The world's most expensive cuisines

Ever since man ousted the barter system and created currency there have been some fairly odd ideas of what’s acceptable as legal tender. Swapping cash instead of cows may seem to the many as the more refined way of conducting business, yet some of the ways in which money has manifested itself are decidedly odder.

Amidst the craziest forms of cash is the Rai Stone. Believe it or not, the island of Yap in the Solomon Islands is home to, quite probably, the word’s weirdest choice of wonga. Locals on the island can often be seen trading large limestone disks with a hole in the middle as a form of currency. And when I say large I mean large. The biggest of these can be up to 12ft in diameter and 1.5 metres thick. Elsewhere people have used squirrel pelts, balls of turmeric and dollars filled with holy water as forms of money.

On a similar note (if you’ll pardon the pun) the Royal Mint are to issue the UK with its first ever £20 coin. The coins, displaying a traditional image of St. George and a Dragon, are to become available in the UK from October 31st. This had us thinking, what are the most expensive foods that money can buy, whatever currency you choose to use:


1. The most expensive Sushi
Made by Filipino Chef Angelito Araneta Jr., five pieces of this fishy delight cost roughly £1,300. Each individual piece is wrapped in gold leaf and leaf and topped with caviar, Mikimoto pearls and served with an actual diamond.

2. The most expensive dessert
An even more opulent show of wealth would be to part with $25,000 dollars to purchase the world’s most expensive dessert. Found in the restaurant Serendipity 3 in New York (also home to one of the world’s most expensive burgers) The chocolate ice cream sundae contains a blend of 28 different cocoas, including 14 of the most expensive in the world. It is then decorated with edible gold and served in a chalice lined with even more edible gold. In addition to this, there is an incredible 18 karat gold bracelet with 1 carat of diamonds in the bottom of the sundae!

3. The most expensive curry
Of course our favourite of all these pricey platefuls however is The Samundari Khazana available in The Begal Brasserie in London. For £2000 a pop the ‘seafood treasure’ is a mix of Devon crab, gold leaf, a Scottish lobster coated in gold, four abalones, white truffle, Beluga caviar and four quail eggs. Sounds wonderful, but perhaps a little too expensive for our tastes.