Does a large group count in this thread?

Yes. So feel free to pick up the check for all 30 of us at the Venice Meet Dinner and you might be the record holder.

That would be about E1500 plus drinks, minus E52 for the Dovster, who will run away to McDonalds when they put the scungilli on the table.

Far from a record.

You forgot to include the booze -- and the fact that Cholula will be downing it. That jumps the price by at least a factor of three.

This is the part I like
 

...the restaurant kept a copy of the bill and started telling people about these wacko bankers and their ridiculous tab. That's when Barclays Capital, which employed the Petrus Six, found out about their little ... ahem ... party.

From the story

http://www.stpetersburgtimes.com/200..._a_glass.shtml


"Because the bankers paid with their own money, Barclays scolded them but let them keep their jobs.

But being an idiot means never having to say you're sorry. And so it was that a few weeks ago, at least five of the Petrus Six tried to write off part of the bill as "client expenses." Barclays responded by issuing pink slips.

See you boys at the Save 'n Pack. Hear it's got a special on gallon jugs of Gallo. Them twist tops work reeeeeal nice."

bwahahahahahaha, I hate this thread.

The most expensive dinner I attended was at Annabelle's in London (1993). I didn't have to pay (couldn't have afforded it anyway). There were 15-20 of us, and it was probably $12,000 or more.

I ordered a vodka tonic. I received a bottle of Russian Vodka at the table. I don't think there was a misunderstanding English to English.

After dinner, a few of us had cigars - a selection of Cubans was brought to the table.

We followed that up with a trip to a London casino. I further demonstrated my upper class ignorance by asking where the coat check was. "You need to keep your coat on, sir."

I guess dinners like this have their place in society, but it shocks the conscience. Of course, if you have $1B and spend $12k that is the same as having $100k and spending $1.20 or less than $1/person, right?

Sam

London/Tokyo
 

About $900 for Kobe beef for three in 2002 in Tokyo - no alcohol - went with my giant American boss who liked to double up on everything. Sobering experience came when I was filling my expense claim out and the news bulletin came on with a starving child at a refugee camp.

A few weeks ago, we spent £1,650 at the Chef's table for five in Petrus, London - we went easy on the wines but the food and service were exquisite.

Regularly end up spending about £300 for two when going out with my lady friend - she loves the fine food and experience and I find it well worth it..... :p

That's a bargain - isn't the prix fixe for the chef's table at Petrus something like £800 per head for dinner?

Chef's table...
 

Not that I'm aware - we were quoted £800 for the table that seated eight - excluding drinks - though they gave us glasses of Dom Perignon to kick the evening off. We had some late cancellations in the party and when I tried to move the booking was told we would have to pay the £800 so we ended up taking whoever was in the office!

I highly recommend it as something different and a bit more memorable as the price wasn't much worse then what you might pay in the restaurant for a large party. We even had Marcus Wareing swear at one of the staff though I'm not sure if that was for show!

Dinner - Vivaldi Berlin
 

I remember a fabulous dinner at the Vivaldi in Berlin some weeks ago. EUR 1100 for 4 persons, including 1991° Cht. Mouton-Rothschild. The new chef does a great job.

Must be the dried octopus w/chili sauce, fruit assortments and noodle soups at the Korean "room salons". ;) The tidbits come free, but the scotch that is part of the package has a tag of some 200+$ per bottle in the upmarket joints. :D And on a Big Deal night, there are going to be lots of bottles...

http://english.chosun.com/cgi-bin/pr...d=200107090270

From the article:

"I remember another Westerner who deplored Korean business entertainment culture. He was invited by a Korean business partner to eat Kalbi and drink So-ju at a Korean restaurant. Following dinner, he was led to a Dan-lan Jujum, a karaoke with girls. He was shocked that all the Korean colleagues sang good songs and someone sang a wonderful English song. However, the entertainment did not stop at the second round. He was also invited to a third round--the so-called room salon. He quickly realized that the real night of entertainment was just beginning.

