The World’s Most Expensive Meal Will Set You Back $495k, and You’ll Never Guess Where It Is

Alchemist, the innovative, boundary-pushing Copenhagen restaurant, only seats 52 diners per night for its immersive 50-course dining experience, which is why there’s a reported 10,000 person waiting list for a reservation. But Alchemist chef Rasmus Munk’s newest dining venture is even more exclusive — and even more jaw-dropping. 

Munk, who has earned two Michelin stars and a perennial top-five place on the World’s 50 Best list, has announced that he is partnering with luxury space travel companies SpaceVIP and Space Perspective for what has been billed as “the first stratospheric dining experience.” The meal will be served on Space Perspective’s Spaceship Neptune capsule, and will be limited to six guests. If you’re already trying to guess how much this will cost, it’s a lot: the meal and a six-hour journey on the Spaceship Neptune will be around $495,000 per person. 

There are a couple of ways to put that price tag in perspective. For starters, the median cost of a house in the United States was $417,000 last year. Next, the most expensive Michelin-starred restaurant (on Earth) is chef Paul Pairet’s 10-seat, three-Michelin star Ultraviolet in Shanghai, where the full tasting menu can start at $1,400 per person. 

“We’re aware that it’s an expensive first journey. But this is after all the first launch with these food experiences on board,” Munk told Bloomberg, adding that future trips may have a lower price point.  

In addition to having the first-ever Michelin-quality meal in space, the six stratospheric day-trippers will watch the sunrise from 100,000 feet above sea level. They’ll also be wearing bespoke outfits made by luxury French skiwear brand Ogier. According to the Spaceship Neptune website, the capsule has wifi, as travelers are “welcome to livestream your experience and connect with loved ones down on Earth.” The craft also has a full bar and will offer a Champagne toast as it reaches “the edge of space.” (There is also a bathroom onboard because, let’s be honest, for half-a-million bucks, it better have at least the same facilities as a Greyhound bus.) 

Munk told Decanter that some of the dishes and their components will need to be prepared before the spaceship launches, and they will be heated, finished, and garnished in the craft’s onboard “mini-kitchen.” He added that the dishes themselves will be “scientifically and philosophically” inspired by the history of space travel. 

“In this experience, I want to highlight food as a common thread in our human existence, and it will be truly meaningful to serve it while gazing down at the Earth’s curvature,” he told the outlet.

In an Instagram post, Alchemist said that proceeds from the Spaceship Neptune trip will be donated to the Space Prize, a New York City-based organization that promotes gender equality in science and technology — including space travel.

“This is gonna be insane,” Munk wrote in his own Instagram post about the experience. That sounds like an accurate assessment, all around.