A new online artisanal food market helmed by former Gourmet magazine editor and prolific food writer Ruth Reichl has launched for the deep-pocketed foodie gourmet.

After much hype, Gilt Taste launched Wednesday with a welcome message from Reichl and a virtual store stocked with premium, artisanal seafood, meats and other specialty items normally only accessible to professional chefs and restaurateurs.

And like all top-of-the-line products, they also come with a premium price tag.

Famed Spanish restaurant elBulli lost its crown as the world’s best in an international poll Monday after four years at the top, beaten to the number one spot by rising star Noma in Copenhagen.

ElBulli’s defeat in the S.Pellegrino World’s Best 50 Restaurants list is another blow for the eatery and its trailblazing chef, Ferran Adria, after he announced in January the venue would close for two years from 2012.

The 47-year-old chef put the decision to shut the restaurant on Spain’s northeastern Catalan coast down to fatigue and a need to plan for the future.

A special menu has been created in concert with the Made in Belfast Festival, an annual event that celebrates the making of the Titanic in Belfast 100 years ago.

Conor McClelland, chef and owner of the Rayanne House in Ireland, has decided to modernize the 13-course ‘last supper’ of April 14, 1912.

According to Slashfood, a food news blog, McClelland and his wife “spent months researching” the menu that originally “included items such as asparagus and watercress salad and spiced peaches with jelly and ice cream.”

Apparently their interest in the Titanic was piqued because the same man who painted their Rayanne House also painted the Titanic.

Some of you may already know Petrossian, the Paris-based caviar specialist. There are Petrossian boutiques in Paris, Monaco, New-York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles but until now, you could only order caviar from their French website (petrossian.fr).

Now online, you can also order from petrossian.com or petrossian.co.uk and receive your caviar by express shipping (within 24 hours in most destinations in the UK).

On the picture above, A sales assistant displays pure gold moon cakes at a department store in Yinchuan, capital of northwest China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Moon cake is a Chinese pastry traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on Sept. 14 this year. Various brands of mooncake are already on sale, but some people are complaining that the seasonal delicacies are too expensive this year.

“The mooncakes have already become gifts for exchange but some brands are expensive,” said Zhu Ji, a Beijing resident. She said that some mooncakes cost as much as 1,500 yuan (US$180) each, a sum equal to one third of her monthly salary.

On the picture below, A salesgirl shows a blinged moon cake made of pure gold at a shop in Shijiangzhuang, capital city of Hebei province, September 12, 2007

To commemorate the 41st anniversary of their luxurious oasis, the folks at Hotel Byblos, (a four-star hotel located in Saint-Tropez – South of France) have combined champagne, leather and wood to offer a limited edition treasure chest worth 100,000 Euros ($150,000).

This exclusive handcrafted leather and wood casket boasts of the Salmanazar of Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque 1999, four hand-decorated cups and a jewelry set signed by Van Cleef & Arpels.

The nine-liter Salmanazar bottle, signed by one of the greatest masters of Art Nouveau, is a genuine work of art.

The blend Belle Epoque 1999 resulting from the finest Cru Champagne provides delicate taste fragrance of a bouquet of white flowers that is further improved by remarks of sweet almond and nougat.