Guides · Fine dining

Tasting menu: what it is, how long it takes, what it costs and what to expect, course by course

How a tasting menu works on the night, with the courses, hours and prices taken from real restaurants' own menus and dated, and the diner's questions answered by country, each from a named source.

The photos on this page are AI-generated illustrations.

The short answer

What is a tasting menu?

A tasting menu is the chef's fixed run of small courses, served for one price, often to the whole table. On the 16 October 2026 menus we read that print a count or list their dishes, it ran from 4 to 15 courses. Restaurants that print a time give anything from about 90 minutes (Guy Savoy's lunch, "or more") to about four hours (Sons & Daughters' manager, via MICHELIN); about three hours comes up most often. A degustation menu is the same thing.^{1, 12, 26, 32, 40, 66, 136, 137} The menu words (prix fixe, table d'hôte, dégustation, omakase, kaiseki) and where they come from are on our prix fixe guide; this page is about eating one.

The numbers at a glance	What the restaurants print (October 2026)
Courses	4 to 15, on the 16 menus that print a count or list their dishes; 24 at Sons & Daughters (MICHELIN, June 2026). Snacks and bread are often not counted.
Time at the table	2 to 3.5 hours on the 7 of 31 pages that print a time; about three is the commonest figure. MICHELIN publishes none.
Price a person	From 1 795 CZK (Prague) and £135 (Bath) to $495 (Los Angeles), £395 (London) and 4,500 DKK (Copenhagen), in the currency printed
What it includes	Never drinks, except a pairing sold with the menu. Service: included, a fixed charge added, a discretionary charge added, or a tip left to you, by country and restaurant
Drinks pairing	The cheapest alcoholic pairing costs 32% to 75% of the menu price; the dearest pass 100% at 6 restaurants; non-alcoholic pairings 27% to 51% (our arithmetic)
Booking	Tables released 21 days to three months ahead; often prepaid or held with a deposit or a card
Cancelling	Free until the day before to 21 days before, or never; after that, often the full menu price

On this page: Courses, hours, prices · How long · Course by course · Why the plates are small · Booking and diets · Pairings · Tipping and service · On the night · Is it worth it? · Vs omakase, prix fixe · Food safety · Popular claims · Terms · FAQ

A restaurant table for two partway through a tasting menu: a small composed course centred on a wide white plate with plenty of empty rim, a second place setting opposite, a folded menu card with no readable text, a glass of white wine, water glasses and a fork and knife beside the plate, warm low light — **Partway through a tasting menu:** one small course on a wide plate, a glass for the pairing, cutlery beside the plate. An illustration, not a restaurant we photographed.

How this page was made. Every number, quotation and verdict comes from the source named beside it. The tally rests on 31 restaurants' own pages, menus and booking terms, read on 23 October 2026 in the US, the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Japan, Australia and the Czech Republic, plus Pujol, whose site blocked us, from a June 2025 magazine report. Booking pages on Tock (The French Laundry, Atomix, Masa) also blocked us, so their prices here are our prix fixe guide's September 2026 readings, labelled. Menus change: every figure carries the month it was read. Laws and agency advice are kept by country; critics are named and dated. Plate Artists ate, booked, timed and weighed nothing for this page. Counts marked "our count" are dishes we counted on a printed menu; shares of a price, sums and the suggestions marked "ours" are our own. A metric or US twin in brackets is the source's own where it prints one and our conversion where it does not. Sources are at the bottom.

The tally

How many courses, how long, how much: 31 tasting menus, read on the restaurants' own pages

Every restaurant we read, with each cell as its own page prints it in October 2026 ("not printed" where it says nothing). Prices are in the currency printed, never converted; Australian pages print only "$". The one row that is not an October reading is labelled.

Restaurant	Courses as printed	Time at the table	Price, and what it includes	Pairings	Shorter menu	Whole table?
Eleven Madison Park¹ New York, US; read Oct 2026	"A six course experience"; bar menu "four to five courses"	"about two to three hours" (for tables of two); bar menu "around two hours"	$385; bar menu listed at $255 and at $225 on the same page. "does not include gratuity"	Wine from $125; non-alcoholic not printed	Bar Tasting Menu	Not printed
Le Bernardin² New York, US; read Oct 2026	8 dishes listed (our count)	Not printed	$350; vegetarian $270. Not printed	$530 with wine ($450 vegetarian); non-alcoholic not printed	Four-course prix fixe $225, you choose	Not printed
Per Se³ New York, US; read Oct 2026	"a nine-course chef's tasting menu" and a nine-course vegetable menu	Not printed	Not printed ("New menu page coming soon"). Not printed	Not printed	Not printed	Not printed
Corima⁴ New York, US; read Oct 2026	"approximately 10-13 courses"	Not printed	$140. Not printed	Spirit pairing $90	À la carte alongside	Not printed
Alinea⁵ Chicago, US; read Oct 2026	Not printed	"generally last three and a half hours"; Salon about two hours for two	Not printed (booking page not readable). A 20% service charge added	Wine $195, $285 or $475, excluding service fee and tax	Salon, "more concise"	Everyone taking wine takes the same pairing level
Kasama⁶ Chicago, US; read Oct 2026	Not printed	Not printed	$325. Not printed	Beverage $195; non-alcoholic $95	Not printed	Not printed
Atelier Crenn⁷ San Francisco, US; read Oct 2026	Not printed	"should last 2-3 hours"	Not printed (booking page not readable). A 20% service charge plus a 3% SF Health Care Mandate surcharge added	Offered, price not printed	Not printed	Not printed
Quince⁸ San Francisco, US; read Oct 2026	"an 8- to 10-course tasting journey"	Not printed	Not printed. A 22% service charge plus a 6% surcharge added	Not printed	Four-course lunch; four-course bar menu	Not printed
Providence⁹ Los Angeles, US; read Oct 2026	8 courses listed, one a choice of monkfish, duck or A5 wagyu (+$45) (our count)	Not printed	$375 classic; $495 chef's tasting menu. "exclusive of tax and gratuity"	Wine and "zero-proof" pairings, prices not printed	Not printed	Not printed
Restaurant Sat Bains¹⁰ Nottingham, UK; read Oct 2026	"Introduction", 9 dishes, "Conclusion" (Overture; our count)	Not printed	£259 (£289 at the Chef's Table). "A discretionary 12.5% gratuity" added	Wine £185 (up to £695); non-alcoholic £125	Prelude £199; Interlude £149 to £169	Not printed
L'Enclume¹² Cartmel, UK; read Oct 2026 (sample menu, undated)	15 dishes listed, the 14th named "Anvil" (our count)	Not printed	£275, lunch or dinner. "A discretionary 10% service charge" added; prices include VAT	Wine £170 to £600; "Taster" £120 and "Clarity" £80 (alcohol not stated, so not counted)	Lunch menu	Not printed
The Ledbury¹³ London, UK; read Oct 2026	Dinner 8 dishes, one "Served as two courses" (9, our count); lunch "6 Course" or "8 Course"	Not printed	Dinner £295; lunch £220 or £270. "a discretionary service charge of 12.5%" added	Dinner wine £160 or £295; non-alcoholic not printed	Six-course lunch	Not printed
Ikoyi¹⁴ London, UK; read Oct 2026	Not printed	Not printed	£395. Not printed	Not printed	Shorter tasting menu £180	Not printed
Core by Clare Smyth¹⁵ London, UK; read Oct 2026	Not printed	Not printed	Not printed on the pages we could render. Not printed	Wine £175 (wine list of 22.10.26)	À la carte	Chef's Table: "all guests need to dine from the same tasting menu"
The Royal Crescent Hotel¹⁶ Bath, UK; read Oct 2026 (menu PDF dated 1 Apr 2026)	"SIX-COURSE", with two snacks and a bread course printed on top	Not printed	£135; vegetarian £120. "A discretionary 12.5% service charge" added	Six-glass wine £80; non-alcoholic not printed	Not read	Not printed
Arpège¹⁷ Paris, France; read Oct 2026 (PDFs uploaded Sept 2026)	Dinner 12 dishes, lunch 9 (our count)	Not printed	380€ dinner; 260€ lunch. "Prix net, Service compris"	Not printed	Lunch	Not printed
Mirazur¹⁸ Menton, France; read Oct 2026	Forest Menu "6 courses"	Not printed	€380 (Forest Menu); the late-cancellation charge is €450. Not printed	250€	Six-course themed menu	Not printed
Septime¹⁹ Paris, France; read Oct 2026	"5 étapes" at lunch, "7 étapes" at dinner	Not printed	85 lunch; 135 dinner (no currency printed). Not printed	Wine 60 or 75	Five steps at lunch	Not printed
Disfrutar²⁰ Barcelona, Spain; read Oct 2026	Not printed	Not printed	325€ (two menus). Not printed	Wine 180€	Not printed	Not printed
Asador Etxebarri²¹ Axpe, Spain; read Oct 2026	Not printed	Lunch only; service starts 12:30 or 13:00	300€. "IVA incluido" (VAT included); "No incluye bebida" (no drinks)	Not printed	À la carte	Yes: "a mesa completa" (the whole table)
Del Cambio²² Turin, Italy; read Oct 2026 (PDF uploaded May 2026)	Not printed	Not printed	Not printed. Not printed	Not printed	À la carte, at least two savoury courses each	"designed to be shared by the entire table"; the tasting menu for tables of six or more
Geranium²³ Copenhagen, Denmark; read Oct 2026	Not printed	"(minimum 3 hours)"	4,500 DKK. Not printed	Wine 2,500 to 20,000 DKK; non-alcoholic 2,300 DKK	Not printed	Not printed
Florilège²⁴ Tokyo, Japan; read Oct 2026	Not printed	Dinner "approx. 3 hours"; lunch "approx. 2 hours 30 minutes"	¥24,000 dinner; ¥12,000 lunch. "Prices include taxes. Additional 10 % service fee"	Wine ¥14,000, or a selected pairing from ¥20,000 (dinner); non-alcoholic ¥10,000	Lunch	Not printed
Den²⁵ Tokyo, Japan; read Oct 2026	Not printed	Not printed	Not printed ("the full pre-fixed price"). Not printed	Not printed	Not printed	Not printed
Attica²⁶ Melbourne, Australia; read Oct 2026	"multi-course"; lunch "four course"	"about three hours"	$395pp; lunch $220pp. A 10% service fee for six or more; 15% on Victorian public holidays	Alcoholic, non-alcoholic or mixed, prices not printed	Four-course lunch (from November)	Not printed
Brae²⁷ Birregurra, Australia; read Oct 2026	Not printed	Not printed (noon bookings at most 3 hours)	$380pp. Sunday 10% and public holiday 15% surcharges	Alcoholic +$240; non-alcoholic +$140	Not printed	Not printed
Restaurant Botanic²⁸ Adelaide, Australia; read Oct 2026	Not printed ("degustation")	Not printed	$330pp. Paid in full when you book	Wine $205, $375 or $650; non-alcoholic $145	Three-course Core Menu at lunch	Not printed
Quay²⁹ Sydney, Australia; read Oct 2026	Not printed	Early seatings "2 hour dining"	Not printed. Not printed	Not printed	Not printed	Not printed
Field³⁰ Prague, Czech Republic; read Oct 2026	"ten course" or "six course"; lunch "four-course"	Not printed	4,900 CZK (10); 3,200 CZK (6); lunch 1,950 CZK. Not printed	Ten-course: wine 2,200 or 6,400 CZK; non-alcoholic 1,300 CZK	Six courses; four-course lunch	Groups of seven or more ask for menu options
La Degustation Bohême Bourgeoise³¹ Prague, Czech Republic; read Oct 2026	Not printed	Not printed	3500 Kč. Not printed	Wine 2000 or 3700 Kč; non-alcoholic 1300 Kč	Not printed	Not printed
V Zátiší³² Prague, Czech Republic; read Oct 2026	"5 course" or "4 course"	Not printed	1 985 CZK (5); 1 795 CZK (4). Not printed	Wine 1 490 or 1 850 CZK; non-alcoholic 695 CZK	Four courses	Not printed
Pujol³³ Mexico City, Mexico; read June 2025, magazine report	6 "tiempos" in the dining room; 9 at the bar (taco omakase)	"cada seating es de dos horas" (two-hour seatings)	$3,595 pesos; $3,995 pesos at the bar. "no incluyen bebidas" (no drinks)	Offered, price not printed	Not printed	Not printed

