A pricey meal: If you thought Salt Bae’s London restaurant was expensive, check these eateries out

Eating the world’s most extravagant dish may be a lifetime achievement since it’s intricately prepared, rare and decadent. It’s no surprise that most luxury fine dining outlets are on the wishlist of hungry tourists all over the world. Yet, there’s no denying that everybody wishes the dishes could be enjoyed without burning a hole in the pocket. Most people find themselves in this predicament when menu prices in a restaurant are meant for the super rich. But that’s fine dining for you.

So when Turkish chef Nusret Gokce aka ‘Salt Bae’, inaugurated his new restaurant in London last month, the whopping prices shocked netizens. Gökçe, who has been an Internet sensation for his technique of preparing and seasoning meat, was in news for all the wrong reasons.

The Turkish chef and restaurateur was trolled for an image of a receipt which displayed a fancy price list of a food order posted by a visitor at his new restaurant. A visitor by the name @Omnimojo on Twitter posted the picture of the bill and captioned, “It’s cheaper to fly and have food at Salt Bae’s Turkish restaurant than to go to the London one. £9 for coke. £630 for tomahawk steak. No thank you”. The total bill came to £1812.40 (approx Rs 1.80 lakh). Nusr-Et Steakhouse London’s tomahawk steak is priced so because of the incredibly tender and rich flavoured meat. The visitor bought a golden burger, priced at £100, giant tomahawk at £630, salad at £23, two prawn tempura rolls at £60, Coca-Cola at £18, kafes for £200, sweet corn at £12, virgin mojito at £11.

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has announced the opening of his latest culinary venture for October 11. The River Restaurant at London’s Savoy Hotel would charge £31.50 (approx Rs 3,100) for fish and chips, causing quite a stir on social media.

There may be enough excitement for some new restaurants to open this year despite countless challenges and closures, and it looks like eating out has made a comeback at the cost of the ‘dollar’ menu. Usually, expensive restaurants come under fine luxury dining with better food and service. Their cost varies from one country to the other because of luxurious set up or rare ingredients like truffles, caviar, bluefin tuna, and these could cost hundreds of dollars. Like white truffles from Italy and Croatia grow in specific conditions and are preserved well. These cost around $2100 (approx Rs 1,55,961) in Europe. Or white pearl albino caviar made from rare albino fish eggs can cost $300,000 (approx Rs 22,28,0234) per kg.

A fabulous five-star dining is a totally changed culinary convention with expensive, fresh ingredients and out-of-the-box, extra special customised treatment in dining and services. Taking the décor a notch higher, there’s great attention to detail, food and cutlery. This may add to food costs, ending up in a higher bill. Of course, the meals are extremely labour-intensive made by renowned chefs.

For example, Sublimotion at the Hard Rock Hotel in Ibiza, Spain, is one of the most expensive restaurants in the world (upwards of $2,000 per person, approx Rs 1,50,000). Open from June to September, the restaurant is run by Paco Roncero, and has two Michelin stars. It’s an almost three-hour tasting feast with food, fun and virtual reality elements, and an exclusive set menu for 12 guests at one time.

Scouring the world for some exotic menu and dishes are some of the best fine dining outlets like Zillion Dollar Lobster Frittata at Norma’s in New York (approx $2,000, Rs 1,50,000). A breakfast that serves 10 ounces of sevruga caviar, six fresh eggs, cream, chives and entire lobster. Sevruga caviar is one of the classic varieties, along with Beluga and Ossetra that made caviar into a worldwide sensation.

The Almas caviar is sold for a portion of 250 grams at $9884 (approx Rs 7,34,059) at Beluga in Mandarin Oriental Jumeira, Dubai’s only dedicated caviar restaurant, along with a 24-karat golden cigar worth $422 (approx Rs 31,000). The Lord Dudley Hotel in Sydney, Australia offers some inventive dishes like tender Duck Rillette and Mirool Creek Lamb Rack (approx $9,484, Rs 7,00,000). A golden phoenix cupcake at Bloomsbury Cafe in Dubai can cost Dirham 3,676 (approx Rs 75,000). It’s made with 23-carat edible gold sheets, fine Italian chocolate, vanilla beans from Uganda and strawberries dipped in edible gold.

The FleurBurger in Las Vegas at the restaurant Fleur is approx $5,000 (Rs 3,70,000 approx) and it contains a tender Wagyu beef patty in butter, seared foie gras and sliced black truffles on a warm brioche bun.