The world’s most expensive cupcake was introduced to sweet-toothed spectators in Dubai’s new Bloomsbury’s cafe on 5 July. The Golden Phoenix sweet treat is priced at a whopping 3,676 dirhams, and is created from a recipe that includes Italian chocolate, 23-carat edible gold sheets, organic strawberries and lots of edible gold dusting. The cake is presented on a 24-carat gold stand and must be ordered at least 48 hours in advance. (Bloomsburys, Dubai)
A moment on the lips; a lifetime on the… credit card. Such is the case with the world’s most expensive dessert, the Frrrozen Haute Chocolate, priced at $18,713. Available at Serendipity 3, a restaurant in New York’s Upper East Side, the dish combines 28 different kinds of cocoa, is adorned with 5g of edible 23-carat gold and infused with gold flakes. The sweet treat is presented in a goblet lined with edible gold leaf, served with an 18-carat gold and diamond bracelet and eaten with a solid gold spoon encrusted with rare black, white and chocolate-coloured diamonds. (Serendipity 3)
What does it take to make the world’s most expensive burger? Japanese waygu beef, infused with 10-herb white truffle butter, seasoned with Alderwood smoked pacific sea salt, topped with cheddar cheese, shaved black truffles and a fried quail egg served on a white truffle-buttered Campagna roll and finished with a blini, crème fraiche and Kaluga golden caviar. Oh -- and, a solid gold diamond-encrusted toothpick on the side. The damage? $293, by appointment only, also at the world-famously pricey Serendipity 3 in New York. (Liz Steger)
How about some Sushi Del Oriente -- nigiri sushi wrapped in 24-carat gold leaves and sprinkled with five 0.20-carat African diamonds? This is the dish one Japanese businessman tucked into at his personal residence in Manila, Philippines, in 2010, served by up-and-coming celebrity chef Angelito Araneta Jr of premium gastronomy company Karat Chef. The bill? A cool 85,727.59 Philippine pesos. Apparently, the chef’s “artworks” are typically purchased as marriage proposal gifts. How could you say no?
Head to London’s Kai Mayfair restaurant with £108 in your pocket and you can slurp up some of the world’s most valuable soup. The dish -- called Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, apparently because it is so delicious that even a vegetarian would jump over the wall to get to it -- is comprised of shark’s fin, abalone, Japanese flower mushroom, sea cucumber, dried scallops, chicken, Hunan ham (a cured ham), pork and ginseng – and must be pre-ordered five days in advance. No jumping over walls required. (Bernard Yeoh)
(c) bbc