What the tally says (ours)

Courses. In the 16 menus we read that print a count or list their dishes, courses ran from 4 (V Zátiší's short menu, Field's and Attica's lunches) to 15 (L'Enclume's 15 listed dishes, every printed dish counted, opening bites and the last sweets included, our count). MICHELIN reported 24 at Sons & Daughters in June 2026. Most pages print no count at all. Textbooks give ranges of their own: "5 or 6 or even as many as 10 or 12" (Gisslen), "often between 6 and 10" (Lillicrap and Cousins).^{12, 26, 30, 32, 66, 128, 129}
Counting differs. Snacks and bread are often outside the count: the Royal Crescent's "SIX-COURSE" menu prints two snacks and a bread course on top; Sat Bains brackets its nine dishes with an "Introduction" and a "Conclusion"; Cynthia in New York bundles several small dishes as one course, stretching "seven courses into something closer to twelve plates". ^{10, 16, 73}
Time. Only 7 of the 31 pages print a time, from 2 to 3.5 hours; about three is the commonest figure (every line, side by side).
Price. In the currency printed, from 1 795 CZK (V Zátiší, four courses) and £135 (the Royal Crescent, an April 2026 menu) to $495 (Providence's chef's menu), £395 (Ikoyi) and 4,500 DKK (Geranium); Mirazur's €450 late-cancellation charge matches the full menu TASTE reported in 2024.^{9, 14, 16, 18, 23, 32, 68}
What the price includes splits five ways: service in the price (Arpège, "Prix net, Service compris"; Per Se and The French Laundry per Ryan Sutton, January 2025); a fixed charge added (Alinea 20%, Atelier Crenn 20% plus 3%, Quince 22% plus 6%, Florilège 10%); a "discretionary" UK charge added (10 to 12.5%); a tip left to you (Eleven Madison Park, Providence); or a charge only for big tables and holidays (Attica, Brae). Tax is printed as included only by L'Enclume ("All prices include VAT"), Florilège and Asador Etxebarri, and drinks by none.^{1, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 17, 21, 24, 26, 27, 78}
A shorter menu beside the long one is common in the tally: Ikoyi, The Ledbury's lunch, Sat Bains, Field, V Zátiší, Attica's lunch, Eleven Madison Park's bar, Mirazur's Forest Menu.^{1, 10, 13, 14, 18, 26, 30, 32}
Disagreements. Eleven Madison Park's own FAQ prints its bar menu at $255 in one answer and "begin at $225" in another; L'Enclume's late-cancellation charge is £275 on its FAQ and £265* on its cancellation page. Ryan Sutton wrote in March 2026 that the restaurant had dropped "its shorter six-course tasting menu", while its FAQ now calls the full menu "A six course experience": we print the FAQ.^{1, 12, 77}

How long is a tasting menu? Every source's line, side by side

Restaurants that print a time give anything from about 90 minutes (Guy Savoy's lunch, "or more") to about four hours (Sons & Daughters' manager, via MICHELIN); about three hours comes up most often, and the 7 pages in our tally that print one say 2 to 3.5. The MICHELIN Guide's inspectors give no hours at all ("Flexibility is the magic word"), and the critics' "four hours" comes from 2016 and 2017 or from the longest menus. Eleven Madison Park adds that its times are "estimates based on tables of two. Larger parties may require additional time." ^{1, 40, 65, 66, 67, 70}

Who	Kind, date	Courses	Their words
Eleven Madison Park¹	Restaurant, Oct 2026	6	"typically lasts about two to three hours"; the bar menu "around two hours"; "estimates based on tables of two"
Alinea⁵	Restaurant, Oct 2026	Not printed	"generally last three and a half hours"; the Salon "approximately two hours for parties of two and two and a half hours for groups of four to six"
Atelier Crenn⁷	Restaurant, Oct 2026	Not printed	"Your experience should last 2-3 hours"
Geranium²³	Restaurant, Oct 2026	Not printed	"The Autumn Universe (minimum 3 hours)"
Attica²⁶	Restaurant, Oct 2026	Multi-course	"takes about three hours", and "the table is yours for the evening"
Florilège²⁴	Restaurant, Oct 2026	Not printed	dinner "approx. 3 hours", lunch "approx. 2 hours 30 minutes"
Quay²⁹	Restaurant, Oct 2026	Not printed	early seatings "2 hour dining"
Nisei³⁶	Restaurant, Oct 2026	Not printed	"Please allow at least 3 hours"; on a tighter schedule, tell them ahead
Nén Tokyo⁴²	Restaurant, Oct 2026	Not printed	"a timed experience (about 2.5h)"
Schola, Tokyo⁴⁴	Restaurant, Oct 2026	7	"over approximately 2 and a half hours"
Guy Savoy, lunch⁴⁰	Restaurant, Oct 2026	7	"served in 90 minutes or more"
Sushi Noz (omakase)⁶¹	Restaurant, Oct 2026	5 to 6 small plates, 12 to 14 nigiri	"A typical seating will last about 2.5 hours"
Sons & Daughters, its general manager to MICHELIN⁶⁶	Guide, June 2026	24	"designed to take around three and a half to four hours, we don't view that as a rigid timeline"
MICHELIN Guide inspectors⁶⁵	Guide, Apr 2025	Any	no hours given: "Flexibility is the magic word"
Pujol, per Grupo Animal³³	Magazine, June 2025	6 or 9	"cada seating es de dos horas" (each seating is two hours)
Daniel Garwood, chef, to TASTE⁶⁸	Magazine, Sept 2024	New York's standard	"no more than two-and-a-half hours"; a five to six-course menu "an hour and a half"
A TASTE writer at Mirazur⁶⁸	Magazine, Sept 2024	14	"a four-hour menu"
Resy: Saga's chef; a writer at Indienne⁷³	Booking platform, Sept 2026	6 to 10	"under three, two and a half hours, really" (what diners want); "our meal was under ninety minutes"
The Wall Street Journal⁷²	Newspaper, Apr 2025	18 (the past)	"Gone are the days of 18-course menus unfurling like a three-act opera over three-plus hours"
Per Se, per Forbes Travel Guide⁶⁷	Guide, May 2017	9	"takes about four hours to get through"
Restaurant Business: McCrady's, Dirt Candy⁷¹	Magazine, Aug 2017	15 to 18	a "two-hour, 15- to 18-course" menu; 15 or more courses in "about two and a half hours"
Food Republic: Alinea; Eleven Madison Park⁷⁰	Magazine, July 2016	About 12; 25	"around three and a half hours, sometimes even less"; a "four-hour, 25-course routine" cut that year
Stuart Walton, Good Food Guide⁶⁹	Critic, Sept 2022	Long menus	"three or four hours of stoically maintained patience"

More courses do not mean more hours. Every source above that prints both a count and a time, one numbered mark each: Eleven Madison Park's six courses take two to three hours, McCrady's 15 to 18 took two in 2017, Per Se's nine took about four in 2017. Drawn by us from the table.

