chocolate figurine of a fisherman sitting on a pole. A pristine 80-carat aquamarine serves as a decorative element.
6. English pie with marbled beef, $15000 (or $1990 per slice)
This dish costs $15,000. It's served in Britain at the Fence Gate Inn restaurant. It's sold in quarters. "Wagyu Meat Pie" is a pie made with Wagyu beef, one of the most expensive types of meat. It's most often sourced from Japan and Australia. In addition to Wagyu beef, the pie includes ingredients such as truffles and matsutake mushrooms. The meat is marinated in two bottles of the 1982 vintage of Chateau Mouton Rothschild.
7. Sundae "Frrrozen Haute Chocolate", $25000
This dessert costs $25,000 and can be enjoyed in New York City. This golden dish is a creamy ice cream with fruit. It contains 28 types of cocoa, 12 of which are among the most expensive cocoas in the world. The dessert is topped with a La Madeline au Truffle chocolate bar and sprinkled with edible gold shavings. The glass in which The Frrrozen Haute Chocolate is served is adorned with 18-karat gold and diamonds. The spoon for this glass is made of gold and decorated with diamonds. The utensils can be taken back after the dessert is eaten.
8. Yubari King Melon
This fruit is valued at $26,000. This juicy and sweet melon, with orange flesh, is a hybrid of two cantaloupes.
The variety gets its name from the fact that it's grown in a greenhouse complex in the small town of Yubari near Sapporo on Hokkaido, Japan's second-largest island. The greenhouses create ideal conditions at every stage of the melon's development. Humidity, temperature, watering, and fertilizing are all precisely regulated and adjusted according to the plant's needs at the current stage of growth. But the main secret to the melon's flavor, according to breeders, is the soil, which contains volcanic ash.
9. White truffles
One kilogram of white truffles costs approximately $230,000. White truffles are among the rarest and most expensive mushrooms on the planet. Just imagine how much half a kilogram of truffles costs! White truffles, native to Northern Italy, are a product most mere mortals would never touch. These truffles smell like a locker room full of naked, sweaty bodies, and they're eaten with everything from pasta to potatoes. Due to global warming and the use of insecticides, truffle yields are constantly declining, making them an even more difficult-to-obtain delicacy.
10. Arno Strawberry
The Arnaud Strawberry ice cream dessert costs approximately $1,400,000. You can try it at the Arnaud restaurant in New Orleans. Each berry used in this dessert is marinated in a very rare wine. The finished dessert is garnished with a 5-carat pink diamond from the Ernest Kessel collection.
11. California hot dog "Capitol Dawg", $145.49
This enormous sausage roll, originally from Sacramento, is fast food that won't break the bank. Besides the sausage, it comes with mustard, fried onions, gherkins, herbs, garlic and herb mayonnaise, smoked bacon, peppers, and olive oil, as well as cranberry-pear-coconut sauce, dried cranberries, and Swedish moose cheese. Apparently, the last ingredient is the most expensive.
12. Jamon Iberico de Bellota "Albarragena", $180 per half kilo
Imagine a child receiving a sandwich with THAT kind of ham for school! A kilogram of ham would cost a lion's share of your salary. I wonder why it's so expensive? After all, pigs eat simple food, and to make ham, you don't need to do anything special with the meat—just dry it and wait patiently…
13. Buddha's Leap Over the Wall Soup, $190
This unusual soup is served at Kai Mayfair in London. Ingredients include shiitake mushrooms, sea cucumbers, Chinese ham, abalone, shark fin, ginseng, and pork. Order at least five days in advance, as some ingredients need to be sourced in advance. We wouldn't be surprised if the chef personally fished out the shark to get the fin.
14. Platinum Club Sandwich von Essen, $197
Speaking of Iberico jamon: it's an ingredient in the world's most expensive club sandwich, served at the Cliveden House Hotel in the UK. It also features quail eggs, Poulet de Bresse chicken, Italian sun-dried tomatoes, and sourdough bread that ferments for 24 hours. While everything at Cliveden House is fairly pricey, this sandwich tops them all.
15. Fugu fish, $280
Traditional Japanese dish, Fugu is not only exotic but also dangerous: this fish is highly poisonous, and improper preparation can literally kill the unlucky eater. Chefs undergo special training before preparing fugu for the first time. If you find a fugu dish at what seems like a reasonable price, it's best to avoid that restaurant: who knows?
16. Lobster Frittata, $1000
A frittata is just an omelet. But not this frittata! When you order this dish at Norma's in New York, you get 300 grams of sevruga caviar right on top of a half-kilogram lobster. The frittata itself is just six eggs with cream and green onions. The caviar accounts for almost three-quarters of the cost of the dish!
17. Sunday "Golden Abundance", $1000
This dessert, available at two Serendipity 3 restaurants in New York and Las Vegas, must be ordered 48 hours in advance and is one of the rarest desserts in the world. It consists of five scoops of Tahitian vanilla ice cream made with Madagascar vanilla and garnished with an edible 23-karat gold leaf, syrup made from the world's most expensive chocolate, Amedei Porcelana, chocolate made from cocoa beans from the Venezuelan village of Chuao, chocolate truffles, marzipan cherries, gold dragees, and Armagnac. The dessert is served with a small bowl of unsalted caviar with passion fruit, orange, and Armagnac. Ever wanted to know what caviar looks like in desserts? Now's your chance.
