World's Most Expensive Sandwich $148.33

World's Most Expensive Sandwich $148.33

What is claimed to be the world's most expensive sandwich goes on display at Selfridges Department Store in London on Monday. Named the McDonald Sandwich, after it's creator, chef Scott McDonald, the ingredients are Wagyu beef, fresh lobe foie gras, black truffle mayonnaise, brie de meaux, rocket, red pepper and mustard confit, and English plum tomatoes, all packed into 24-hour fermented sour dough bread - and it sells for 85 pounds ($148.33, 122.53 euro) each.

I think the most expensive part is going to be the trademark lawsuit over "the McDonald sandwich."

Mike G wrote:I think the most expensive part is going to be the trademark lawsuit over "the McDonald sandwich."

I was thinking the same thing. Though I must admit I eagerly anticipate reading the transcript describing how McDonald's believes consumers might be confused between their sandwich products and a sandwich with Waygu beef, foie gras, and black truffles. Does Selfridges have a drive-thru?

Does the fact that the sandwich sounds barf-inducingly bad not impress anyone? Why don't they apply gold leaf to the bread and charge $500 for it? Or allow you to beat the server with a leather phallus for a 10% surcharge? Or maybe just layer in a couple of IBM stock certificates - because eating enjoyment, or even edibility, is not the point of this kind of sandwich. Just go for broke, people! Argh. This business of Lucullan sandwich grotesquery is beginning to make my millenarian bone start to itch. For $148.33, I'd rather have 149 McDonald's 99-cent double cheeseburgers. Or maybe pay off a credit card.

it really does sound disgusting.

i was fine with it until they added brie and mustard. yikes! appallingly bad flavor combos there.

Actually, it kind of reminds me of the burger at Vie de France, which was a nice prime-beef burger topped with brie, dijon mustard, and toasted almonds, all served on slices of fresh French bread. It was one of the best things I've ever eaten. I think the sandwich would taste good, but the foie gras would be overwhelmed by the mustard and mayo -- and that would be a sad thing -- plus it would have to be almost impossible to bite into. How many layers is that?

I like the Londonist's take:

For £85.00 surely it should be pretty tasty? Well... no. The McDonald sandwich filling is as follows: Wagyu beef, fresh lobe foie gras, black truffle mayonnaise, brie de meaux, rocket, red pepper and mustard confit and English plum tomatoes...but to shove all these ingredients together and serve them up on bread is somewhat sacrilegious, not to mention a bit gross. Stick to a tuna salad roll from the canteen and save your cash for a proper dinner.

If any readers are considering assembling their own McDonald sandwich, please let us know how it tastes and what it costs when normal people make a beef, pate, cheese and mayo sandwich. Londonist regrets we are unable to refund costs of material and / or labour if it is shit.

You know, for $10 on Wednesday you can have most of the more expensive parts of that sandwich by ordering the kobe beef burger at Sweets and Savories. True, it's a slice of pate rather than a whole foie gras, and it's probably fewer actual truffle bits, and so on, but still, it's not $140 less worth of stuff. This sandwich is both absurdly misconceived and absurdly overpriced.

elakin wrote:it really does sound disgusting.

i was fine with it until they added brie and mustard. yikes! appallingly bad flavor combos there.

One of the most delicious sandwiches I have ever had was good salami, brie and mustard on fresh baguette from a bakery/deli in Bethesda, Maryland. Highly recommend the combination.

Mike G wrote:You know, for $10 on Wednesday you can have most of the more expensive parts of that sandwich by ordering the kobe beef burger at Sweets and Savories.

wagyu + truffle + foie gras... 1/2 way there.

I think that, perhaps, London's defense against being one of the most expensive cities in the world is to try to become more expensive, to revel in its costliness, to make spending too much a goal, rather than a liability. Just a guess. But what other possible excuse could there be.

And for those who don't want to eat this all as a sandwich, when Carlos's has a kobe beef special, you can order a course of foie gras (he does a fabulous hot and cold combo that is most generous) and the kobe beef main course (the time I had it, it was served with purple mashed potatoes heavily studded with truffles). And you can even get a dessert and a couple of glasses of champagne and still be within just a few dollars of the sandwich.

Though I must say the Kobe burger for $10 sounds like a splendid option, too -- one does not have to spend money to be happy.

the ingredients are Wagyu beef, fresh lobe foie gras, black truffle mayonnaise, brie de meaux, rocket, red pepper and mustard confit, and English plum tomatoes, all packed into 24-hour fermented sour dough bread

Maybe the cost is high because the "rocket" (right after the brie) will take you to the moon.

This brings back memories of the famous $28 hamburger at DB Bistro in New York, which 5 years ago was an unheard of price for a sandwich. I happened to be in NY for the US Open and of course had to try it. The burger was made with short ribs cooked with red wine, and stuffed with foie gras and black truffles. It was 1 of the most disappointing hamburgers I'd ever had. You couldn't taste the foie gras and the truffle was some miniscule, tasteless piece of summer truffle from a jar. I felt ripped off. A quarter pounder with cheese was a better burger than this.

George R wrote:

the ingredients are Wagyu beef, fresh lobe foie gras, black truffle mayonnaise, brie de meaux, rocket, red pepper and mustard confit, and English plum tomatoes, all packed into 24-hour fermented sour dough bread

Maybe the cost is high because the "rocket" (right after the brie) will take you to the moon.

I have come to be quite fond of the aromatic rocket (arugula) with beef (specifically braseole) -- it adds a pleasant green and bitter note.

The stupidly expensive sandwich that is the topic of this thread reminds me of the burger I had last year at Daniel Boulud's in Vegas: waygu, ribs, truffle, wasted. Flavors were indistinct, sandwich was impossible to eat with knife and fork, nuts.