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A4 wagyu tomahawk
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Louis XIII cognac
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pure saffron
Worth it? Definitely. Especially since I didn't pay for any of it. This was all professional training as a fine dining server.
How was the Louis? I'll never be able to afford even a pour of it so I'd like to live vicariously through you lol
Not worth the price, even in the special cut leaded crystal sipping cups. It was the best cognac I've ever had, but not nearly the best brandy, and I don't even like brandy that much.
Now the wagyu, that was absolutely worth the price. 48z for $190, so about $4/z, pre-cook weight. I had about $15 worth, one mouthful, and I would have been willing to pay for what I got if it wasn't free.
But the Louis XIII at least satisfied my life goal to eat something aged longer than I am old.
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I once used $1k caviar as a topping for a Papa John's pizza. It was delicious.
Ok, so not exactly. The tin was split evenly amongst the 5 members of my family. I used my portion as a pizza topping. My brothers did crackers and cheese. I don't recall what my parents did. They probably put it in the fridge for later and forgot it.
Salty but also kind of fresh. It's not super fishy but still clearly tastes of the ocean. The texture is a lot of fun in your mouth. And seriously, it's a perfect pizza topping. People give me looks when I tell them this story purely because of the "Papa John's" qualifier. But if you just consider flavor profiles, of course they go well together lol.
As far as dollar amount, probably some meal with my girlfriend. We don't do fancy but usually have one nice meal on a vacation.
But as a percentage of my income - something called Bonzai Chicken I ordered for $70 on my honeymoon back in the 90s. I made $7/hr at the time. I didn't know it had curry in it or that I was allergic to curry. I spent the remainder of my honeymoon sick as a dog.
That sounds like an 80s movie plot though. Half the movie was you on the toilet while everyone else got up to some epic shit. All because you had to order the Bonzai Chicken.
Fortunately, my ex wife waited until after the honeymoon to get up to epic shit when I wasn't around.
Kobe Beef in Kobe, Japan.
Best beef I ever had. Not worth it though. I didn't realize how loaded my friend was when she suggested it to me, so I ended up reserving for 4 people before checking the prices.
I did spend 700$ eating sushi one time though. That time was worth it. For any sushi lovers planning a Japan trip - Stay out of the main cities and go for the coast. The best sushi is far from Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka.
Fancy modern Itallian restaurant, authentic fresh truffle topping to my and my spouse's dishes, cost $80 just to add that.
100% worth it, never tasted anything like it before. I don't know if I would do it again, now that I've had the experience, but I'm glad I did.
There's a bunch of ritsy restaurants on the waterfront, $200 plates and seafood, steak, desserts, etc. Tastes just the same as any other food. High priced food is just stupid people tax.
That's just because you're paying for the location and not the food. It's why, by and large, tourist centres have shit food despite being twice the price. Go somewhere that is about the food and not the location and you get what you pay for. Flavour.
I can't think of a time I've deliberately eaten something expensive (as opposed to out of convenience), except for the kopi luwak, which was a gift.
It was from a relief worker I knew well, who had gotten it from a friend of his in SE Asia who collected the wild beans as a hobby. At market prices at the time I think the little cup I had worked out to around 40 dollars, and this was some time ago.
Anyway, was it worth it? It was a normal cup of Joe, except it had no bitterness to it at all. The cat's gut apparently takes all the bitterness out of it without touching the flavour much, At a similar price to normal coffee I'd buy it, but as an uber-luxury I'd say it's in no way worth it, unless you're just consuming conspicuously.
But, Jesus Christ, the amount of animal exploitation worth for such coffee. I say this because I think many suppliers of kopi luwak had to forcefeed palm civets with this, to catch up with demand...
Yeah, I hear the farmed product is much inferior on top of being unethical, so I got really lucky. I'd guess the commercial market is also flooded with counterfeits, because if you're a Malaysian guy who can sell some white dude "super special kopi luwak beans" that are actually just normal coffee for more money than you would otherwise make in a year, why wouldn't you? I can't even blame them.
I went to Millennium, a fancy vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco (now it's in Oakland) with a friend's wealthy dad, who treated us. It was about $200 for the 3 of us. The food was good, but not good enough to go back. Just give me a $5 bean and cheese burrito, please
I’m actually surprised by this. When my wife and I went to San Francisco we actually stayed in east bay. After an exhausting day we decided to head back to our Airbnb there and just order something from DoorDash. Coming from LA, I was absolutely blown away by the vegan/vegetarian section. She wasn’t really hungry so I picked something that I thought was cheap and basic and it ended up being the best vegan food I’ve had to this day.
The most expensive thing I've had that was really notable (as I'm sure I've ordered something pricier and thought nothing of it) was half an A5 wagyu steak from Wegmans. I think it was originally around $250/lb but it was on a manager's special sale. I think it was around $80 for a ½lb, which is genuinely insane to me knowing that manager's special means it's the last chance to buy something before it goes bad.
Anyway, it was really good. A very odd experience though because afterwards I kinda stopped craving/ cooking/ ordering beef for a couple months. It was like I achieved some superlative thing and was just done with the concept of beef for a little bit. A strange reaction to such a positive experience, that said I do still eat beef occasionally.
We bought 1.5 kg of A5 wagyu for dinner on my brother's birthday, and then we ate the leftovers on bread for breakfast the next day. It was about $400. Don't think I'll ever get tired of eating beef. The thing about wagyu though is there's a lot of fat in it, so you'll be full quickly. I later ordered 100 grams at at restaurant and didn't need any more.
Yeah, the marbling is crazy, you can cook it and cook it and you'll never run out of fat in it. I only did a couple minutes on each side though so it was extremely rich. Even a ¼lb was probably a little too much when I had it. Non-hamburger beef is more of a treat to me at this point, I think I enjoy it a lot more when it's a rarer occasion.
Expensive caviar is much better than inexpensive caviar, and yes, I think it's worth it.
But sheer dollar amount was probably a pasta with black truffles shaved at the table. That was really good; I don't know if I'd do that one again.
I was taken to a very expensive steak restaurant once, and while others got more expensive cuts I got a 10 oz California sirloin aged 8 years in house.
I love steak, I loved steak, I will always love steak, but every steak from that day has to measure up to that one and never will.
I’m so glad I had the experience, but I don’t have $280 to blow on steak each time I want it lol.
Was part of a team that was sent to Boston for a project. While we were there, the company announced they were changing the meal expense policy from reimbursement for submitted bills to a fixed stipend.
But that policy change was a couple of days away, so the whole team went to this fancy expensive restaurant for dinner, and we ordered expensive food and wines as one last hurrah.
I don’t even remember where or what I ate or drank.
I just remember it was a good time.
A5 beef in Japan... I don't regret trying it, because it was really good, I'm not a meat expert, I rarely eat beef anyway because of how bad it is for the environment, but as a once in a lifetime experience, it's one of my favourite meals of all time.
I think some kind of exotic wagyu meat. Very good, but very small portion and not worth the money. I think it was 140€ or something like that. With a drink included.