Our reading. Book about three hours, more for a long menu or a big table, and say when you book if you have less: Nisei will "adjust the cadence" if told ahead, and Nén Tokyo warns that late arrivals may get a shortened course.^{36, 42}

Longer, then shorter: the course count over time

By the 2010s, TASTE wrote in September 2024, "a three- or four-hour menu had become the template for fine dining".⁶⁸ Then the cuts, dated as each source reports them; Alinea's 2016 cut has two accounts, both printed.

When	Restaurant	Courses
2007	Per Se, lunch	9 courses, plus extras⁷⁴
2016	Eleven Madison Park	"four-hour, 25-course routine" cut to "around 14 dishes"⁷⁰
2016	Alinea, reopened	"around a dozen or so dishes" (Food Republic, 2016); "trimmed from 30 courses down to 12" (Restaurant Business, 2017)^{70, 71}
2017	McCrady's	15 to 18 courses in two hours⁷¹
Jan 2024	bōm, New York	"from 13 courses to ten"⁶⁸
2024	Jōji, New York	21 to 19 courses⁶⁸
2024	Corima, New York	"six courses for $98"⁶⁸
Apr 2025	Reverie, Washington	14 courses, cut by four midweek, $245 to $180⁷²
Apr 2025	Herons, North Carolina	eight courses to five⁷²
Apr 2025	Alchemist, Copenhagen	"up to 50 'impressions,'" for about $800⁷²
2026	Jacaranda, Los Angeles	twelve courses at $295 to a permanent six at $185⁷³
June 2026	Sons & Daughters, San Francisco	24 courses⁶⁶
Oct 2026	Corima, New York	"approximately 10-13 courses" at $140: longer than in 2024⁴

The Wall Street Journal in April 2025: "Gone are the days of 18-course menus unfurling like a three-act opera over three-plus hours". Resy in September 2026: "brevity has won the day". Not everyone: Corima has gone the other way, from six courses in 2024 to "approximately 10-13 courses" in October 2026, and Alchemist in Copenhagen serves "up to 50 'impressions'". ^{4, 68, 72, 73} A shorter menu also lets a kitchen seat more people: a chef told TASTE he had never cooked for more than 38 guests a night on a long menu and planned 80 to 100 on a short one.⁶⁸

Tasting menu prices, and what they include

The tally's prices are above. For New York, the critic Ryan Sutton listed the published prices of the city's dearest tasting menus in March 2026, from Jungsik's $335 to Per Se's longer menu at $925, and what dinner for two comes to after tax and tip: $992 at Eleven Madison Park, before wine.⁷⁷ The Tock-booked menus we could not re-read stand at our prix fixe guide's September 2026 readings: The French Laundry "$425 per person + add-ons", Masa's counter omakase $1,200.^{139, 141} Where a menu sells a short version, it costs less: Ikoyi £180 against £395, Sat Bains's Interlude from £149 against £259.^{10, 14} Vegetarian menus, where priced apart, cost less in what we read: Le Bernardin $270 against $350; Field 4,600 CZK against 4,900.^{2, 30}

Is tax in the price? Florilège ("Prices include taxes") and Asador Etxebarri ("IVA incluido") say so; L'Enclume's prices "include VAT"; Ynyshir prints "£450+ 20% VAT"; Providence and Alinea's pairings exclude tax.^{5, 9, 12, 21, 24, 38}

How much food is a tasting menu?

No restaurant we read prints its portions in grams or calories, except Quintonil, which prints the weight of each course's protein: 20 g of lobster, 25 g of tuna, 40 g of trout and of rib eye (about 0.7, 0.9 and 1.4 oz, our conversion).⁴⁹ The one measured menu is old: in 2007 New York magazine weighed every course of Per Se's nine-course tasting lunch, about 496 g (17.5 oz, a little over a pound) of food and 1,230.8 calories; with the salmon amuse-bouche, three glasses of wine, three rolls with butter and the chocolates, 2,416.2 calories (the magazine took the bread, wine and chocolates from standard values, not the lab). The weights per course are in our prix fixe guide.⁷⁴ A 2010 nutritionist's estimates, not measurements, ran from 1,470 calories (L'Atelier) to 3,045 (Alinea); in 2011 Gauthier Soho printed 1,852 calories for its eight courses with petits fours, drinks excluded.^{75, 76}

How a tasting menu works

How a tasting menu runs, course by course

The chef decides the dishes and their order, and every course comes to everyone at the table at once: the restaurants' own words are "carte blanche" (Septime), "the language we choose is the tasting menu" (Disfrutar), and "designed to be shared by the entire table" (Del Cambio).^{19, 20, 22} Some keep the dishes secret: Disfrutar advises choosing "without seeing it previously detailed", and Attica publishes a sample "without spoiling any surprises"; others print every dish.^{20, 26} Menus change nightly (Quince, "composed nightly") or with the date (Mirazur's menu follows the biodynamic calendar).^{8, 18}

To see what runs in what order, we read 14 tasting menus printed course by course, in nine countries (October 2026). In the 14 menus we read: fish on all 14; meat or game on 13, and the last savoury course on 12 of those; a course printed as raw or cold early on 4; a vegetable-led course on 8; cheese on only 5; bread printed on 4. The order is not fixed: fish comes after the meat on 2 (Sat Bains, L'Enclume). No menu put a sweet course before a savoury one. Menus whose dish names do not say what kind of course they are, such as Osteria Francescana's "Ho Fame! Ho Fame!", are left out of the count.^{10, 12, 58}

Seen from directly above, a long table runner with a row of small courses on white plates in serving order from left to right: a slate of tiny snacks, a raw fish slice with dots of sauce, a small vegetable course, a piece of white fish in a pool of sauce, a few slices of pink meat with jus, a small scoop of sorbet in a glass, a plated dessert and a little tray of petits fours — **The run, left to right:** snacks, a raw course, vegetables, fish, meat, an ice, dessert and small sweets. An illustration of the order these courses come in when a menu has them, not one restaurant's menu.

Menu, as printed	Snacks	Bread	Raw or cold	Vegetable	Fish	Meat or game	Cheese	Before dessert	Desserts	Small sweets
Restaurant Sat Bains¹⁰ UK; Overture, 259 pounds	"Introduction"	-	-	cep quiche	eel, trout, cod	grouse, duck	-	("The Crossover")	2	("Conclusion")
Attica²⁶ Australia; Dinner, $395 pp	(five small bites)	"paperbark flatbread"	-	"green on green on green"	abalone, barramundi	kangaroo	-	("iced ooray")	2	("waxflower koala")
Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester⁴⁶ UK; Harmonie, £285	-	-	-	mushroom	scallop, lobster, turbot	lamb	"Assortment of French cheeses"	-	1	-
L'Enclume¹² UK; Experience sample, £275	(three small bites)	-	raw scallops	several	prawns, cuttlefish, monkfish	sweetbreads, pork	"Frozen Tunworth cheese"	(currants)	2	(a last plate of small sweets)
L'Orangerie Koan⁴⁷ Japan; Autumn Signature, ¥18,000	"Amuse-Bouche"	-	-	-	"Poisson"	"Viande"	-	"Pre-dessert"	1	"Coffee and Mignardises"
The Waterside Inn⁴⁸ UK; Gastronomique, £190 dinner	-	-	-	-	scallop	grouse	-	-	1	"Coffee or tea and mignardises"
Quintonil⁴⁹ Mexico; Nuestro México, $6,090 MXN	(four small seafood bites)	-	(tuna, oyster)	squash salad, tamal	lobster, trout	rib eye	-	("Nieve de nopal")	2	-
Jean-Georges⁵⁰ US; Ten Course, 398	"Amuse Bouche"	-	(amberjack, tuna)	chanterelle	black bass, lobster	foie gras, duck	-	-	1	-
Les Amis⁵¹ Singapore; Tradition Française, $550	-	-	"Le Hors D'Oeuvre Froid"	-	scallops, sea bass	duck	"Au Chariot Ou Au Plateau"	-	1	-
Providence⁹ US; Classic, $375	-	-	sashimi	-	scallop, crab, black bass	a choice of monkfish, duck or wagyu	-	("apple, lime, tom yum")	1	-
Azurmendi⁵² Spain; Gran Menú, €350	"Welcome picnic"	breads "During the tasting menu"	(oyster)	"The garden"	seafood platter, shrimp, lobster	pork cheek, partridge	a cheese trolley	-	3	petits fours
Reale⁵⁴ Italy; Degustazione, 250 €	-	"Pane", the fourth course	-	chard, pumpkin	salt cod, trout	pork	-	-	1	-
Kong Hans Kælder⁵⁵ Denmark; Jubilæumsmenu, 3200 kr.	"Amuse Bouche", eight "Hors d'oeuvre"	-	(oyster)	-	scallop, sole, langoustine	boar, quail, sweetbreads, wagyu	a cheese trolley, +325 kr.	("Stikkelsbær granite & Chartreuse")	2	-
Saint Peter⁴⁵ Australia; Summer sample, $395	-	sourdough with the mackerel	"Raw Albacore"	-	every savoury course	-	-	(native fruits)	1	("Sweets of the Sea")

"-": not on the menu as published (many menus leave out bread, snacks and sweets that are still served). Words in quotes are the menu's; a cell in brackets is our reading of what a printed dish does, and nothing on this page leans on those. Where a course is a choice, the cell says so (Providence). Gramercy Tavern's seasonal menu lets you choose a dish for each course and Canlis three of its six, so neither is in the count.^{53, 56} Prices as printed (Jean-Georges prints no currency). Fuller course orders for meals of every length are in the courses of a meal.

