This is small potatoes by comparison to some, but it was the best AND most expensive meal I've ever had: $1020 at the French Laundry for four people. It would have been significantly more if we'd paid the restaurant's price for the bottle of '91 Chateau Margaux we enjoyed with our meat courses. The wine had been our wedding present to the other couple ten years previous; the sommelier opened it for us in exchange for the restaurant's $50 corkage fee.

I still can't believe we paid fifty bucks to have them pour our own bottle of wine for us. Sheesh. What a bunch of maroons.

Most expensive: 1300 Euros for 2 (New Year's Eve 2003) at La Tour d'Argent in Paris. However it was far from being our best meal!!

That's not too far off the standard. We paid $45 corkage at Cafe Gray in NY the other night for a rare Aussie "old vines" Shiraz we brought back from the Barossa that my brother wanted to taste. The rest of the tab was about $225 per person all in which is certainly not anywhere near the highest that you can run up in the Time Warner Center nowadays.

You got a table at FL. Be grateful.

or worse, won't pursue to the end of my rant.
R and I had our first ~$20 hamburgers, and ~$80 hotel dinners in London some time early last year.
"WELL, DUH!," you're shouting--or you will, once I tell you we were staying at the St. James Buckingham Palace--"what ELSE would you EXPECT in that neck of the woods, given the dollar's very apparent decline against the BGP even back then???? And anyway you weren't exactly at the very bottom of the wide range of accommodation rates London offers, were you?
>sheesh!<"
And you'd be right.
My point: yes, yes, $20/$80 are not exactly budget-busters in and of themselves. But those meals were simplicity itself, basically "a" hamburger, and "a" chop. Tasty, I suppose, but certainly nothing over the top, cuisine-wise. In that sense they were our Most (unexpectedly) Expensive Dinners.

Dinner at Petrus in the Island Shangri-la Hotel in Hong Kong for US$2,000+ for two people around 1998. Rough breakdown was:

Food - US$250
Krug Grand Cuv�e - US$300
1985 Petrus - US$1,200
Tip - US$350

How was it? Food was good, wine was sublime. Presentation also fantastic. Loved the proper decanting of the bottle with a candle. Would I do it again? Probably, but I would perhaps sooner open the wine at home and with the savings buy a second bottle!

You're not wrong I know wine/champers is over inflated at a restaurant but you can buy Krug GC for less than $140/bottle in my local supermarket!

Me too. At the first one in Manila.

Aureole in NYC to celebrate a 30th birthday. Bill was $415, tip included. Everything a good meal should be - Sommelier was wonderful, meal exquisite and service outstanding.

great thread - I'm a relative lightweight in comparison to some people here. I've had a couple $150 dinners (neither paid for by me ) but that's like a fast food bill compared to some dinners mentioned here

Don't get me wrong, but your local supermarket does not compare to the Petrus Restaurant at the Island Shangri-La in Hongkong.

It is one of the most fascinating places to dine on planet earth.
Do the Virtual Tour...

http://www.shangri-la.com/hongkong/i...x.aspx?ID=1387

You're right. I forgot to mention that I'd gladly pony up $50 any time to have the French Laundry sommelier open a bottle for me. That expense signifies that I'm sitting in the French Laundry, being fed Thomas Keller's amazing food.

I was aware of that

Call it a light hearted comment

$400 for lunch at Harry's Bar in Venezia and most recently >$600 for lunch at Jules Verne in the Eiffel Tower.

Both were titillating experiences for the palette and not to mention relaxing for the soul. Can�t wait for our next trip to return the scene of the crimes!

I think you got a pretty good deal on the wine considering where you are dining!! I have seen Krug GC priced more than that at humbler restaurants and the $1200 for '85 Petrus sounds like a steal..... I think that vintage would have cost more "retail" considering it is a Petrus and it is an 85.....