First of all, the drinking custom was completely different. The various forms of bomb wine or "Poke-tang" (Depth-charge [UK] Boilermaker [US]), which is composed of strong alcohol like whiskey and beer were introduced to him. Despite him saying he could not drink much, they pressed him to drink with the popular expression "Do in Rome as the Romans do." They seemed to think that he was capable of paying the third round as he represented a big multi-national company. Seeing the bill there, he was shocked at the astronomical amount. Knowing that his company would not pay for that huge amount, he had to pay for that night's entertainment, as much as one month salary, from his pocket. "

Poor sod, hope not a FT member.

Most expensive: $1200 and change, but that was for my wedding rehearsal dinner. It was at an iDine restaurant. :D

For two people: $800 for my wife's birthday at Guy Savoy in Paris
though the dinners at Louis XV in Monaco and Aqua in Las Vegas were close at $600+.

It's not 320,000. - it's 320.00 - Europeans (& others use a comma where us Yanks would use a dot) It's also followed by 2 digits, not 3, further indicating 320, not 320,000. 320K WOULD win the most expensive on this thread, though!

Good point!

You might be surprised by your credit card bills if you travel in Europe thinking that. There are two digits - not three - after the comma when speaking of euros, for example. The poster wrote that he paid 320,00 for dinner or 320 euros. 320.000 euros, OTOH, would be closer to $380,000.

I think US gas prices are about the only things that are expressed in fractions of cents.

About US$2,600 + service, 15 or 16 people and me, Witchery by the Castle, Edinburgh

I took a friend to Le Gavroche (run by the Roux brothers) in my home city of London and as this is a very classy joint, they don't give the women a menu with the prices. As I was paying for this (a birthday treat), she was a little put out not to have any prices and was I think really scared that I might not be able to afford it.

The total bill was about $360 dollars/£180 (didn't order any liquor either), although after 7 courses, I was so full I didn't need breakfast the next day, fantastic evening.

Not a Dinner
 

but at a certain club in Austin, ten or more years ago, I was with the president of a company that I worked for. We were celebrating a mega million dollar order from a notorious cell phone manufacturer. The "key" players were with us, there must have been twenty guys or so.

When the night ended, the bill came, it was over twenty five feet long and totaled over $25,000.00

That was the first time myself or alot of the people around me had ever seen a platinum AMEX.

Funny now, but gawd, what excess!

Most expensive meal for me was a celebratory lunch at Taillevent with my sister. The day before I found out my mark for my Master's thesis and that I would be able to graduate with a high average. We spent about 650 Euro; the food was outstanding and not too expensive. The bottle of Perrier Jouet La Belle Epoque rose as aperatif, and the Margaux and Vosne Romanee, as well as the Cohiba Siglo III most certainly put a huge dent onto the tab :D :D pricey but it was very well worth it.

Well, it certainly does not seem like much, but it was $140 for ME alone at Casa Toscana in Miami a few months ago. A bulk of it was a very good bottle of wine that I had to drink alone. But still worth it.

Peace!

Other than my wedding, it'll be the Nobu NYC meal. $200 pp. Not exactly worth it, but just had to do it (and 3 more times). My next expensive meal will be at Per Se in Jan. I expect to spend $400 pp with the wine pairing. Ooouch. :(

$1300 for a dinner of 4 at L'Oasis near Cannes. Well worth the money

I was working late one night last year when a vendor meeting broke up and everybody went to dinner, and I was invited to join them at Cool Rive in Las Colinas (TechGirl's hangout)(I'm not going to say no to a free meal). There were 12 of us, and the boss pulled out his AMEX when the bill arrived. It was only around $800, as the boss and the owner of Cool River are friends (the meal was free, the $800 was for the wine).

HKD$34,500- ($38,000 including 10% charge and small tip) at The Forum, Hong Kong in Wan Chai for 10 people, fortunately we chipped in only HK$6,000. Was well worth it, for the wonderful Ah Yat's abalone :p

States:
TRU Restaurant Chicago....... $1160USD for 3

Worldwide:
Restaurant Petrus atop the Shargri-La hotel in HK... 4500HKD for 2

Just two weeks ago for my birthday- Per Se - $1036 for two--- :eek:

:eek: is right! You got me beat by $300. Did you choose your own wines?

If you don't mind, How much of that was for food. I would like to go but have no interest in spending money on wine.

Per Se: $150/pp for chef's tasting menu (9 courses).