A few different one-bite snacks on a dark slate set on smooth river stones, such as a tiny crisp tartlet with a herb cream, a small round cracker with a dot of roe and a skewered bite of glazed vegetable

Snacks and amuse-bouche

Named on 5 of the 14 menus

One-bite snacks open the meal, sometimes in another room: Sons & Daughters serves its first snacks in a shared lounge for "around 30 minutes", Azurmendi calls its opening a "Welcome picnic".^{52, 66} They are often left out of the count: the Royal Crescent's "SIX-COURSE" menu prints two snacks and a bread course on top of its six.¹⁶ The one-bite course has its own guide.

On the plate. On a slate, stones, a spoon or the hand: Attica says "at times, we may ask you to eat with your hands".²⁶

Bread

Printed on 4 of the 14 menus

Most menus we read do not list it at all. Reale prints "Pane" as its fourth course, Attica a "paperbark flatbread", Saint Peter sourdough with its mackerel course, and Azurmendi offers "different kinds of bread" through the meal.^{26, 45, 52, 54} Whether you can ask for more is below.

On the plate. A side plate or a basket; in New York magazine's 2007 Per Se count, three rolls with three tablespoons of butter came to 720 calories (from standard values, not the lab), more than half of the nine courses' measured 1,230.8.⁷⁴

A raw fish course: thin slices of pale pink fish laid flat in the centre of a wide white plate, a few drops of green herb oil, a scatter of tiny cucumber cubes and a few small herb leaves

A raw or cold course

Printed as raw or cold, early, on 4 of the 14 menus; oysters and fish dishes that are probably raw on four more (our reading)

Printed as raw near the start: L'Enclume's "raw scallops", Providence's "sashimi", Saint Peter's "Raw Albacore"; Les Amis opens with "Le Hors D'Oeuvre Froid", a cold course. Oysters open Azurmendi's and Kong Hans's runs, and Jean-Georges and Quintonil serve tuna early (whether raw is not printed).^{9, 12, 45, 49, 50, 51, 52, 55} Who should skip a raw course is under food safety.

On the plate. Thin slices laid flat, a few drops of oil or sauce, cold plate; for the rules on plating raw fish see amuse-bouche.

A vegetable course

On 8 of the 14 menus

A course led by a vegetable rather than a protein: Ducasse's wild mushroom, Attica's "green on green on green", Azurmendi's "The garden". Arpège's whole menu is vegetable-led, and Per Se serves a nine-course vegetable menu beside its chef's menu.^{3, 17, 26, 46, 52}

On the plate. Small pieces in a line or a cluster on a purée; see plating techniques.

A fish course as it comes from the kitchen: a piece of roasted white fish with golden skin on a wide white plate, sitting in a small pool of glossy pale butter sauce, with a few spinach leaves and a line of chive oil

Fish and shellfish

On all 14 of the 14 menus

Every menu we read has a fish or shellfish course, most more than one; Saint Peter's ten courses are all fish.⁴⁵ On 11 of the 13 menus with meat, every fish course comes before it, but not on all: Sat Bains serves its grouse before the cod, and L'Enclume its monkfish after the sweetbreads.^{10, 12}

On the plate. Plated in the kitchen with its sauce on the plate: no menu we read prints a sauce poured at the table. How to sauce a plate is in sauce plating.

A meat course: slices of pink roast duck breast fanned on a wide white plate beside a small quenelle of root vegetable purée, a few drops of dark jus and one roasted shallot

Meat or game

On 13 of the 14; the last savoury course on 12

On 12 of the 13 menus with meat, it is the last savoury course: kangaroo at Attica, lamb at Ducasse, duck at Jean-Georges and Les Amis, rib eye at Quintonil.^{26, 46, 49, 50, 51} Quintonil prints the weight of each protein, and its rib eye is 40 g (about 1.4 oz, our conversion).⁴⁹ Reale follows its pork with a "Timballo di zucca" (a pumpkin timballo, our translation).⁵⁴

On the plate. A few slices fanned, a quenelle of purée, a little jus; see the quenelle and how to plate steak.

Cheese

On 5 of the 14 menus

Optional or absent on most menus we read. Azurmendi brings a trolley and Les Amis a trolley or a plate, Kong Hans charges 325 kr. extra for its trolley, and L'Enclume serves its cheese frozen, with damson, after the pork and before the sweet courses.^{12, 51, 52, 55} Where cheese goes in a meal is in the courses of a meal.

On the plate. From a trolley or as a few small wedges on a plate. Soft and blue cheeses in pregnancy: see the agencies.

Pre-dessert

Labelled on 1 of the 14 menus

Only L'Orangerie Koan prints the word "Pre-dessert". On three more an ice is printed between the last savoury course and dessert: Attica's "iced ooray", Quintonil's "Nieve de nopal" and Kong Hans's gooseberry granité with Chartreuse.^{26, 47, 49, 55} What a palate cleanser does, and does not do, is in its guide.

On the plate. One or two spoonfuls in a small glass or bowl.

Dessert

More than one on 6 of the 14 menus

No menu we read puts a sweet course before a savoury one. Azurmendi lists three desserts, Kong Hans adds a dessert trolley, Jean-Georges ends on one.^{50, 52, 55} Both Les Amis desserts carry spirits (a rum baba, a Calvados soufflé): how much alcohol cooking leaves is under food safety.⁵¹

On the plate. See dessert plating.

A small white porcelain tray of bite-sized sweets in neat rows beside a white espresso cup on its saucer: pastel fondant-iced petits fours, cocoa-dusted chocolate truffles, sugar-coated squares of red and orange fruit jelly, small golden financiers and pale macarons, the whole tray in frame on cream linen

Mignardises with coffee

Labelled on 3 of the 14 menus

Small sweets to finish, often with coffee or tea: L'Orangerie Koan's "Coffee and Mignardises", Azurmendi's petits fours. They are not always free: The Waterside Inn prints £12.00 under its coffee and mignardises line.^{47, 48, 52} The tray has its own guide.

On the plate. A small tray or plate of one or two-bite sweets.

Why the plates are small

Thomas Keller on the radio in 2014: "we try to base our food on the law of diminishing return"; "The more you have of something, the less you like it. So we want to give you just enough that when you've had that last bite, you go, god, I wish I had a little more."¹²³ The restaurant consultant Clark Wolf told CNN in 2018 that Keller's philosophy is a small dish of "one and a half bites", and CNN reported the food historian Beth Forrest of the Culinary Institute of America as saying people suffer "palate fatigue" after three or four bites.⁸⁸ Chefs also build the run as a shape: Naomi Pomeroy's bell curve, Sat Bains's rich followed by acid (both on our prix fixe guide), Carlo Mirarchi's "up and down flow" with "temperature contrast, making sure people don't get palate fatigue", and a culinary school's build toward a peak, "frequently but not exclusively a protein".^{88, 132, 143, 144}

What the studies measured. These are lab meals, not tasting menus. In one, the commonest reason people gave for stopping the first course was "I got tired of eating that food" (40%), and for the second, "I felt full" (48%).¹²⁶ That drop in liking for the food just eaten is called sensory-specific satiety, and a 2021 meta-analysis found more variety in a meal goes with eating more (Hedges' g 0.405), with a high risk of bias across the studies.^{124, 125} In a 2012 lab study of 40 people, ten minutes of eating a different food (or playing Tetris) did not bring back the liking for the first food, so in our reading a palate cleanser should not be sold as a reset.¹²⁷ No study we found tests the best number of courses.

The one printed portion figure is a single restaurant's: Quintonil's proteins run from 20 to 40 g a course (about 0.7 to 1.4 oz, our conversion), caviar 4 to 6 g.⁴⁹ Not everyone is convinced: Alice Waters told CNN that with small portions "it's too much and too long".⁸⁸

The same plate and lamb as a tasting portion: two slices of lamb on a small spoon of celeriac purée with a few drops of jus, centered, with a wide ring of empty plate around it

An à la carte lamb main on a white dinner plate: six slices of pink lamb loin fanned over a large spoon of celeriac purée with a heap of roasted root vegetables and a pool of dark jus

À la carteTasting

À la carte portion: a whole main, sized to be the only course.

Tasting portion: the same dish, two slices on a wide plate, sized as one course of many.

How each course is plated and served

Plated in the kitchen. At Odette in Singapore "the mosaic of each course has been planned out", "all deftly arranged on the assigned dish", and one course can use several dishes: a plate for the pigeon breast, a cup for the liver parfait.¹³¹ A service textbook notes that many restaurants "now offer a plated service rather than full silver service".¹²⁸
Finished at the table, sometimes. Kong Hans's waiters "fillet, flambé and carve at the table" (our translation) and end with a dessert trolley; Canlis prepares its 1950 salad "tableside for the entire party"; Azurmendi brings cheese on a trolley, Les Amis on a trolley or a plate. No menu we read prints a sauce poured at the table.^{51, 52, 55, 56}
Served and cleared together. "many fine-dining restaurants clear tables all at once, when all diners have finished a course", with several servers at a time (FSR, 2013).¹³⁰ In 2018 CNN found Blanca in Brooklyn serving everyone around its bar at the same time.⁸⁸
Cutlery course by course. A service textbook describes the à la carte cover, whose "cutlery for each course will be laid just before each" course, against the table d'hôte cover laid for the whole meal before the first.¹²⁸ Not every course gets cutlery: Attica "may ask you to eat with your hands", and Jaan's chef serves a soup with "No spoon". ^{26, 131} How a table is laid is in table setting.
Plates. No menu we read prints its plate sizes. The shapes and what they do are in types of plates, the fine-dining look in Michelin star plating.

