"expensive" news and stories

The Four Seasons in Jakarta, Indonesia has recently introduced one of the most expensive hamburgers in the world. The burger costs 1 million rupiah, which is approximately $110, or roughly twice the monthly minimum wage in the country! Served with a side of french fries, the hamburger is made of Kobe beef, foie gras, Portobello mushrooms and Korean Pears. The pears are known for the sweet taste and juiciness, but even with all the press that this burger has received, it isn't clear how the pear is incorporated into the final product.

One of the chefs from the hotel confirmed the reason that the burger is so expensive is that that the hotel "import[s] all the materials, and they are high quality." In the last month, the hotel has sold 20 burgers.

Estik, a restaurant in Madrid, Spain, also claims a burger in the same price range. Their kobe burger is €85.

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NOKA chocolate claims that they sell the most expensive chocolates in the world and at prices that range from a shocking $309- $2,080 per pound, no one would argue that point. The point that is debatable is whether their chocolates are worth that price. From their literature, you might suspect that the chocolatier of NOKA would be trailblazing through jungles to find the most perfect cacao beans to produce chocolates with the "rarest and purest" single-origin dark chocolate instead of melting chocolate into simple molds in a Plano, Texas strip mall.

Dallas Food has just completed a brilliant expose that reveals the outrageous markups on NOKA's products and the source of their chocolates, which they buy from a well-known and well-respected chocolate maker but conceal from their clients to protect their image as "chocolate makers" and their pricing, which includes a markup of up to 4,444%.

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Chef Domenico Crolla has cooked up what could turn out to be the world's most expensive pizza, and is probably already the priciest for its size. The 12-inch pizza is worth about $2,800. Dubbed the Pizza Royale 007, it has an organic crust with a sunblush tomato pizza sauce, smoked salmon, venison medallions, cognac-marinated lobster and champagne-soaked caviar. The whole pie is topped with 24-karat edible gold.

Crolla, who is from Glasgow, worked with the British Pizza, Pasta & Italian Food Association and will auction off the pizza to raise money for the Australian Fred Hollow's Foundation, a nonprofit group that works to "prevent curable blindness in developing countries." It will be sold on eBay, where both Crolla and the BPPIFA hope that it will make at least $3,800, which would apparently break the world's record for most expensive pizza, currently held by the white truffle pizza at Gordon Ramsay's Maze Restaurant in London. Whoever wins the auction can either have the pizza prepared in one of Crolla's restaurants or have it prepared in their home.

[via Slice]

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The most expensive beef in the world is wagyu, or Kobe beef. It comes from cows that are not only genetically predisposed to intensely marbled meat that is very high in fat, but that get fed a special diet that is meant to improve that marbling beyond anything that other beef can achieve. To keep the meat from getting tough, it is said that some producers massage the muscles of their cows, rather than let the cows exercise themselves. With meat like this available and gaining rapidly in popularity, it is hardly a surprise, all of the world's most expensive steaks, as selected by Forbes Traveler, feature wagyu beef. Without further ado, these are the places to go - and how much you'll have to pay - for some of the best and most-expensive steaks in the world:

• "103" Wagyu rib eye at Craftsteak New York (private order item), $2,800 for 20 pounds
• Charbroiled Kobe Filet, Aragawa, Tokyo, $258 for 8-oz.
• Select Special Kobe Filet at the Kobe Renga-tei Steak Restaurant, Kobe, $246 for 160 grams (5.6-oz.)
• Australian Wagyu Striploin at the Al Muntaha restaurant, Burj Al Arab Hotel, Dubai, $169 300 gm
• Japanese Wagyu Rib Eye at Wolfgang Puck's CUT at the Beverly Wilshire, Beverly Hills , $160, eight-ounce filet
• "Wagyu no sumibiyaki" at Zuma, London, $132 (no size indicated)
• Sendai Sirloin at the Ekki Bar & Grill, Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo at Marunouchi The Price: $129 for 150g
• Australian Wagyu Fillet Mignon at the Polo Club, Marriott Royal Aurora, Moscow, $101 for 12-oz.
• Smoked Salt American Kobe Rib Eye Cap Steak at BLT Prime, New York, $95 (no size indicated)

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Would you normally use the word "cute" to describe a skull? Aside from "delicious", that is the only adjective that seems to apply to these Day of the Dead chocolate skulls from Vosges Chocolate. The skulls are made from white, milk and dark chocolate and have a variety of flavor combinations inspired by el Día de los Muertos. The skulls' black eyes are made with edible glitter, which gives them a surprising amount of depth for something on a 2-ounce chocolate skull! The flavors include:

• Blanca - Venezuelan white chocolate (33% cocoa butter)
• Red Fire - Ancho and chipotle chilies, Ceylon cinnamon, dark chocolate
• Barcelona - Hickory smoked almonds, grey sea salt, deep milk chocolate

The one thing that is scary about these skulls is the price. They sell for $8 each! Of course, when you're going to go all-out for a holiday celebration anyway, a little indulgence is warranted, right?

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