Did the wine pairing- and it was A LOT of wine- I was a bit toasted by the end... $175pp for that. Also there was a supplemental option we added to the tasting menu -- a risotto with white truffles-- can't remember how much that was- but totally worth it- so much truffle and so delicious.

I wish I could say it was the best meal of my life since it was the most expensive-- but it is never really that way is it? French Laundry is much better, though a lot of it has to do with the location.

I am green with envy. White truffles are only in season Oct-Dec so we didn't get that option in the summer. We just got back from Italy and had the amazing white truffles there (they pick it in Northern Italy) and I can only imagine the risotto you had (a very Happy Birthday indeed!). Oh, how much I would give for a taste of fresh truffles right now.

Our wine pairing was only $100/pp. We're not worthy :D Yes, a LOT of wine. We tossed in a pre-dinner champagne and a dessert wine at the end. Quite drunk after 4 hours of drinking :)

It wasn't the best meal of my life but it was pretty close ^

Chef's tasting for six (over 20 utterly glorious courses) with wine pairings for the four of us over 21, and other wines, as well, at Manresa restaurant (which the SF Chronicle called "the French Laundry of the South Bay"), in Los Gatos, California. Over $1100 market value with tax/tip, but I was working for trade. (I did some photography and web redesign/consulting.)

It was easily the best meal of my life, and I think the other five would say the same. One of our group was the youngest member of the Bargetto winemaking family who had been stranded in the Sierra blizzard back in October, surviving on five peanuts a day. He's sixteen, and kept saying, "This is the best thing I've ever eaten" for each course. Pretty sweet.

I can't wait to go back.

For work: Spark's Steakhouse NYC for 6 people $3400. Great Steaks, and Lobster and a lot of wine.
For my wife and I, last week Dinner at Taillevent Paris €575. Had the chef tasting menu @ €190 per person with a couple of glasses of '96 Dom Perignon and a bottle of Chateau Siran.

By far, my most expensive dinner was the one where I proposed to my exwife! That one cost me dearly.

This was not my most expensive meal, but it was the most expensive meal I managed to ruin.

I got back jetlagged from a trip, but had reservations at French Laundry. So what that I've been falling asleep at 5 p.m., nothing a little NoDoze won't cure, I figure. Well, I take one about two hours prior to the ressie, no effect so I pop another. An hour later, no effect so I pop another. By the time I sat down I'd taken four.

About three courses into dinner I am horribly uncomfortable and all I concentrate on is maintaining my composure (not feeling wired, just very sick to my stomach) until the check is settled and we can leave (of course there are still several courses coming, which I discreetly handoff to my husband, who didn't mind). We ordered champagne and two different half bottles of wine, neither of which I could drink.

At least the first three courses were decent ... but the worst part is I couldn't even eat dessert. Very unlike this chocolate lover. I think that dinner was literally about $80 a bite for me. :( But at least I've learned my NoDoze limit.

Several years ago, dinner at Robuchon and Guy Savoy in the same week. About $900 for 2 people for each meal. Worth every penny. Spent a lot of time in Barcelona some years ago and regret that I never made it to el Bulli.

FDuvall

I spent 800 pounds at Caviar House in London in March last year.

I had a 50g tin of Almas Caviar, and 50g of Premium XXL Reserve (or something like that) Beluga.......... Rather decadent, when sharing it with my parents. Came out to 820 pounds with vodka shots and blinis.

Boy, but the Almas caviar is a unforgettable experience.

Per Se, 2 weeks ago. $1050 for 2. Wine pairing, chef tasting menu, extra 2 dishes, private dining room with 6 others.

And may I add, yup, worth every penny. Even though I would be happier if it's only 6 courses instead of 12. It's just a little too extravagant. A little much food at the end.

But hey, once in a lifetime. Or so I hope not. :)

I once spent $6.83 for a couple of frozen Burritos and a couple of Coors Lights from 7/11. I thought I broke the bank. :eek:

:D

How 'bout this: I hope to wait on the jerkies who paid $3500 EACH for dinner at the Masters of Food and Wine rarities dinner at the Carmel Highlands next month. (ONE dinner! Per person...) Can't wait to see the tip!