Between courses at a restaurant table: a clean white napkin folded at one place, a fresh fork and knife laid side by side on the bare cloth ready for the next course, an empty wine glass and a water glass, the previous plate already cleared — **Between courses:** the plate cleared, fresh cutlery laid for the next course. An illustration.

Before you go

Booking a tasting menu: deposits, cancelling, diets, dress and children

When tables are released

On the pages we read, tables are released from 21 days to three months ahead, most on a fixed day of the month or a rolling daily window. Gault&Millau's advice for France: weekdays often 48 hours ahead, weekends about two weeks, some houses six weeks to three months.⁹¹

Restaurant	Country	Bookings open (as printed)
Septime¹⁹	France	Daily at 10:00, for the next 21 days
Florilège²⁴	Japan	One month ahead, at 0:00 Japan time
Eleven Madison Park¹	US	On the 1st of each month, for the following month
Quince⁸	US	On the 1st of the month before
Langbaan³⁵	US	Noon on the 15th, for the whole next month
Alinea⁵	US	Usually the 15th, about two months ahead
Ikoyi¹⁴	UK	The 1st of each month at 12:00, up to two months ahead
Restaurant Sat Bains¹¹	UK	Up to two calendar months ahead
Ynyshir³⁸	UK	Two months ahead
Den²⁵	Japan	By telephone only, up to two months ahead
Brae²⁷	Australia	Two months ahead, a new day each morning at 9am
Attica²⁶	Australia	90 days ahead, at 9am Melbourne time
Geranium²³	Denmark	Three months ahead
Kitchen Table³⁹	UK	A month at a time, up to three months ahead

Deposits, prepaid tickets and cancelling

A tasting menu is often sold like a ticket: Atelier Crenn's reservations are "final and non-refundable, similar to concert or theater tickets".⁷ Four ways of holding a booking appear in what we read: prepaid in full, a deposit taken off the bill, a card that is charged only if you cancel late or do not come, and a telephone booking with no card mentioned (Den). Cutting the number of guests counts as a cancellation at the places that say so (Core, Moor Hall, Restaurant Sat Bains, Asador Etxebarri, Langbaan, Quince, Den, Nén, Attica), and Alchemist will not turn empty seats into drinks credit.^{8, 11, 15, 21, 25, 26, 35, 37, 41, 42}

Restaurant	How the booking is held	Free to cancel until	After that, or a no-show
Eleven Madison Park^{1, 77} US	Prepaid	Never	"All sales are final and non-refundable"
Alinea⁵ US	Prepaid	Never; rescheduling with 72 hours' notice	"All sales are final and non-refundable"
Atelier Crenn⁷ US	Prepaid	Never	"final and non-refundable, similar to concert or theater tickets"
Quince⁸ US	Deposit	Never; one reschedule with 72 hours' notice	A smaller party still pays for the original number
Nisei³⁶ US	Deposit	Never; reschedule, or transfer to another diner	"deposits are non-refundable"
Le Bernardin (Sept 2026)¹³⁸ US	Card	48 hours	$150 a person
Langbaan³⁵ US	Card	48 hours	"the full menu price per person", also for a smaller party
Restaurant Sat Bains¹¹ UK	£50 a person deposit, taken off the bill	Five days (by noon)	£199 a person in the restaurant, £289 at the Kitchen Bench or Chef's Table; also for a smaller party
L'Enclume¹² UK	Card	7 days	£275 a person for the L'Enclume Experience (£125 for the lunch menu) on its FAQ page; £265* "at both lunch and dinner" on its Cancellation Policies page (both read October 2026)
Core by Clare Smyth¹⁵ UK	Card	72 hours	£175 a person, "not discretionary", also for fewer guests or a dress-code refusal
Moor Hall³⁷ UK	50% deposit	14 days	The deposit; inside 24 hours, "the full menu price per person"
Ynyshir³⁸ UK	Prepaid	Never; reschedule with 2 weeks' notice	"all sales are final and non-refundable"
Mirazur¹⁸ France	Card	15 days	€450 a guest
Asador Etxebarri²¹ Spain	Prepaid, for every diner	Five days	The prepayment
Alchemist⁴¹ Denmark	Prepaid ticket	14 days (1 to 3 guests); 21 days (4 or more)	The prepayment; "The service fee is non-refundable at all times"
Geranium²³ Denmark	1,500 DKK a guest deposit	Not printed	Not printed
Den²⁵ Japan	Telephone booking	Two days	"the full pre-fixed price" on the day
Florilège²⁴ Japan	Booking page	Until the day before	100%, "including tax and service fees", on the day
Nén Tokyo⁴² Japan	Booking page	48 hours	50% at 24 to 48 hours; 100% inside 24 hours or a no-show
Sézanne⁴³ Japan	Booking page	7 days	100%
Attica²⁶ Australia	$150 a person deposit (dinner)	Never, for the deposit	The deposit; at lunch $100 a person inside 72 hours
Brae²⁷ Australia	50% of the menu price prepaid	48 hours (less a $25 fee)	No refund
Restaurant Botanic²⁸ Australia	Paid in full	Never; pass the booking to other guests	"all sales are final and non-refundable"

The booking platforms. The restaurant, not the platform, sets the fee and decides to charge it. Resy tells restaurants a no-show charge is their choice, "This is not an automated process"; SevenRooms lets a venue ask for "prepayment of bills", "cancellation fees" or a card, asks for at least 30 minutes' notice where a venue sets no policy, and sends disputes to the venue.^{62, 63} OpenTable's own pages did not load for us; a magazine reports that it counts being more than 15 minutes late as a no-show and suspends an account after four no-shows in 12 months.⁶⁴ Late arrival is tight on the pages we read: tables held 15 minutes (Field, Quince, Nisei), courses may be cut after 15 minutes (Sézanne), and 20 minutes late without notice may count as a no-show (Nén Tokyo, Florilège).^{8, 24, 30, 36, 42, 43}

Dietary needs and allergies

Say so when you book. The kitchens we read ask for notice from "at booking" to 7 days (one chef told DuJour, "I need to know at least a day before"), and Gault&Millau quotes a sommelier who calls allergies and diets the most important thing to state when booking, adding that a menu with many changes for dislikes can be hard to build (our translation).^{8, 91, 142} Some refuse whole diets: vegan was the diet most often refused in what we read. Two accept no changes at all (Sézanne, Ynyshir), and Ikoyi charges a supplement only for changes not announced ahead. Vegetarian menus, where priced apart, cost less in what we read (Le Bernardin, Field).^{2, 14, 30, 38, 43} Severe allergy: several say plainly they cannot take it (The Ledbury; Attica at lunch; Kitchen Table for cross-contamination), so ask before you pay.^{13, 26, 39}

Restaurant	Notice asked	What it says it cannot do	Vegetarian or vegan
Quince⁸ US	7 days	Severe allergies or combined restrictions ("pescatarian AND no gluten"); dairy only limited	Vegetarian or pescatarian with notice
Kitchen Table³⁹ UK	A week	Vegans, no egg, dairy-free, gluten-free or coeliac, anaphylaxis from cross-contamination	A vegetarian tasting menu
Alinea⁵ US	72 hours	"substitutions for aversions"; egg and dairy cannot be left out	Ovo-lacto vegetarian
Atelier Crenn⁷ US	72 hours	"only limited modifications can be made"	Vegetarian and vegan menus
Attica²⁶ Australia	72 hours	Anaphylactic allergies at the shorter lunch	"most dietary requirements"
Langbaan³⁵ US	2 days	Vegan, vegetarian, no fish, coconut, capsaicin or alliums	No
Nisei³⁶ US	48 hours	Salt, sugar, soy sauce, egg cooked into dishes, trace alliums, mushrooms, ginger, seaweed, cooked-off alcohol, vinegar	Not printed
Restaurant Sat Bains¹¹ UK	At booking	"dislikes, vegan, Halal or Kosher diets"	Vegetarian, pescetarian, gluten-free
The Ledbury¹³ UK	At booking	Dairy-free, egg-free, soy-free, vegan, risk of anaphylaxis	No vegetarian menu printed
Moor Hall³⁷ UK	At booking	Menus free from dairy, egg or alliums; dislikes	Vegetarian or pescatarian on request
Ynyshir³⁸ UK	None accepted	"No substitutions or amendments to dishes are offered"	No
Ikoyi¹⁴ UK	Ahead (a supplement otherwise)	"Any unannounced allergy and dietary changes will incur a supplementary charge"	Not printed
Le Bernardin² US	"please notify us"	Not printed	Vegetarian Tasting $270 (against $350)
Field³⁰ Czech Republic	Not printed	Not printed	Vegetarian menus 4,600 and 2,900 CZK (against 4,900 and 3,200)
Den²⁵ Japan	When you request the booking	"cannot guarantee that we will be able to meet all requests"	Not printed
Florilège²⁴ Japan	Not printed	Dairy-free, egg-free, seafood-free (bonito stock), gluten-free	A "VEGGIE" main, but no vegetarian or vegan course
Sézanne⁴³ Japan	None accepted	"unable to accommodate any dietary restrictions or allergies"	No
Kong Hans Kælder⁵⁵ Denmark	Not printed	A vegan menu (most allergies and intolerances accommodated)	Not vegan
Asador Etxebarri²¹ Spain	Not printed	"No disponemos de menú vegetariano y/o vegano"	No
Quintonil⁴⁹ Mexico	At booking	Dishes without corn, chiles and onion	Adaptable to vegan, vegetarian and pescatarian
Corima⁴ US	Not printed	"most allergies or dietary restrictions"	Not printed

What the law makes a restaurant tell you, by country

The law on allergen information differs, and so do the lists. Each row is the country's own law or agency; none of them says how many changes a kitchen must make, only what it must tell you.