18. Glamburger, $1770
The Honky Tonk restaurant in London specializes in American cuisine. In 2014, the restaurant's chef created the world's most expensive burger. This hamburger, made with marbled beef and New Zealand lamb, is seasoned with Himalayan salt and Brie cheese and topped with lobster, maple bacon, beluga caviar, and a smoked duck egg covered in gold leaf. This outrageously expensive burger is served with champagne and mango juice. You can order a mini glamburger for just $25.
19. "Pizza for the Poor," $2400
At Margo's Pizzeria in Malta, this pizza is topped with white truffles and edible gold leaf. All proceeds from this pizza go to charity. The restaurant is so popular that it can afford this.
20. Black Watermelon Densuke, $200 - 6000
These rare black watermelons are native to the Japanese island of Hokkaido. They sell at auction (usually the first harvest) for between $3,000 and $6,000. In August 2014, however, you could get them in Toronto for much less—$200 Canadian. Since then, however, they have gained popularity.
21. "Chic Pie", $9484
Another dish designed to impress is the "Gorgeous Pie" from the Lord Dudley Hotel in Sydney, Australia. It's a pie with premium beef, lobster, and truffles. If you thought you'd finally found a dish on this list without gold leaf, you're wrong—it's here too.
22. Faberge Chocolate Pudding, $34500
And topping our list is the world's most expensive dish, which you can try for _just_ $34,500 at the Lindeth Howe Country House Hotel restaurant. This pudding was created by British chef Mark Guibert. It features four types of Belgian chocolate, peach, orange, whiskey, gold leaf, and caviar in champagne. The dish is garnished with an inedible diamond, and the pudding is served with an expensive dessert wine from Château d'Yquem. So don't hesitate, eat more than three years' salary—this pudding is worth the savings!
23. Berco's Billion Dollar Popcorn«
Paying 250$ for a bucket of popcorn? It happens! Berko's popcorn contains high-quality and quite expensive ingredients. The butter is made in Vermont, and the sugar used for the caramel is organic. Plus, the most expensive salt is from Denmark and edible gold flakes.
24. The most expensive donut
Where to try it: Westin Hotel, New York Price: $1000 Chef Frank Tujague bakes the most expensive bagels. They're made with white truffles, cream cheese, and goji berries. And as is customary, all the most expensive dishes are sprinkled with edible gold leaf, and this bagel is no exception.
25. Bouillabaisse Soup - Imperial, $500 per serving for two
The most expensive soup can be found at Bouillabaisse Imperial in Moscow. It's one of the most difficult soups to prepare. The broth for this soup is simmered for about two days. The soup contains about 40 types of sea fish and seafood: dorado, sea bass, barramundi, red emperor, squid, cuttlefish, octopus, crab, shrimp, langouste, and lobster, to name just a few.
26. Florette Sea&Earth Salad«
Seafood lovers (who are, of course, among the millionaires) can indulge in a magnificent salad for mere pennies – 1000$ per serving. It features crayfish and lobster, Almas caviar, and Cornish crab. In addition to seafood, it includes truffles and premium vegetables. Gold foil serves as edible garnish. Those who want to try this salad should visit the Oxford hotel "Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons.".
27. The most expensive sushi
Where to try it: Order from Angelito Arenato Jr., Manila, Philippines. Price: $$4300 for 5 pieces. To prepare this sushi, Chef Angelito Arenato Jr. uses Japanese rice, muscovado sugar, 70-year-old artesian water, 12-year-old balsamic vinegar from Italy, foie gras, Norwegian salmon, mango, pickled cucumber, crab meat, wild saffron, and butter mayonnaise. But that's not the most important thing. To make the sushi priceless, it is wrapped in edible 24-karat gold foil and adorned with 12 pearls and 4 diamonds of 0.2 carats each. According to the creator of the dish, this sushi is intended for lovers looking for a unique gift or declaration of love to their significant other.
28. Samundari Khazana curry
Where to try it: Bombay Brasserie, London Price: £4,200 Samundari Khazana translates as "seafood treasure." This dish brings together the most exquisite gifts of the sea: Devon crab, beluga caviar, gold-plated Scottish lobster, four abalone shells, as well as white truffle, gold leaf, and four quail eggs.
29. The most expensive steak
Price: from $400 for 200g. A steak made from marbled beef from Japanese Wagyu cows. What's so special about these cows, you ask? Well, they live in luxurious conditions: they're fed only the finest herbs, given beer and red wine, rubbed with sake, and massaged daily (always accompanied by classical music) to ensure the meat is exceptionally tender and melts in your mouth.
30. Dumplings
It's quite a surprise to see pelmeni on this list of expensive restaurant dishes. But these pelmeni are surprising (and not just because of the price), though also alarming. This is because the filling contains exotic ingredients. The dish itself has an unusual blue-violet color. Three types of meat are used for the filling: veal, pork, and elk. The secret ingredient is the gland of the deep-sea lanternfish. These signature pelmeni are made in the kitchen of Golden Gates, a restaurant opened in New York by Russian immigrants. You can indulge in a gourmet meal by ordering an eight-piece serving for 24,001 TP4T. A double serving of sixteen pelmeni will cost 44,001 TP4T. Ultimately, it's a matter of taste, and, of course, the thickness of your wallet.