We’ve long hailed breakfast as the most important meal of the day—and often the cheapest—but these super-decadent restaurants have taken the morning meal to entirely new level. Here’s a piece of finance advice: don’t blow your budget before lunchtime.
$1,330 Pancake, Opus One, Manchester
Pancakes have come a long way since Bisquik and maple syrup. Chef Matthew Downes of Opus has created a pancake dish layered with lobster, caviar and truffles, finished with Dom Perignon Rose hollandaise sauce.
$1,000 Bagel, Westin Hotel, New York City
Bagels are a cheap on-the-go breakfast that can set you back a couple dollars…or a thousand. Chef Frank Tujague whipped together an Alba white truffle cream cheese to top a plain bagel, along with Goji berry-infused Riesling jelly and—get this—gold leaves. Unfortunately for those of you eager to drop $1,000 on this infamous bagel, this menu item was only available for a limited time to raise money for culinary school scholarships.
$1,000 Zillion Dollar Lobster Frittata, Norma’s, New York City
We generally think of eggs as a budget-friendly grocery option. But this $1,000 frittata, made with one pound of lobster, covered in egg, perched atop a bed of fried potatoes, blows that notion out of the water. As you can see, this dish is finished with a pile of caviar. If you want try this luxurious frittata for “cheap,” Norma’s offers a smaller $100 version. Reportedly, Norma’s sells about 10-12 of both the $1,000 frittata and the cheaper $100 alternative every year.
$256 The Bacon Bling, Tangberrys Coffee House, Great Britain
An egg and bacon sandwich? Classic, no? Well, this egg sandwich contains gold leaf, gold dust, saffron, truffle oil, black truffles and rare breed bacon. The proceeds from these orders benefit SKRUM, a rugby and social education non-profit for children in Swaziland, as well as the Regular Forces Employment Association, which helps veterans adjust back to normal life. Sadly, Tangberrys is now closed, but the coffee house still holds the record for most expensive bacon sandwich.
$200 The UK’s Most Luxurious Breakfast, Feversham Arms Hotel, Yorkshire
You can breathe a (small) sigh of relief—this menu price covers two people. The meal is complete with imported Balik salmon, two duck eggs, Oscetra caviar, crème fraiche and mini brioche. Enjoy this exquisite breakfast with a glass of Laurent Perrier champagne.
$150 Gulls’ Egg Omelette, Boisdale, London
If you order this omelette, you’ll be paying for the eggs, which come from a black-headed gull, which can only be held for six weeks a year by licensed collectors. The omelette is filled with Scottish lobster and crab, Italian truffles, fresh English asparagus and a splash of Champagne. Because why not?
$67 English Breakfast, Rib Room Bar & Restaurant, London
At London’s Jumeirah Carlton Hotel, guests balk at the idea of a milk-and-cereal continental breakfast. Instead, they wake up to sirloin steak, black pudding, eggs and grilled vegetables. This early-morning extravagance can be ordered as early at 7am—and “smart casual” attire is preferred.
$60 Cinderella’s Royal Table Breakfast, Disney World, Florida
Looking for the royal treatment at the breakfast table? Head to Cinderella’s banquet hall for a full-course breakfast service. The meal includes a pastry plate appetizer and your choice of decadent entrée. But the best thing about this breakfast is the company, Disney’s royal princesses.
$57.75 60-Shot Frappuccino, Starbucks
Starbucks-lovers are far more extreme than you thought. This past July, Sameera Raziuddin broke the record for the most expensive Starbucks drink, beating Andrew Chifari’s previous record of a $54.75 Sexagintuple Vanilla Bean Mocha Frappuccino. Raziuddin’s Starbucks loyalty card helped her get the drink for free, so she donated the would-be cost of the drink to a charity. The drink included caramel, hazelnut and white mocha syrups, Chai flavor, soymilk, cream, matcha powder, vanilla bean powder, and mocha, hazelnut and vanilla drizzle.
$34 The Famous Omelet, La Mere Poulard, Le Mont St. Michel, France
La Mere Poulard is famous for their giant omelettes, several inches thick. The soufflé-like omelets are made in copper bowls over an open fire. If you are in the mood for an omelet stuffed with meat, cheese and veggies, your best bet is to stick with that $7 omelette from your local coffee shop.
$18 Cold Pressed Juices, Arabelle Restaurant, New York City
Cold pressed juices typically range from $5-$12, so an $18 juice isn’t too far fetched, but just consider what you are paying for in this case. The Zen Juice is a mix of celery, apple, broccoli, pineapple, and parsley. This is basically like ordering a side of veggies or a fruit cup—for $18. Planning to order fruit instead? A mere half-grapefruit at the Arabelle will set you back $10.
$25,000 Frrrozen Haute Chocolate, Serendipity 3, New York City
Who says breakfast shouldn’t come with dessert? If these decadent entrees don’t satisfy your appetite, Serendipity 3’s frozen hot chocolate is the perfect way to complete your insanely overpriced morning meal. This beverage combines 28 exotic cocoas, including 14 of the rarest in the world. You will also receive the most expensive truffle in the world (Madeline au Truffle from Knipschildt Chocolatier), and 5g of edible 23-karat gold served in a crystal goblet lined with more edible gold. At the bottom of the goblet you’ll find an 18-karat gold bracelet featuring a whole carat of diamonds—much better than the prize in your cereal box, no? And to cap it all off, you’ll enjoy this hot chocolate with a gold spoon covered in white and chocolate-colored diamonds, which you can take home with you.