Where	Allergens named	For a restaurant meal
United States^{95, 96}	Nine major allergens: the eight of the 2004 labelling act (milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans) and sesame since 1 January 2023	The labelling law does not apply to food wrapped "following a customer's order". The FDA Food Code (¶3-602.12(C)) asks for written notice of major allergens in unpackaged food, but it is a model code that binds only where a state or locality adopts it.
United Kingdom⁹⁷	14 allergens, including celery, lupin, molluscs, mustard and sulphites over 10 parts per million	In England, Wales and Northern Ireland (the FSA's guidance; Scotland's agency not read), allergen information is required for every non-prepacked item, "as well as meals served in a restaurant", in writing or by asking staff with a written notice saying so. Natasha's Law is about food prepacked for direct sale, such as sandwiches made and sold on the premises, not plated restaurant dishes.
European Union^{98, 99}	The same 14, in Annex II of Regulation 1169/2011	Mandatory for food sold without prepackaging, "including in restaurants and cafes", since 13 December 2014; each member state decides how the information is given.
Australia and New Zealand¹⁰⁰	Plain-English names from 25 February 2024, with nine tree nuts named one by one (pine nut among them) and sulphites at 10 mg/kg or more	For unpackaged food the information "must be displayed with the food or can be requested from the supplier".

Sulphites are on the UK, EU and Australian lists, not the US one: worth naming if they affect you, since wine pairings carry them (ours).^{97, 100}

What to wear, and children

In what we read the rules ran from no dress code (Eleven Madison Park; Attica, "more faith in playlists than dress codes") to "Jackets are recommended but not required" (Le Bernardin, Quince); none of these pages requires a jacket. Several ban sportswear, and Core and Moor Hall apply their cancellation charges if you are turned away for it. In France, Gault&Millau quotes a restaurant that asks for "une tenue correcte" and frowns on shorts in summer.^{1, 8, 15, 26, 37, 91, 138} Minimum ages ran from none (Attica, at the full menu and price) to 13 (Sézanne), and most places that admit children ask them to eat the full menu.^{26, 43}

Restaurant	Dress	Children
Eleven Madison Park¹ US	"We do not have a dress code"	Not printed
Le Bernardin (Sept 2026)¹³⁸ US	"Business casual. Jackets are recommended but not required"	No children under ten
Quince⁸ US	"Cocktail attire. Jackets are recommended but not required"; no sneakers, shorts, T-shirts or caps	None under ten; ten and up eat the full menu
Nisei³⁶ US	"casual elegance or cocktail attire"	None under 12 unless they eat the full menu
Core by Clare Smyth¹⁵ UK	"Strictly no sportswear"; "Smart trainers are acceptable"	No small children or babies; young guests eat the regular menu
Moor Hall³⁷ UK	No sportswear; "Smart, clean trainers are perfectly fine"	No children under 12
Kitchen Table³⁹ UK	Smart casual, "no hats or flip-flops"	Not printed
Restaurant Sat Bains¹¹ UK	Not printed	Eight and older, eating the tasting menu
L'Enclume¹² UK	No dress code	Over 12
Ynyshir³⁸ UK	Not printed	Only for the full menu; babies discouraged ("music throughout along with a disco ball")
Field³⁰ Czech Republic	"smart casual"	"not suitable for children under 6" (our translation)
Attica²⁶ Australia	"more faith in playlists than dress codes"	Welcome, at the full menu and price; infants on a lap
Brae²⁷ Australia	Not printed	None under six; six and up, the full menu and price
Nén Tokyo⁴² Japan	Smart casual	Seven and up order the tasting menu; under three free
Sézanne⁴³ Japan	Smart casual	"aged 13 years and older only"
Florilège²⁴ Japan	No shorts or sandals for men; no strong perfume	From junior high school age
Azurmendi⁵² Spain	Not printed	No children under ten

Drinks

Tasting menu with wine pairing, a non-alcoholic pairing, or your own bottle

A pairing is a drink chosen for each course, sold at one price on top of the menu. On the 19 menus below that print both prices (October 2026), the cheapest alcoholic pairing costs 32% (Eleven Madison Park) to 75% (V Zátiší) of the menu price, and the dearest pairing costs more than the food itself at Restaurant Sat Bains, L'Enclume, Geranium, Restaurant Botanic, Field and La Degustation. Non-alcoholic pairings are priced on 10 of these pages, at 27% (Field) to 51% (Geranium) of the menu. The percentages are our arithmetic from each restaurant's own prices, so no currency is converted. Alinea asks everyone who takes wine to take the same level, though not everyone has to take one.⁵

Restaurant	Menu	Alcoholic pairing	Non-alcoholic	Share of the menu price (ours)
Eleven Madison Park¹ wine "starting at $125"	$385	$125	Not printed	32%
Le Bernardin² "$530 with wine pairing": $180 is our subtraction	$350	$180	Not printed	51%
Corima⁴ a spirit pairing	$140	$90	Not printed	64%
Kasama⁶	$325	$195	$95	60%; non-alcoholic 29%
Langbaan³⁵	$145	$70	$45	48%; non-alcoholic 31%
Restaurant Sat Bains¹⁰ Overture	£259	£185 to £695	£125	71% to 268%; non-alcoholic 48%
L'Enclume¹² Taster £120 and Clarity £80 do not say whether they carry alcohol	£275	£170 to £600	Not printed	62% to 218%
The Ledbury¹³ dinner	£295	£160 to £295	Not printed	54% to 100%
The Royal Crescent¹⁶ six glasses; April 2026 menu	£135	£80	Not printed	59%
Septime¹⁹ dinner; no currency printed	135	75	Not printed	56%
Guy Savoy⁴⁰ lunch, €410 with 4 glasses	€295	€115	Not printed	39%
Disfrutar²⁰	325€	180€	Not printed	55%
Geranium²³	4,500 DKK	2,500 DKK to 20,000 DKK	2,300 DKK	56% to 444%; non-alcoholic 51%
Florilège²⁴ dinner	¥24,000	¥14,000	¥10,000	58%; non-alcoholic 42%
Brae²⁷	$380	$240	$140	63%; non-alcoholic 37%
Restaurant Botanic²⁸	$330	$205 to $650	$145	62% to 197%; non-alcoholic 44%
Field³⁰ ten courses	4,900 CZK	2,200 CZK to 6,400 CZK	1,300 CZK	45% to 131%; non-alcoholic 27%
La Degustation³¹	3,500 Kč	2,000 Kč to 3,700 Kč	1,300 Kč	57% to 106%; non-alcoholic 37%
V Zátiší³² five courses	1,985 CZK	1,490 CZK to 1,850 CZK	695 CZK	75% to 93%; non-alcoholic 35%

What a pairing adds to the bill, as a share of the menu price: solid bars the cheapest alcoholic pairing, outlines the non-alcoholic one. Our arithmetic from the table, in each restaurant's own currency.

Non-alcoholic pairings

They go by several names: Providence's "zero-proof" pairing, Restaurant Botanic's "The Temperance", Geranium's "Fruit & Vegetables", Kitchen Table's soft pairing; Attica offers an alcoholic pairing, a non-alcoholic one "and a mix of both". L'Enclume's £80 "Clarity" and £120 "Taster" pairings say nothing about alcohol, so we have counted neither.^{9, 12, 23, 26, 28, 39} Chefs in Scotland told The List in November 2025 that they see more non-drinkers.⁸⁶

A half pairing, and how much you drink

Pour sizes are rarely printed. V Zátiší is the one restaurant in our tally that prints them: 0,1 l (100 ml, about 3.4 fl oz) with the savoury courses and 0,05 l (50 ml, about 1.7 fl oz) with the foie gras and dessert; Schola in Tokyo says its full seven-glass pairing comes to three to four glasses of wine in total, and its half pairing to about a quarter of a bottle.^{32, 44} MICHELIN's inspectors say some of them swap "full pairings for two or three tailored pours", and Guy Savoy sells its lunch menu with "4 glasses of wine".^{40, 65} Our suggestion: ask for a half pairing or two or three glasses if the full one is more than you want; several of the menus above offer two or more levels.

Bringing your own bottle: corkage

Where it is allowed it is charged per bottle: Eleven Madison Park $75 a 750 ml bottle (four at most), Alinea $125 (one a person), Atelier Crenn $125 (two a table), Quince $120 (one per two guests), Langbaan $35 rising to $80, The Ledbury £75. We found no corkage terms on the French, Czech, Japanese or Australian pages we read.^{1, 5, 7, 8, 13, 35}

Paying

What the price includes, and tipping and service charges by country

In what we read, the price covers the food: no restaurant in our tally includes drinks, and service is in, added or left to you depending on the country and the restaurant (the five ways). The law comes first below, then what the menus print; etiquette writers are labelled where they appear.

