Delivery by hot-air balloon would have made more sense when Passard prepared a special dinner party in the sky--literally--with guests dangling above the stunning Cathedrale d'Amiens.
Passard is just one of the big-name toques to cook aboard Dinner in the Sky--the movable restaurant famous for "elevating" the dining experience courtesy of a giant crane and sophisticated German engineering.
Though David Ghysels, the Belgian creator of this lofty dining concept, would not reveal the cost of the private party featuring Passard, he says the same type of event--a star chef cooking above a famous U.S. landmark like the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls--would cost anywhere between $50,000 and $100,000.
"People of means want to live extraordinary things," says Ghysels. "They want to be able to tell their friends that they have done something incredible, unique." Though Ghysels says he founded Dinner in the Sky to provide a dramatic venue to showcase some of the dynamic young talent in European kitchens these days, he admits that, among the very wealthy, it certainly plays into a need and desire "to play out their lives in a very public way."
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Ghysels has orchestrated over 500 aerial events and any one of his Dinners in the Sky would make our list of the world's 11 most extravagant and lavish dining experiences. To complete the list, we tapped luxury experts such as concierges and travel consultants, and culled luxury blogs and newspaper headlines to come up with a list of dining experiences deemed exclusive by virtue of their exorbitant price or their limited access.
Predictably, capitals of excess Las Vegas and New York both make the list. In two cases in particular, it's not about the normal experience offered--but the extras diners can chose to make their meals that much more special.
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