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Tomorrow an all-suite luxury hotel in Bangkok’s second-tallest skyscraper will serve a decadent 10-course meal to 50 of its best customers (read casino kingpins, real estate tycoons and bankers). The purported price: $300,000. The line-up: a global gathering of Michelin-starred chefs. The amuse-bouche: a “poverty tour” of Surin, one of Thailand’s poorest provinces, 280 miles northeast of the capital.
That’s Lebua Hotel’s answer to the lashing it took from the media for last year’s extravagant feast — billed as “the world’s most expensive dinner” at a mere $30,000 per person. This time, perhaps trying to lighten their guilt, Lebua is footing the bill for its invitees, and offering a spot of socio-economical perspective via a pre-prandial, private-jet field trip — since nothing stirs the appetite for truffles and lobster like the sight of real hunger.
Bizarrely, not a single major newspaper has questioned the incredulous figure of the tab, though whatever the truth, Lebua’s new approach has hardly quelled the criticism: controversy over this year’s slum visit even led a trio of French Michelin luminaries to withdraw from the event. That is all the better news for Bangkok’s rival repast: Versailles’ Dinner of the Chefs, which will also return with a star-studded roster, including Alain Passard, Charlie Trotter and the ubiquitous Gordon Ramsay. For $34,000, you can score one of 60 seats at the 15-course bash at the palace’s Salon des Cotelle, September 17. Yes, the net profits go to charity (Alzheimer research), and the only tour you’ll be taking is a private peek at Marie-Antoinette’s estate.