Where	The law or the agency	What the tasting menus we read print
United States^{1, 5, 7, 8, 9, 35, 36, 78, 104, 140}	The IRS: "mandatory service charges, are not tips"; an employer may share them out "in any manner it chooses or may retain all or part", and only a voluntary amount on top is a tip.	Three ways. Tip on top: Eleven Madison Park ("does not include gratuity"), Providence. A fixed charge added: Alinea 20%, Atelier Crenn 20% plus 3%, Quince 22% plus 6%, Nisei 20%, Langbaan 20%. Service included: Per Se and The French Laundry ("All prices are inclusive of service", January 2025); Atomix took no tips but a 10% fee that "is not a gratuity" (September 2026).
United Kingdom^{10, 12, 13, 16, 37, 101, 102, 103, 145}	In Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales, per the code's gov.uk page), the Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023 covers a "tip, gratuity or service charge (however described)" the employer controls: it goes to workers without deductions other than tax and National Insurance, and VAT is not part of it. The statutory code first came into force on 1 October 2024; its 2026 draft revision covers charges "applied automatically by a business and those added discretionarily by a customer" (draft).	A "discretionary" charge added to the bill: 12.5% at Sat Bains, The Ledbury, the Royal Crescent and Moor Hall, 10% at L'Enclume. Discretionary means optional (ours): you can ask for it to be taken off. Time Out London (March 2025): 12.5% was once the standard, 15% is now seen.
France^{17, 105, 106}	Where service is charged, the posted price is "taxes et service compris" (the arrêté of 27 March 1987, as the economy ministry restated it in December 2020); a tip on top is the customer's free choice, and the government said in December 2020 that it did not plan to make one compulsory.	Arpège prints "Prix net, Service compris".
Japan^{24, 43, 107}	The Japan National Tourism Organization, as quoted by the South China Morning Post (2025): "It's not common to tip for services such as those provided in bars, cafés, restaurants, taxis and hotels".	A service charge may still be added: Florilège adds 10% ("Svc excl."), while Sézanne's prices are "Svc & tax incl."
Australia^{26, 27, 108}	SBS reported in February 2023 that Australian consumer law treats tips as "optional charges" or "pre-selected extras"; an ACCC spokesperson told it a diner misled into one can ask for "a pro-rata refund" (second-hand: we could not read the ACCC's own page).	Only surcharges on the pages we read: Attica 10% for six or more and 15% on public holidays; Brae 10% on Sundays and 15% on public holidays.

Other countries we read. Denmark: Alchemist charges a separate "service fee" that "is non-refundable at all times". Peru: Maido's prices include tax and the "recargo al consumo" (a consumption surcharge, our translation). Singapore: Les Amis adds "prevailing government taxes and service charge". Japan: Kikunoi's kaiseki is "tax and service charge separate" (our translation).^{41, 51, 57, 59}

Our suggestions (ours, not a rule): read the bottom of the menu or the booking page for "service", "gratuity" or a percentage before you add anything; in the UK a discretionary charge can be removed if you ask; in the US a fixed service charge is not a tip, so whether to add one on top is your call.

Tasting menu etiquette

On the night: pacing, breaks, bread, photos, and when you have had enough

Restaurants publish little about the night itself. Where one does, we quote it; where none of the pages we read says anything, we say so and give our own suggestion, labelled. Table manners at any fine-dining meal (the napkin, cutlery, bread, the wine ritual, sending a dish back) are on our fine dining etiquette guide.

Pacing and arriving

Attica: "the table is yours for the evening", "stay as long as you'd like"; Brae caps its noon bookings at 3 hours; Moor Hall asks guests to arrive 30 minutes early and lunch guests to leave by 4:30 pm; Sons & Daughters serves snacks in a shared lounge for "around 30 minutes", then has "much greater freedom to tailor the pacing" in the dining room.^{26, 27, 37, 66} If you are short of time, say so ahead: Nisei will "adjust the cadence".³⁶ Florilège asks guests not to wear strong perfume, "to cherish our delicate flavors".²⁴

Going to the toilet mid-meal

None of the restaurant pages we read mentions it. The etiquette magazine Fine Dining Lovers (2016) describes staff who "accompany you to the bathroom and replace your napkin before your return".⁸⁹ Ours: go between courses, once a plate is cleared.

More bread, or a second helping

None of the restaurant pages we read says whether bread is refilled. Azurmendi offers "different kinds of bread" through the meal.⁵² On a second helping of a course, David Chang, as reported by Chowhound in 2025, calls asking for one a "cardinal sin" that upsets the kitchen's timing, and suggests asking "at the end of the meal".⁹⁰ Ours: asking for bread is a question, not a breach; just remember the courses still to come (three rolls with butter came to about 720 calories by standard values in New York magazine's 2007 Per Se count).⁷⁴

Taking photos

Of the restaurant pages we read, two print a rule. Quince: "We strongly discourage DSLR cameras, and prohibit flash photography and video in the dining room."⁸ Eleven Madison Park asks guests to avoid "excessive flash photography" and selfie sticks, tripods or lights, and "not to photograph other guests without their permission", while it encourages you "to capture your experience".¹ Bans by chefs are in older reports: in 2014 Gilles Goujon said photos take away the surprise, and Alexandre Gauthier said "Photos aren't forbidden, but I want people to question it"; in 2017 The Waterside Inn put up a "No photos, please" card, while The Araki only asked for no flash.^{92, 93} Ours: no flash, quick, and ask if unsure. If you photograph a course at home, our food photography guide covers the light.

Not finishing, smaller portions, and saying you have had enough

None of the restaurant pages we read says how to stop a menu early. Mirazur's executive chef, Luca Mattioli, told the TASTE writer Anna Haines in 2024 that she "could've requested smaller servings ahead of time (the price would have remained the same)", in her words.⁶⁸ The critic Harvey Steiman has "waved off two or three late courses at the French Laundry" (2013), and Stuart Walton ends his 2022 piece: "please understand, Chef. It's enough." ^{69, 82} Ours: tell your server as soon as you know, ask for smaller servings when you book, and leave what you cannot eat; at Mirazur, at least, the price stayed the same.

Taking food home

None of the restaurant pages we read mentions it. France has a law: since 1 July 2021, restaurants must give customers who ask a reusable or recyclable container for food or drink they did not finish (not for all-you-can-eat offers), as the trade body GHR and the Paris chamber of commerce report it; we could not read the statute itself.¹⁰⁹ Ours: ask; a course built to be eaten at once may not travel well.

Is a tasting menu worth it?

Is a tasting menu worth it? The critics, for and against

Opinions, each named and dated. We give no verdict of our own; the questions after the table are ours.

Who	When	Side	What they wrote or said
Pete Wells, The New York Times, as quoted by the Houston Press and Club Oenologique^{83, 84}	Oct 2012	Against	A marathon of 20 fussy courses is like being "nibbled to death"; "This is a challenge no chef should saunter into casually"; a diner may feel "as much like a victim as a guest".
Corby Kummer, Vanity Fair⁸¹	Feb 2013	Against	The diner is "strapped into a chair and expected to be enraptured for a minimum of three and often four and five hours".
Harvey Steiman, Wine Spectator⁸²	Jan 2013	For	"Leave it to us privileged foodies to complain about getting too much." "If you want to choose from an à la carte menu, go someplace else."
Fine Dining Lovers⁸⁹	Sept 2016	For	"The tasting menu is always the best way to get to know the chef's cuisine", and cheaper than ordering the same à la carte.
Alice Waters, as quoted by CNN⁸⁸	Apr 2018	Against	"I always feel like if there are small portions, it's too much and too long".
George Reynolds, Club Oenologique⁸⁴	May 2022	Against	"The death of the tasting menu": he proposes "more than three, fewer than 27" courses at around £50 instead.
Stuart Walton, Good Food Guide⁶⁹	Sept 2022	Mixed	"three or four hours of stoically maintained patience"; yet "There are scores of tasting menus that are purposeful, exciting, well positioned and enjoyable."
Charmaine Mok, South China Morning Post⁸⁰	June 2023	Against	"Eating has become an endurance sport."
Robert Sietsema, his newsletter⁸⁷	Jan 2025	Mixed	"Tasting menus have lately gotten out of hand", but some are "worth it, and almost affordable": one cost him $110 "including tax, tip, and a glass of memorable wine".
William Drew, 50 Best, to The Wall Street Journal⁷²	Apr 2025	Mixed	People "only want the more theatrical narrative of a lengthy tasting menu on rare occasions".
Chefs to The List, Scotland⁸⁶	Nov 2025	Mixed	One restaurant's tasting-menu sales are "much lower than our three course à la carte menu"; a tasting-menu-only one had "the best year in our history".
OC Weekly food blog⁸⁵	Undated	Against	"the cost is probably justified", but "even the sturdiest butts begin to ache after three or more hours in the same chair".

Pete Wells's column is dated 9 October 2012 in the footnote of the Wikipedia article that quotes it, though its text says 2013, and the Houston Press quoted it as recent on 24 October 2012; we did not read the Times itself.^{79, 83} MICHELIN's inspectors suggest a first-timer start smaller: "A shorter menu at a one-MICHELIN-starred restaurant can ease you in without overwhelming your palate", and lunch, with "shorter menus, gentler lighting, and a less performative pace".⁶⁵

Questions to ask yourself (ours). What will the bill be with drinks, tax and service? Do you have three hours, or is there a shorter menu or a lunch? Can the kitchen meet your diet, and will it say so before you pay? Will everyone at the table want the same meal? Would the same money buy you more of what you like à la carte?

