The price of a round of drinks may be getting ever more expensive nowadays, but it’s a snip compared with what is on offer at Belfast’s Merchant Hotel. At £750, an original Trader Vic’s Mai Tai isn’t within everyone’s budget, but its hefty price tag has been enough to secure it the official title of the world’s most expensive cocktail. [...]

The Merchant owns one of only six bottles in existence of 17-year-old Wray and Nephew Rum, which was used by trader Vic Bergeron to create the original Mai Tai over 60 years ago. “Nobody else in the world can do this cocktail, we’re the only bar,” explained the Merchant’s Bar and Potation Manager Sean Muldoon. And although the 750ml bottle itself may look rather nondescript, it is worth a whopping £26,000. “Due to the popularity of the Mai Tai when it was invented in 1944 the 17-year-old rum was used up and wasn’t made any more,” said Mr Muldoon. [...]

However, a special batch of the 17-year-old rum was created recently, ostensibly for private gifts, but one of these was acquired by the Merchant. [...] “When this bottle goes we will never be able to get another one,” said Mr Muldoon. For more information on the Merchant Hotel visit themerchanthotel.com

A Hong Kong property tycoon and his wife have reportedly paid $160,406 for a huge Italian white truffle in 2006, which may be the world’s most expensive ever.

Gordon Wu and his wife outbid connoisseurs from France and Italy to win the 3.3 pounds Alba white truffle from an international auction, a spokeswoman for the Ritz-Carlton hotel, which hosted the Hong Kong part of the auction, said.

It was the second time Hong Kong bidders won a pricey fungus at the annual auction, held in Grizane, Italy and satellite-linked with Paris and Hong Kong.

In 2005, a group of bidders in Hong Kong paid 95,000 euros for a 2.7-pound truffle, a purchase later named by Guinness World Records as the most valuable truffle bought at an auction.

The Edison’s Angel Eggs, a pairing of the common chicken egg with exotic Osetra caviar, prove to be a delicious addition to an already accomplished menu.

The angelic white of the egg starkly contrasts the devilish yellows, blacks, and greens of the other organic ingredients, creating an edible – albeit almost too beautiful too eat – masterpiece.

The creamy texture of the deviled yolk compliments the smooth caviar, welcoming your tongue to a sensory delight.

Have you ever been to a restaurant serving exotic foods and felt lost while ordering from the list of strange dishes spelt before you on the menu card? A few days back, we were talking about Conceptic, an Israeli start-up company that installed the e-menu options in pubs, their popular sushi bars and the family restaurants.

Now, TEC Japan has created Tobidasu Menu that is embedded into the restaurant table to present 3-D images of items as the customer browses the menu list with the touch of the finger. The Tobidasu 3D Table menu can also perform a few tricks.

After removing a hamburger bun placed on the menu, a delicious beef patty with all the trimmings suddenly pops up. While eating out, if you find some probs in understanding what the heck is Yakitori chicken or Tonkotsu Noodle Soup, then this 3D menu could come to your visual aid.