In London, a fashionable Chinese restaurant has begun to serve the most expensive soup in the whole of Great Britain. At “Kai”, a restaurant in the exclusive London district of Mayfair, one can try a dish of “Buddha Jumps Over the Wall” shark’s fin soup for £108 (160€).

This recipe, made from shark’s fin, some Japanese mushrooms that are very hard to come by, chicken and pork meat, Hunan ham and ginseng, among other ingredients, must be ordered at least three days beforehand. The owner of the restaurant, Bernard Yeoh, serves an average of two dishes of this soup a month and he believes that its price is not excessive because if one had to buy the ingredients oneself, it would come to about the same price.

Cook over a low heat to get the true flavour
In Asia, soup has traditionally been a dish for weddings and birthdays. This recipe owes its name to a legend, which tells that when Buddha smelt its wonderful aroma, he jumped over the wall to ask for some soup, despite being vegetarian. To achieve this wonderful aroma, the ingredients must undergo a long process of preparation and are then put into four different pots in which they are cooked or sautéed for about four to seven hours. “The slower the soup is cooked, the clearer it will be and the more authentic its flavour”, says Yeoh. In his restaurant there are also dishes for all pockets, such as the Sweet and Sour Pork that costs £12.50.