Starbucks may hold the unofficial record for world's most expensive cup of coffee, but it is fortunes away from being the most expensive food or drink item on a menu. Here, a five-course meal that could send your blood pressure rising for more than one reason.
1. The Cary Arms' $61 baked potato
In 2010, this British hotel served a very decadent potato, called the "tuxedo spud" because it looks like it's dressed up to go to a fancy ball. It's also a reference to the nickname Brits have for the baked potato: the jacket potato. The tuxedo spud is prepared like a normal baked potato, then loaded with chives, spring onions, and creme fraiche. Then it gets expensive when the chef tops it off with a generous portion of $60-per-pound caviar. It also comes with vine ripened tomatoes, a salad, and a glass of champagne.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
This pricey main course — offered by a New York City eatery in 2007 — was just a 12-inch pizza. Why so exorbitantly priced? Because it was topped with six varieties of caviar and fresh lobster. Customers even had to order their pie 24 hours ahead of time so the restaurant could get the caviar.
3. 666 Burger's $666 burger
Last year, New York City's devilish 666 Burger food truck began offering the "Douche Burger," named for the kind of person who would buy a a $666 burger. The bank-account-busting sandwich comes with a kobe beef patty wrapped in a gold leaf, and stacked with foie gras, caviar, lobster, truffles, and imported aged gruyere cheese. It's seasoned with Himalayan rock salt, and the cheese is melted from the steam of boiled champagne. And it's literally wrapped in three greasy $100 bills. 666 Burger owner Franz Aliquo said the person who eats it may not enjoy the taste combination, "but it will make you feel rich as f---."
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
5. Serendipity 3's $25,000 frozen hot chocolate
The only way to end this meal would be to just eat a gold brick for dessert, right? Well, you're half-right. This Washington eatery offers one of the most expensive items on just about any menu: a $25,000 bowl of frozen hot chocolate. Just about every ingredient that goes into making this dessert could rack up some serious debt. It's made from 14 of the world's rarest cocoas — imported from Africa and South America — and shavings from the $2,500-per-pound La Madeline au Truffle. Then the dessert is accented with edible 24-carat gold and served in an edible gold goblet. The most expensive part is the silverware: a jewel-encrusted spoon worth $14,000.
'Underneath the noise, however, there’s an existential crisis'
2024: the year of distrust in science
The Nutcracker: English National Ballet's reboot restores 'festive sparkle'
