Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

What’s the most money you’ve ever spent on a meal? Was it worth it?

From 2002-2004 my family lived in Belgium, the heart of Europe, for my husband’s job. It was a wonderful opportunity for our family, for our daughters, for seeing more of the world, for experiencing another culture in a way that a one week vacation will never accomplish.

At some point near the end of 2002 I was invited to join an international cooking club. There were ten of us and we were from very different parts of the world. We each took a month and hosted a luncheon at our home for the group, only serving food from our very own culture and cuisine. I served seafood gumbo, chicken and sausage jambalaya, Louisiana potato salad, and bread pudding with bourbon sauce. It was very successful, but so were the other meals I experienced from two different areas of Mexico, Denmark, two different areas of France, Italy, India, Germany, Belgium (of course), and Lebanon. I had the best margarita I’ve ever had, the best hand made corn tortillas, the best chicken curry, the best smorgasbord (the pickled herring on brown bread was to die for), kebabs and freshly baked pitas, and of course freshly made pasta in a delicious sauce with aged Parmigiana. The month we dined at our Parisian friend’s home was amazing, as she was somewhat competitive and determined that her luncheon would outshine everyone else’s. Our other French member’s menu was far simpler, but every bit as delicious, and her chocolate, pistachio, and dried apricot terrine is still one of the best desserts I’ve ever had.

That left our friend from Belgium, and her month just happened to be December. She suggested that we go out for a Christmas luncheon, at none other than one of the most expensive restaurants in the world, Comme Chez Soi, located on the Grand Place in Brussels. At the time of our luncheon, it was the proud owner of THREE Michelin stars. Currently, in 2025, it is still holding two of those stars.

We were all a bit terrified at the potential price of lunch at the famed restaurant, but our Belgian friend assured us that she would request a tasting menu, which would be “cheaper.” LOL. She hired a limo to transport us from the little town of Waterloo where we all lived to the capital city of Brussels. It was so much fun, complete with a glass of champagne in the car on the way there!

The restaurant was tastefully decorated for the holiday season and we were shown to the Chef’s Table, located in the kitchen, where we could see (and hear) the chefs at work. With ten of us at one table, we happily chatted and laughed as small dish after small dish was delivered to our table.

The small dishes weren’t the only items delivered to our table, however. Our Belgian friend also took care of ordering the wine, a different wine (times 2 bottles to cover the 10 of us with small glasses each) for nearly every course.

We sipped and ate, and sipped and ate, and eventually someone’s mobile phone kept chiming. She looked at her messages and it was the secretary from the school all of our children attended. “Excuse me, but I have all these children who haven’t been picked up, and they said their mothers are all together somewhere having lunch. But, it’s 3:30!”

We rushed out, leaving our Belgian friend to settle the bill, and dashed to our limo. More champagne was poured and we sang Christmas carols all the way back to Waterloo, feeling somewhat guilty about our children waiting at school for quite some time.

Our Belgian friend said she would tally up what we owed and let us know the next day. Well, when she called me the next day with the amount that I owed her, I nearly fainted. It was the most expensive meal I had ever had, in fact, at that time in my married life, it was the most money my husband and I had ever had for a meal TOGETHER.

When I finally got the courage to tell my husband what it cost, he said it was okay, once in a lifetime kind of thing, you don’t get to eat at 3–star Michelin star restaurants everyday, and this place is listed at the top of every list of best restaurants in the world! He was absolutely wonderful about it, but I was horrified.

The worse part of all is that with no menu, rapid fire French being spoken, such small plates, just a bite or two on each one, coming in rapid fire succession, with lots of wine, lots of laughing and talking, I really don’t remember what I actually ate that day. I’m sure it was delicious, though. Surely it had to be!