The Price Report: what a tasting menu actually costs
We collected the real fixed-menu prices of 2,867 of the world's award-winning restaurants, in 40+ currencies, and converted them to a common measure. Here's what the tasting menu actually costs — by star rating, by country, and across the regions you'd actually travel.
The typical tasting menu costs about $151
Across 2,867 award-winning restaurants, the median fixed-menu price is $151 — but the spread is wide. A quarter come in under $108; a quarter run past $211; and a small elite ($400+, about 3%) climb toward four figures. Most of the world's great tasting menus cluster between $100 and $200.
View data table
| Price band (USD) | Venues |
|---|---|
| under $75 | 217 |
| $75–100 | 307 |
| $100–125 | 459 |
| $125–150 | 433 |
| $150–200 | 647 |
| $200–250 | 319 |
| $250–300 | 216 |
| $300–400 | 186 |
| $400+ | 83 |
Every Michelin star roughly doubles the bill — but the 50 Best cost the least
Price climbs steeply with the stars: a one-star median is $139, a two-star $225, a three-star $318 — so a three-star costs about 2.3× a one-star. The twist: the World's 50 Best restaurants are the cheapest group of all, at a $97 median — below even one-stars.
View data table
| Tier | Median | Mean | Venues |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 Michelin stars | $318 | $332 | 135 |
| 2 Michelin stars | $225 | $239 | 430 |
| 1 Michelin star | $139 | $153 | 2,050 |
| World's 50 Best | $97 | $134 | 49 |
Each Michelin star adds about $90 a head — yet the World's 50 Best charge less than a one-star.
The most expensive tasting menus are in Denmark, not France
Fine-dining reputation and fine-dining price don't line up. The priciest tasting menus in the world are in Denmark ($261 median) — ahead of the USA and Switzerland. And France, the spiritual home of haute cuisine and our largest sample (474 venues), is among the cheapest at $129 — half the Danish price.
View data table
| Country | Median USD | Venues |
|---|---|---|
| Denmark | $261 | 35 |
| USA | $210 | 239 |
| Switzerland | $196 | 59 |
| Austria | $193 | 47 |
| Singapore | $187 | 40 |
| Portugal | $173 | 35 |
| Italy | $162 | 231 |
| Germany | $162 | 214 |
| United Kingdom | $159 | 132 |
| Japan | $147 | 405 |
| Spain | $146 | 195 |
| China | $146 | 154 |
| South Korea | $140 | 48 |
| Thailand | $138 | 38 |
| Netherlands | $133 | 77 |
| Taiwan | $133 | 40 |
| Canada | $130 | 39 |
| Belgium | $130 | 87 |
| France | $129 | 474 |
| Australia | $122 | 41 |
Group the world the way you'd travel it, and two things jump out
First, the Nordic premium: Scandinavia is the priciest region on earth for a tasting menu ($218 median) — and it isn't just that they hold more stars. A Nordic one-star runs $209, against about $130 for a one-star in Western Europe. Second, adjust for local prices and the map flips: Latin America is the cheapest region to visit ($112) yet one of the most expensive relative to what locals pay ($239).
View data table
| Region | Nominal (paid) | PPP (vs local) | Venues |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scandinavia & Nordics | $218 | $178 | 74 |
| North America | $185 | $185 | 278 |
| Mediterranean | $155 | $173 | 474 |
| UK & Ireland | $154 | $141 | 148 |
| East Asia | $144 | $182 | 647 |
| Western & Central Europe | $141 | $129 | 963 |
| Southeast Asia | $140 | $253 | 95 |
| Oceania | $127 | $110 | 42 |
| Latin America | $112 | $239 | 51 |
Scandinavia charges the most. But for what it costs the locals, a tasting menu is a bigger luxury in Bangkok or Lima than in Copenhagen.
How we counted — and what these numbers are not
We collected researched fixed-menu prices for 2,867 award-winning restaurants in the Menu to Taste catalog — every set/tasting menu with a listed price. Each venue is represented by the median of its own fixed-menu prices (so a lunch menu and a flagship dinner both count), and prices are converted to USD at approximate 2026 exchange rates — treat every figure as indicative, not to-the-dollar.
We cleaned aggressively: excluded cocktail bars, per-group/private omakase, wine "verticals," phone-number rows, and obvious currency errors, keeping fixed menus between $25 and $2,500. What remains is a large sample, not a census — the medians are robust, but the smallest tiers (three-star n=135, 50 Best n=49) and smallest countries are directional, not precise. Menu prices also change often; this is a 2026 snapshot. We report medians (a few very expensive menus push the mean ~15% higher — both are in the tier table), and the regional "relative to local prices" view divides each price by a national cost-of-living index (OECD Comparative Price Levels 2023 for member countries, World Bank ICP 2021 for the rest, USA = 100), so those figures are indicative rather than exact.
For the ingredient patterns behind these menus, see the companion Ingredient Report.
Cite this analysis
Download the published aggregate statistics (CSV) — chart and table totals only, with no venue- or menu-level rows.
Free to cite with attribution to Menu to Taste; see About Menu to Taste. For methodology questions, contact [email protected].