11 most expensive restaurants in the world revealed – from Paris to Shanghai to Ibiza

The most expensive restaurants in the world have jaw-dropping menus. But visiting them can be a worthwhile exercise. After all, special occasions aren’t going to celebrate themselves.

But, even if you’ve been carefully budgeting for months, there are some menus that will always be out of reach.

Alain Ducasse runs one of the most expensive restaurants in the world (Credit: PA)

What are the most expensive restaurants in the world?

Given how many options you have for upgrading your dinner and ruining your finances, categorically saying what are the most expensive restaurants in the world can be tricky.

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To make your search for the absurd slightly easier, we’ve put together this guide to decadence. Who knows – if you happen to win the lottery, this collection could make quite the bucket list.

These are 11 of the most expensive restaurants in the world.

1. Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée – Paris

As one of the top restaurants in the world, you’d expect Alain Ducasse’s three-star feast to come with a sizable cheque.

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To taste treats such as “refreshed Brittany langoustines with golden caviar” and “Gascogne Bay turbot, cheeks in jelly, radish and poppies in champagne”, you will need to shell out $450 per person, before wine. Better start saving.  

2. Geranium – Copenhagen

Like every other three-Michelin starred restaurant on earth, Geranium’s food is as pricey as it is delicious. What really makes this menu worth of inclusion on this list, however, is the wine pairings.

The kitchen’s current “Autumn Universe” tasting menu will set you back around $400 per head. Once you add alcohol into the equation, however, the bill could rocket to a whopping $2500 per person! Maybe stick with water.

3. Ithaa Undersea Restaurant – Maldives

There can be little doubt that Ithaa Undersea Restaurant is one of the most stunning dining locations on earth. Situated 16-feet below the blue waters of the Indian Ocean, guests in the 14 cover dining room can enjoy the finest fresh seafood, whilst peering at marine life gently drifting past a polished glass dome.

All this can be yours for $320 – not including wine. Plus, you’ll have to fly to the Maldives. It’s a win-win.

4. The Krug Room – Hong Kong

When you’re spending enough money to buy a small house, you want your surroundings to be as special as the food. Here, The Krug Room delivers.

Spectacularly designed to resemble a old dining carriage, this fixture of the Mandarin Oriental hotel is a private dining experience like no other. At $300 per head, you’d expect nothing less.

5. Ultraviolet – Shanghai

Everything about chef Paul Pairet’s signature restaurant is unique. Guests are seated around a single, 10-person dining table before being immersed in an intoxicating display of visuals, sounds and scents, all while eating one of the most innovative menus on earth.

Colours, music and temperature all change to enhance the food and constantly challenge diners. To taste this 20-course art exhibition, you’ll need to cut a cheque for $900.

6. Masa – New York

For something that doesn’t need to be cooked, sushi can still end up costing a pretty penny. The prime example of this, outside of Japan, is chef Masa Takayama’s eponymous eatery.

Serving traditional sushi in an American setting, Masa specialises in exotic and unusual seafood – which certainly helps to add a few zeros to the price. A set dinner here will cost around $600 per person.

7. Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville – Lausanne

If you have a hankering to spend $400 on French food, you could end up with enough charcuterie, cheese, pâté and patisserie to last you a week. Alternatively, you could blow it all on one meal at the iconic Restaurant de l’Hôtel de Ville in Switzerland.

Specialising in sumptuous French cooking, this three-star institution is as good a way as any to indulge your wildest Gallic fantasies – provided they involve eating.

8. Le Pré Catelan – Paris

More often than not, fancy set menus tend to be the source of exorbitant menu pricing. However, as Le Pre Catelan proves, a la carte is also more than capable of giving penny pinchers a heart attack.

With entrees starting at $110 and mains at $135, this is one restaurant where no amount of menu scouring can save you from coughing up more than you bargained for.

9. Kitcho Arashiyama Honten – Kyoto

In many restaurants, all you’re paying for is quality cooking. At Kitcho, you’re paying to be part of history. World-renowned for providing one of the best kaiseki menus on earth, Kitcho is a family run business where tradition remains at the core.

Serving 10-faultless courses and boasting three Michelin stars, it almost seems worth spending $600 per person.  

10. Arpège – Paris

In ordinary circumstances, you might expect a restaurant specialising in vegetables to be a good place for a bargain. However, Alain Passard’s Arpège proves that veggies are no obstacle to a ridiculous price tag.

Placing plants front and centre since 2001, Arpège’s crown jewel is an epic 11-course tasting menu, made entirely out of veggies. At around $380 per head, this will likely include the most expensive mushroom you’ll ever eat.

11. SubliMotion – Ibiza

You could be forgiven for expecting the most expensive restaurant in the world to be in Paris, New York or London. That it’s on a small Balearic island, surrounded by booming nightclubs might come as something as a shock.

Riffing on the Ultraviolet schtick of total dining immersion, the menu created by two-star chef Paco Roncero comes in at a ridiculous $2,000 per head. They have to find some way to make a profit in a 12-cover restaurant, after all.

There aren’t many who can deny the perverse thrill of throwing bundles of money at tasty food. Even if it’s only for a night, we all like to occasionally live beyond our means.

But, regardless of how long you may save, these restaurants are a cut above the standard fancy meal out. Unless you strike gold, it’s going to take a few more years of scrimping to justify a $1000 dollar dinner.