Noodles Fit For A King

Many a college student knows the joy of ramen.  Set a pot of water to boil, add half a teaspoon of chicken bouillon, drop in a square of frozen noodles and five minutes later you’ve got a tummy-warming, satisfying meal.  It’s quick, simple and best of all, light on the wallet.

Now comes word of a special bowl of ramen that isn’t any of those three things. The “Five-Taste Blend Imperial Noodles” at Tokyo’s Fujimaki Gekijyo restaurant takes a remarkable three days to prepare, features more than 20 ingredients in its soup and costs US$110 per serving. According to owner Shoichi Fujimaki, it’s the soup — a blend of top-grade Chinese stock and another stock inspired by the spicy Thai soup known as tom yum — that takes this staple dish to the next level.

And soon, culinary adventurers won't need to hop a plane to Japan to sample this dish. Fujimaki plans to open a restaurant in Los Angeles by August that will feature the posh noodles.

All of this got me wondering what other variations of everyday fare have achieved gourmet standing — and prices. As it turns out, there's no shortage of eats out there that put the $ in five-$tar noshing. Here are a few:

Kopi Luwak: I first heard about this ritzy coffee on an episode of CSI. Other than helping Gil Grissom solve a particularly confounding whodunit, this delicacy is known for being made from coffee cherries that have been eaten and partially digested — yes, digested — by the Indonesian cat-like mammal known as the palm civet. Selling for up to US$600 per pound, the coffee is said to have an aromatic, less bitter flavour compared to other coffees.

Burger King's The Burger: Hold the ketchup. This whopper of a Whopper features Wagyu beef with white truffles, Pata Negra ham slices, Cristal onion straws, lamb's lettuce, Modena balsamic vinegar, pink Himalayan rock salt, organic white wine and shallot-infused mayonnaise. All of this is sandwiched between a bun dusted with Iranian saffron and white truffle. The US$190 burger launched at just one West London, England restaurant in June 2008, with proceeds from The Burger sales benefiting the Help A London Child charity.

Elegant Cheesecake's Festive Two-Stack Cheesecake: This sweet treat is also incredible eye candy. A pair of stacked "gift boxes" is actually triple mocha cheesecake on a shortbread crust and chocolate decadence cake with toffee buttercream frosting, all wrapped up in a filigreed chocolate shell. The decadent, 10-pound dessert is available through Saks Fifth Avenue in New York for $US300.

— Eva Lam