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Restaurants that have been awarded a Michelin star are usually correspondingly expensive. In some countries, however, a star meal costs a lot. An overview of where a particularly large number of the most expensive Michelin star restaurants are concentrated and in which country you can get a luxury menu for less.
Being awarded a Michelin star is not only a great honour, it also means you can raise prices. Because customers who eat in restaurants that have been awarded a Michelin star are willing to pay significantly more. The prices sometimes climb to astronomical heights. A meal in one of the restaurants of this class usually costs between 250 and 350 euros – but often much more.
The majority of the most expensive restaurants that have been awarded a Michelin star are in Japan: five of the ten most expensive restaurants are located here. The online cookbook , Chef’s Pencil , found out, after trawling menus in more than 450 of the world’s top restaurants.
The 10 most expensive restaurants in the world with a Michelin star
Only restaurants that have either received a Michelin star or are run by a chef who has already earned a star are included in the ranking. The value given in euros corresponds to the cost of the price that a person has to pay for a “tasting menu”. This menu usually consists of eight to twelve courses and is served for dinner. Some restaurants offer a single menu of this type or several menus with the same prices. Drinks are rare, taxes are usually not included in the price and have to be added.
- Sublimation, Ibiza, Spain – €1,522
- Ultraviolet by Paul Pairet, Shanghai, China – 1243 euros
- Kitcho Arashiyama Honten, Kyoto, Japan – 796 euros
- Azabu Kadowaki, Tokyo, Japan – 722 euros
- Masa, New York City, United States – 700 euros
- (Draw) Joel Robuchon, Tokyo, Japan – €557 Kikunoi Honten, Kyoto, Japan – €557 Gion Maruyama, Kyoto, Japan – €557
- Guy Savoy, Paris, France – 538 euros
- Piazza Duomo, Alba, Italy – 507 euros
Not only do Japanese restaurants dominate the list, Japan is also the only country to appear on it more than once. Restaurants in Tokyo and Kyoto are mentioned five times. It is no coincidence that the most expensive restaurants with Michelin stars are piling up in Japan. For example, Japan has the most Michelin restaurants per capita in the world. In fact, Tokyo is the city with the most restaurants that have earned a Michelin star.
Why Japanese restaurants are so expensive
However, Japanese restaurants are generally a bit more expensive than the German average. One of the reasons for this is the fish, which is popular in Japanese restaurants and imported from all over the world. In addition, it is common in Japan to artistically arrange and present the various components of the food on the plate. That takes time – and artistically talented chefs.
Another factor is the size of the restaurants. These are often tiny in Japan, and it is not uncommon for guests to be looked after personally by the chef. Some restaurants allow fewer than ten people to dine at a time. This drives up prices for visitors who are able to snag a seat.
The country where eating out in luxury restaurants is the most expensive on average
Although some of the top ten most expensive Michelin starred restaurants are in Japan, on average it is not the most expensive country in the world to dine at a Michelin starred restaurant. The Chef’s Pencil analysis only included restaurants that have a single Michelin star. If you are looking for the country where a “tasting menu” costs the most on average, you also have to look at the evaluation of the list of restaurants that have two or three Michelin stars. For example, if a country has several multi-star restaurants, the menu prices of these restaurants will increase the average menu price in that country.
Chef’s Pencil has also created a ranking for this question . The result of the analysis is that Japan only ranks fourth on average among the most expensive restaurants with a Michelin star. It is most expensive in our northern neighbor, in Denmark. Menus here cost an average of 354 euros per person. Second place goes to the Asian city-state of Singapore, where you have to spend an average of 319 euros for a meal. This is followed by Sweden, where an average of 286 euros has to be paid.
The cheapest Michelin star menu
If you want to dine cheaply in a restaurant with several Michelin stars, you are in good hands in Thailand. A menu there costs an average of 152 euros – less than half the average price in Denmark. Alternatively, Michelin-starred cuisine can be found in Ireland. There, the menus of restaurants with a Michelin star are the cheapest in Europe at an average of 186 euros.
Expert reveals what Germans do wrong when eating sushi
How do I hold a nigiri, when do I actually eat the ginger and how much wasabi does my maki need? Eating sushi can be a challenge. Mainly because we do quite a lot wrong in Germany. An expert explains how to really eat sushi in Japan.
Ginger, wasabi, soy, chopsticks: all areas where we make mistakes at the Japanese. This is revealed by sushi master Riccardo Blum from the Sticks’n’Sushi restaurant in Berlin in an interview. He also explains about faux pas that happen to many Germans when eating sushi. The terminology should be clarified first. What is it actually about when we talk about sushi in Germany? What are nigiri, maki or sashimi?
A nigiri consists of raw fish on a bed of rice. A sashimi omits the rice, and a maki rolls fish with rice, a sheet of seaweed, and other ingredients like avocado or cucumber. This applies both in Japan and in Germany. But some of the sushi that we love in Germany doesn’t exist in Japan.
“Stay away from sushi from the supermarket!”
Fans of fried maki rolls will be disappointed in Japan: these rolls are rarely seen there, they are even considered a no-go, as Riccardo Blum explains. In terms of tastes, western culture is “extremely limitless”, in this country it has to be “always more exciting, exotic and spicier”. In Japan it is different. Even with ready-made maki from the supermarket, the expert has to roll his eyes. “There’s stuff in there that you probably wouldn’t otherwise find in a maki roll,” he explains. An example of this is peppers. The rice in supermarket maki is sometimes very bad if it has been in the freezer for a long time.
But the Japanese experience that you have in a restaurant in Germany can hardly be described as authentic. “You work with a lot of sauces here, which is rather rare in Japan. There you stick to what you know,” explains Blum. The California roll with cream cheese, which is so popular in Germany, is rarely served in Japan.
Mixing soy and wasabi is considered disrespectful
Another mistake Germans make when eating sushi is how we use the side dishes. In Germany we are used to dipping our nigiri in lots of soy sauce, many people add a load of wasabi and ginger to it. Some people even mix the wasabi into the soy sauce. In Japan that doesn’t work at all. “It’s seen as disrespectful to soybeans,” explains Blum.
Wasabi is not offered in every restaurant
Ginger and wasabi are also used significantly more in Germany than is usual in Japan. “The wasabi that we get for one plate here could be enough for ten such portions in Japan,” explains Blum. In Germany, the green paste has become an integral part of Japanese food. But: Wasabi is not offered in every restaurant in Japan. In addition, the guests there usually do not help themselves from the green paste. The chef incorporates the wasabi himself into the nigiri. “But only to the fish that it actually goes with,” explains Blum.
Not all wasabi is the same. Because the paste that we get in Europe is usually not as high quality as in Japan. According to Blum, the paste here tastes “very, very hot, rubbery and partly chemical,” compared to the light horseradish cream used in Japan. Ginger is also enjoyed in much smaller portions in Japan. There it is used as a neutralizer between bites.
In addition, only drinks that do not distract too much from the taste are served with the sushi set in Japan. “In Japan, you always get green tea with your meal,” says the expert. Sake, Japanese rice wine, beer and wine are also popular.
Eat sushi like the Japanese do
If you want to eat sushi correctly, you should only dip the fish lightly in soy and then turn it so that the fish lands in your mouth before the rice. You should never bite off a nigiri, but eat it all at once. If you can’t get the fish all the way into your mouth, you should at least keep your nigiri in your hand after biting it off and not put it down again.
