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One of London's top hotels has launched a recession-busting menu costing almost £1,000 a head.
The Lanesborough hotel's nine-course culinary odyssey includes four vintage champagnes and the world's most expensive dessert wine.
The £950-a-head menu - the equivalent of just over £4,500 for a party of four with tip - was created by three- Michelin-starred chef Heinz Beck.
So what do you get for your money? Leaving aside the £2,750-a-bottle Dom Pérignon 1969, a vintage so rare that the five-star hotel had to requisition the UK's entire annual allocation, there is Michelle Obama's favourite pasta dish - fagottelli alla carbonara.
The US First Lady wrote to Beck telling him it was the best she had ever had after sampling it at his La Pergola restaurant in Rome during the G8 summit, and Sarah Brown praised his signature dish on Twitter. The special menu is only available until 19 December, but the Apsleys restaurant at The Lanesborough has already taken more than a dozen bookings. The restaurant opened in September and is the first British venture for the German-born, Italy-based chef.
Purely in the interests of research and with a ministerial expense account, the Standard sampled the extravaganza. We started with a glass of the 1995 Dom Pérignon (£450 a bottle), one of the finest vintages of recent years, according to our sommelier Angus. It was well matched to our first course of scallops, followed by langoustine with foie gras and watermelon.
Next was one of the standout dishes, a herbal infusion of tuna tartare and tea sorbet - crisp and exquisite. We stayed with a 2000 vintage (a snip at £215 a bottle) for the oyster risotto. Just as we were flagging came the famous pasta dish.
It may at heart be pasta and cheese, but there was something about the delicate ravioli parcels that made me start thinking £1,000 seemed reasonable. Black cod with chickpeas was followed by lamb crépinette as we rounded an excellent meal with the "white dream" chocolate dessert and that £60-a-glass Château d'Yquem. Our verdict: a grand feast.
A culinary odyssey
Scallops, amaranth and black corns
Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1995 (£450 a bottle)
Langoustine, foie gras and watermelon
Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1995
Herbal infusion with tuna tartare and tea sorbet
Dom Pérignon vintage 2000 (£215 a bottle)
Risotto with oyster and champagne
Dom Pérignon vintage 2000
Carbonara Fagottelli
Dom Pérignon Rosé 1998 (£600 a bottle)
Red mullet in crunchy pastry
Dom Pérignon Rosé 1998
“Cod nero”, chickpeas and red pepper jus
Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1969 (£2,750 a bottle)
Lamb crépinette
Dom Pérignon Oenothèque 1969
White dream
Chateau d'Yquem 1er Grand Cru Classe, Sauternes 1999 (£275 for half bottle)
£950 per person.
* Must be booked 48 hours in advance. Parties of four or eight only.
