Saffron --->>> Very unique flowery smell, minimal light taste. Restaurants would usually sprinkle these in seafoods or sometimes drinks to chop top price over their premium entrees. (affordable variant can be bought at Costco for say $20 a small cup)
Bird's nest --->>> taste somewhat similar to a chewy jelly in bubble teas. Had a few different cans in the markets. Some sweet, some salty depend on flavor, but more or less hype food like shark fin, lol...
world's most expensive chocolate named Chocopologie by Knipschildt. --->>> it's dark chocolate laaa, lol... expect it to be bitter than sweet, but stimulating...
Kobe beef (so called wagyu beef) --->>> Luxurious fatty taste, absolutely melting in your mouth when handled by the chef who knows his ways. It's all about the marbling entangled between the muscle tissues in the tender part of the beef cut. J-town by the sea on Steele and Victoria Park should have a decent sample for meat lovers in Toronto. Expect $200+ per 8oz piece though...
Caviar --->> It's basically salmon roe, or not that far from it... Price comes high because of the Sturgeon Fish is about to get extinct in that region of Europe.... Its price did not reflect the taste though.... Go to any sushi restaurant and try those Salmon Roe handroll or Donburi, if caviar is 10, then you are tasting 8 already with those 2 dishes.
white truffle, ----->>> a more expensive variant of black truffle.. Very aromatic... Usually shaved in limited quantity over pricy ingredients to enhance the value (jacked up price in restaurants) and taste... It's said that the mushroom itself only grown around the root structures of certain trees like hazel, oak or beech 2 inch deep underground. Matured mushroom will emit a very attractive smell to mammals so they can dig up, consume the mushroom, then lay their spores (via feces means) throughout the area... It's a hard to cultivate and harvest mushroom. People back then got a lot of biting injured for taking the digged up mushroom from mushroom-hunter pig, until later they train dogs to do it instead. Frances and Italy placed ban on exporting their spores, so they kinda monopolize the market. North American cultivated variant is like 7 to 8 compare to their authentic wild variant in Europe 10... Worth a try in restaurants that offer them, but little value to repeat.
Gold --->>> Lol.... tasteless. Usually served in sprinkle or ridiculously thin layer on confections (ice cream, sweet, donuts..etc).... But good show off value, I guess ???
no idea on matsutake though... Can't be that far from regular mushroom in hot pot restaurant ???
Shark's fin = sea version of Bird nest... tasteless n chewy n thicker version of tapioca stuff...
Abalone = Ever eaten a pig's heart ??? same texture with a heart, but mussel or clam like taste...
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best bang for the buck ? for curiousity, try Wagyu beef (imagine your best tasting ever piece of Dry Aged new york AAA+ striploin steak is a 7, then Wagyu is a 10.. but expect to pay x3 to x5 in price)
honorable mention ? may be truffle (too unique of a flavor to miss out) or saffron (easy access price point)
the rest r hype foods because of their limited supply. |