There are many different ways to enjoy fine dining. Sometimes you just want to visit your regular haunts for reliable comfort and sometimes you want to experiment further afield, perhaps with a restaurant famed for a particular cuisine, or, as is today’s focus, an ultimate luxury dining experience. By luxury, we mean the kind of dining experience that you will never forget, whether that’s through traditional food artistry or experimental immersive environments.
And you won’t want to forget them because, being brutally honest for a moment, they have price tags that mean they’re best saved for special occasions, even if they are more than worth a trip around the globe for. (All prices converted to GBP at time of writing)
Sublimotion, Ibiza, £1,450 Set Menu
Moving away from traditional luxury dining to the more experimental side we discover Sublimotion on the southern peninsula of Ibiza. This is a luxury dining experience with the emphasis being on the experience, as the set menu consists of an entire gastronomic show for up to 12 people with immersive sound design, lighting, visuals, engineering, haute couture and more. The concept was created by double Michelin star chef Paco Roncero. While we don’t want to spoil the surprises in store throughout the show, some key set pieces revolve around the themes of Champagne, ocean, kaleidoscope and voodoo.
Where: Ctra. Playa d’en Bossa, S/N, Sant Jordi de ses Salines, Ibiza (Hard Rock Hotel), Spain
Bookings: sublimotionibiza.com
Guy Savoy, Paris, £550 Set Menu
When it comes to traditional luxury dining, it doesn’t get finer than the Guy Savoy in Paris, winner of the World’s Best Restaurant for six years running and holder of triple Michelin star status for two decades, from 2002-2022. The €630 set menu is titled Colours, Textures & Flavours and consists of 12 courses including steamed John Dory, raw/cooked lobster with coral, guinea fowl cooked three ways, and an array of desserts such as chocolate tart, ice creams and sorbets.
Where: 11 quai de Conti 75006, Paris, France
Bookings: guysavoy.com
Per Se, New York, £310 Chef’s Tasting Menu
Per Se is the New York project of Chef Thomas Keller, who has been stunning customers there since 2004. It provides a serene dining experience with an open and easy going environment with views over Central Park. The £310 Chef’s Tasting Menu includes nine courses that change based on the premium ingredients that are available. What distinguishes Per Se’s tasting menu from others is their commitment that no dish featured in the dinner will utilise a repeated ingredient, meaning every course feels totally fresh and different from the last.
Where: Ten Columbus Circle, Deutsche Bank Center, New York, USA
Bookings: thomaskeller.com/perseny
Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, London, £285 Tasting Menu
Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester sits near the pinnacle of luxury food spots in London. While its £285 tasting menu isn’t the most eye-watering price here, the friendly atmosphere means you’ll want to bring all your friends so that you can share in the gorgeous memory of this restaurant together, and that adds up. The menu centres around French cuisine with highlights being the lobster medallion and veal from Corrèze.
Where: 53 Park Lane, Mayfair, W1K 1QA, London, United Kingdom
Bookings: alainducasse-dorchester.com
Kyoto Kitcho Arashiyama, Kyoto, £470 Kaiseki Menu
Based on the technicality that Kyoto Kitcho Arashiyama’s omakase menu has no ceiling price it’s likely their most expensive and most luxurious dining experience. However, in the interest of giving you dear reader a firm price to consider, we’re highlighting their Kaiseki menu for £470. Kaiseki is a traditional multi-course Japanese dinner, which at Kitcho Arashiyama consists of an appetizer, soup, sashimi, a grilled dish, a slow-cooked dish, steamed rice and pickles as well as an assortment of side dishes, teas and confections. The perfect luxury dining experience to embrace Japanese traditions in a dining room decorated with vintage décor dating back as early as the 1500s.
Where: 58, Susukinobaba-cho, Saga Tenryuji, Ukyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan
Bookings: kyoto-kitcho.com
Masa, New York, £760 Hinoki Counter Experience
Masa has been a staple of Manhattan dining since 2004 and offers multiple luxury dining experiences with a speciality in Japanese cuisine. You could opt for the standard Omakase for £600 or reserve a spot at the specially crafted Hinoki sushi counter for £760 where you will be personally attended to by one of Masa’s highly skilled sushi chefs. The restaurant is run by chef Masayoshi Takayama who was trained under the traditional sushi masters of the respected Ginza Sushi-ko in Toyko.
Where: 10 Columbus Circle, Time Warner Center, 4th Floor, New York, USA
Bookings: masanyc.com
Ultraviolet, Shanghai, £440 Set Menu
Ultraviolet is a restaurant concept by French chef Paul Pairet set right in the centre of Shanghai, one of the most advanced cities in China. The set menu, which consists of 20 courses, leans into the high tech vitality of the city with immersive accompaniments such as lights, projections, music, ambient sound, air flow and temperature changes all providing an unforgettable luxury dining experience. Again, we don’t want to ruin the surprises of the menu but Paul Pairet is known for his fun approach to food and ingredients with celebrated dishes like a single noodle presented in a concentric circle made of fresh cuttlefish and a lemon tart that appears as a whole lemon.
Where: Waitan, Huangpu, Shanghai, China
Bookings: uvbypp.cc
