Are you just starving to find out which are the most expensive restaurants in the world where you could spend a fortune dining on the finest cuisine from the greatest mastermind chefs using the most exotic and delectable combination of ingredients you’ll ever experience?
If you are looking for a once-in-a-lifetime culinary experience, then this is the countdown for your refined taste buds. The restaurants we’ve listed are not only expensive and exclusive, but also some of the best fine-dining establishments worldwide. However, being an avid foodie or a gourmet meal lover might not be enough to justify a trip to these restaurants. On the one hand, apart from a passion for refined cuisine you should have a couple hundred (or thousand) dollars to spare for such an experience (that amount being only the basic meal, without taking into account taxes, beverages or adequate transportation to the chosen restaurant). On the other hand, most of these high-end eating houses offer a tasting menu or a table d’hôte menu, both options being of limited choice; in other words, you’re paying to be surprised by the chef and his courses, though sometimes you can find an à la carte option, depending on the establishment.
Although these are indeed the most expensive restaurants in the world, that doesn’t necessarily mean that their chefs are the best paid, nor that they are the most profitable venues on the planet. One example that could serve to illustrate this is Jamie Oliver’s career. This British celebrity chef and restaurateur is the richest in the world, but –spoiler alert– none of his restaurants made it to our list. You should take a look at our list on the 4 Business Strategies that Turned Jamie Oliver into the World’s Richest Chef to find out what sources other than high-end restaurants contributed to this chef’s fortune.
In compiling this countdown we compared the costs of set menus per diner. However, no menu is exactly equivalent to that of the other restaurants’: from three-course to twenty-course meals, including wine and champagne or excluding it from the price, including or excluding taxes, with or without dessert… As you can see the data we used for the ranking are the costs of the different menus, but the comparison is inevitably a rough estimate, which mind you, can also be altered depending on the season.
From Asia to Europe, under the sea or at a city’s hot-spot, these are the costliest eating establishments in the world. With or without Michelin stars, the restaurants on this list are definitely la crème de la crème. Are you curious about the most expensive restaurants in the world? Let’s take a look at this tasty and luxurious countdown!
10. Beige Alain Ducasse
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Cuisine: French with seasonal Japanese ingredients
Chef: Kei Kojima
Michelin Stars: 2
Opening: 2004
Price: $190 (four-course dinner per diner)
9. Le Pré Catelan
Location: Paris, France
Cuisine: Creative (as defined in the Michelin Guide)
Chef: Frédéric Anton
Michelin Stars: 3
Opening: 1976
Price: $255 (seven-course meal per diner)
8. Misoguigawa
Location: Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto, Japan
Cuisine: French Kaiseki
Chef: Teruo Inoue
Opening: 1981
Price: $270 (eight-course seasonal menu per diner)
7. Aragawa
Location: Shinbashi, Tokyo, Japan
Cuisine: Steak house, Yakitori
Chef: Yamada Jiro
Michelin Stars: 1
Opening: 1967
Price: $341 (price fixed menu per person)
6. Restaurant Gordon Ramsay
Location: Chelsea, London, England, United Kingdom
Cuisine: French
Chef: Claire Smyth
Michelin Stars: 3
Opening: 1998
Price: $355 (seasonal special multi-course menu per diner)
5. Restaurant de l’Hotel de Ville Crissier
Location: Crissier, Ouest Lausannois, Vaud, Switzerland
Cuisine: French Classic
Chef: Benoît Violier
Michelin Stars: 3
Opening: 1971
Price: $415 (set multiple-course meal per diner)
4. Masa
Location: Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States of America
Cuisine: Japanese (sushi) ; Omakase
Chef: Masa Takayama
Michelin Stars: 3
Opening: 2004
Price: $450 (tasting menu per diner)
3. Ithaa Undersea Restaurant
Location: 5 meters below the Indian Ocean’s surface, Rangali Island, Alif Dhall Atoll, Republic of Maldives
Cuisine: Contemporary European with Asian influences
Opening: 2004
Price: $500 (multiple-course menu per diner)
2. Restaurant Le Meurice Alain Ducasse
Location: Paris, France
Cuisine: French, Creative
Chef: Christophe Saintagne
Michelin Stars: 3
Opening: since 2013 under Alain Ducasse’s aegis
Price: $524 (three specialties, desserts and a cheese selection per diner)
1. SubliMotion
Location: Playa de Bossa, Ibiza, Spain
Cuisine: Spanish Avant-garde
Chef: Paco Roncero
Opening: 2014
Price: $2,078 (tasting menu of 20 sequences per diner)
