Grub A1!

15 wealthy international gourmands met at the Mezzaluna restaurant in Bangkok’s lebua hotel on Saturday to eat a ‘millionaires’ dinner’ prepared by six Michelin three-star chefs jetted in specially from Europe and described in the event’s title as ‘Epicurean Masters of the World’.
The identity of those who spent one million Thai baht, more than €24,000, a head (17% tip and Thai government taxes excluded) to enjoy the four-hour, ten-course meal was kept secret but the diners are known to include a casino-owner from Macau, a Taiwanese hotelier and shipping and property magnates from the US and Europe.

Here is the menu for the dinner:

Crème brûlée of foie gras with Tonga beans
(Alain Soliveres, chef, Restaurant Taillevent, Paris, France) 
1990 Louis Roederer Cristal

Tartar of Kobe beef with Imperial Beluga caviar and Belons oyster 
Antoine Westermann (chef, Restaurant Buerehiesel, Strasbourg, France)
1995 Krug Clos du Mesnil

Mousseline of pattes rouges crayfish with morel mushroom infusion
(Alain Soliveres)
2000 Corton-Charlemagne, Domaine Jean François Coche-Dury

Tarte Fine with scallops and black truffle 
(Antoine Westermann)
1996 Le Montrachet, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti

Lobster Ossobuco (Jean-Michel Lorain, chef, La Côte Saint Jacques à Joigny en Bourgogne)
1985 Romanée-Conti, Domaine de la Romanée-Conti

Ravioli with guinea fowl and burrata cheese, veal reduction 
(Annie Feolde, chef, Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence)
1961 Château Palmer

Saddle of lamb ‘Léonel’ (Marc Meneau, chef, Hotle-Restaurant L’Espérance, Vézelay, France)
1959 Château Mouton Rothschild

Sorbet ‘Dom Pérignon’

Supreme of pigeon en croute with cèpes mushroom sauce and cipollotti
(Heinz Winkler, Residenz Heinz Winkler, Aschau im Chiemgau, Germany) 
1961 Château Haut-Brion

Veal cheeks with Périgord truffles (Heinz Winkler)
1955 Château Latour

Imperial gingerbread pyramid with caramel and salted butter ice-cream
(Jean-Michel Lorain) 
1967 Château d’Yquem

The wines, which alone cost €150,000, were chosen by Briton Alun Griffiths, who described the 1961 Chateau Palmer in particular as ‘one of the greatest single wines of the 20th century’.

As to the ingredients, beef was flown in from Kobe, Japan, live lobsters from the north coast of France and Maine, US, oysters from southern Australia, white truffles from Rome and black truffles from Perigord. The others came from as many as 35 cities round the world. Talk about food miles!

The dinner was the brainchild of the lebua’s managing director, Deepak Ohri, and proceeds (achieved despite the cost of the ingredients) will go to Médecins Sans Frontières and the Thai King’s Chai Pattana Foundation.

Sources:
Bangkok Post
www.bangkokpost.net

lebua Hotel
www.lebua.com