Tasting menu vs

Tasting menu vs omakase, kaiseki, chef's table, set menu, prix fixe and à la carte

How each differs on the night. The words themselves, their dictionary entries and history are on our prix fixe guide.

Format	Who chooses	How many courses	Where you sit	How you pay
Tasting menu^{1, 26}	The chef; few or no choices	4 to 15 printed on the October 2026 menus we read	A dining-room table	One price a person, often prepaid
Omakase^{61, 141}	The chef, piece by piece	At Sushi Noz: "5-6 otsumami", "12-14 courses of seasonal nigiri", then miso soup, tamago and dessert, "about 2.5 hours"	A counter facing the chef at Sushi Noz (eight and six seats)	One price; Masa took a $1,200 deposit at booking (September 2026)
Kaiseki⁵⁹	The kitchen, by season	Ten named courses on Kikunoi's October 2026 menu	A table or a private room (ours)	One price: Kikunoi's example, 30,000 yen, tax and service extra
Chef's table¹⁰	The chef	The restaurant's tasting menu	In or beside the kitchen	At Sat Bains, the same menus at a higher price: £289 against £259
Set menu³⁴	The house; sometimes a choice per course	Three at Firedoor's lunch: a "three-course chef's set menu"	A dining-room table	One price: $155 at Firedoor
Prix fixe²	You, within each course	Le Bernardin: "Prix Fixe $225 - 4 Courses"	A dining-room table	One price, supplements extra (caviar "$145 Supplement per ounce")
À la carte²²	You, dish by dish	As many as you order: Del Cambio asks for "a minimum of two savory courses per person"	A dining-room table	Each dish priced

Omakase vs tasting menu

Greg de St. Maurice, a University of Toronto researcher of Japanese food, told CNN in 2018 that omakase comes from sushi, which CNN notes is usually ordered à la carte, and that a Western tasting menu "seems more like the chef's greatest hits, while omakase is what's more in season and on the fly".⁸⁸ A sushi omakase can be less flexible about diets: Sushi Noz "cannot accommodate vegetarian or gluten free guests", nor shellfish allergies.⁶¹

Kaiseki vs tasting menu

Kikunoi in Kyoto prints its October 2026 kaiseki in this order: choko (a small opening cup), hassun (a seasonal platter), mukozuke (sashimi), futamono (a lidded dish), yakimono (grilled), kuchitori (small dishes), shiizakana (this month, beef), gohan (rice), tomewan (the closing soup) and mizumono (this month, chestnut ice cream and a pudding), at 30,000 yen with tax and service extra (readings and glosses ours).⁵⁹ Other sources name and order the courses differently: Odo in New York starts with sakizuke and lists aemono and takiawase, and MICHELIN's 2016 guide says kaiseki "traditionally" had nine courses.^{60, 133} Like a Western tasting menu, the meat comes late and the sweet last; unlike one, rice and soup close the savoury meal (ours).

Chef's table vs tasting menu

A chef's table is a seat, not a menu. At Restaurant Sat Bains it is the same named menus at a higher price, £289 for Overture against £259 in the dining room, for "A closer connection to the cooking, the kitchen and the chefs"; at Core, the Chef's Table takes a £2,500 non-refundable deposit and "all guests need to dine from the same tasting menu".^{10, 15} These are two examples, not a rule.

Not the same thing: a wedding menu tasting

A wedding menu tasting is a caterer's session where a couple samples dishes "to help couples finalize their wedding menu", not a restaurant's tasting menu.⁹⁴

Food safety

Food safety on a tasting menu, by country: raw courses, pregnancy, cheese and alcohol

Raw courses are common on the menus we read: 4 of the 14 print a raw or cold course early on, and oysters or fish that are probably raw appear on four more (our reading). Each agency below speaks for its own country and audience; we quote them side by side and never merge their lists. If you are pregnant, older, ill or have weakened immunity, tell the restaurant when you book (ours).

Raw fish and parasites: the freezing rules differ

Freezing kills parasites but not bacteria, and the agencies set different times: 7 days at -20°C (-4°F) in the US Food Code against 24 hours in the EU and UK rule and in Japan's advice.^{113, 114, 121} Reale in Italy tells diners that some of its ingredients, the salt cod among them, are bought frozen (our translation).⁵⁴

Agency	For	Its rule, in its words
FDA Food Code 2022¹¹⁴ US	Food businesses, where adopted	-20°C (-4°F) or below for 168 hours (7 days); or -35°C (-31°F) until solid, then 15 hours at -35°C (-31°F) or 24 hours at -20°C (-4°F). Not required for molluscan shellfish, scallop adductor muscle, several tunas and some farmed fish such as salmon.
Regulation (EC) 853/2004 (UK retained text)¹¹³ EU and UK	Food businesses	-20 °C (-4°F) "for not less than 24 hours" or -35 °C (-31°F) "for not less than 15 hours" (°F ours).
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare¹²¹ Japan	Everyone	-20°C (-4°F) for 24 hours or more, or heat to 70°C (158°F), or 60°C (140°F) for 1 minute; vinegar, salt, soy sauce or wasabi do not kill anisakis larvae (our translation).
FSANZ¹¹⁸ Australia and NZ	Consumers	"Freezing raw fish for at least 7 days will kill parasites" (no temperature given), but "freezing will not kill potentially harmful bacteria".
FDA¹¹⁵ US	Consumers	A rule of thumb: "eat fish that has been previously frozen", but "freezing doesn't kill all harmful germs".

Raw and undercooked courses, pregnancy and people at higher risk

In the US the menu warning is an asterisk: the Food Code lets a restaurant mark raw or undercooked dishes and add a footnote, and Gramercy Tavern's "Marinated Fluke*" leads to "*Consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish, or eggs may increase your risk of foodborne illness." The Food Code is a model code, binding only where adopted.^{53, 114}

Agency	For	What it says
NHS¹¹⁰ UK	Pregnancy	Avoid "sushi made with raw fish (even if it has been previously frozen) or raw shellfish", "raw or undercooked meat"; cold-smoked and cured fish and cold cured meats "cooked until steaming hot".
Food Standards Agency¹¹¹ UK	Pregnancy, weakened immunity	Avoid ready-to-eat cold-smoked or cured fish, "such as smoked salmon or gravlax".
Food Standards Agency¹¹² UK	Everyone; vulnerable groups	"a burger needs to be served well done, while a steak can be served rare"; vulnerable groups only thoroughly cooked burgers.
FDA¹¹⁵ US	Pregnancy, children, older adults, weakened immunity	Avoid raw or undercooked fish or shellfish (sashimi, some sushi, ceviche), raw oysters "even if they are treated after they have been harvested", and refrigerated smoked seafood unless cooked in a dish.
CDC¹¹⁶ US	Everyone; above all liver disease	"Do not eat raw or undercooked oysters or other seafood."
FDA Food Code 2022¹¹⁴ US	Food businesses, where adopted	Raw fish, raw oysters, steak tartare, soft eggs and rare meat may be served on request with a written warning, but not to highly susceptible populations; a whole beef steak seared to 63°C (145°F) on the surface may be served rare.
FSANZ¹¹⁸ Australia and NZ	Pregnancy, older, ill	"should not eat raw fish because of potential risks such as Listeria bacteria".
FSANZ¹¹⁹ Australia and NZ	People at risk	Raw oysters, sashimi and sushi; raw and lightly cooked eggs ("aioli, mousse, egg custard") are higher-risk foods.

Raw egg splits the agencies too: the NHS counts raw-egg mayonnaise and mousse as safe in pregnancy if made with British Lion or "Laid in Britain" hen eggs, while FSANZ lists raw and lightly cooked eggs among higher-risk foods.^{110, 119}

The cheese course: three agencies, three lists

Agency	For	What it says
NHS¹¹⁰ UK	Pregnancy	Hard cheeses "pasteurised or unpasteurised" are safe; white-rinded soft cheeses (brie, camembert, chèvre) and soft blue cheeses, pasteurised or not, "must be thoroughly cooked".
FSANZ¹¹⁹ Australia and NZ	People at risk	Brie, camembert, ricotta, feta and blue are higher risk "unless they are thoroughly cooked"; hard cheese is the safer choice.
CDC¹¹⁷ US	Pregnancy, newborns, 65 and older, weakened immunity	Avoid "Any type of cheese when made with (raw) unpasteurized milk" and queso fresco-type cheeses unless heated to 165°F (74°C); pasteurised hard cheeses are safer.

Alcohol in sauces and desserts

Cooking does not remove all of it. USDA's measured retention: 75% of the alcohol left after flaming, 85% when added to a boiling liquid, 40% after 15 minutes of baking or simmering, 25% after an hour and 5% after two and a half hours.¹²² We found no agency advice to diners about alcohol in restaurant food; the NHS and FSANZ (citing Australia's NHMRC) say that in pregnancy it is safest not to drink. A spirit-soaked dessert such as Les Amis's rum baba is worth asking about (ours).^{51, 110, 120}

Often repeated

Popular claims about tasting menus, each with a verdict

Fourteen claims, each against what we read. "Supported, narrowly" means the sources cover less than the claim says; "Mixed", that they point both ways; "No source found", that we found nothing for it.

The claim	Verdict	What we found
A tasting menu takes four hours.	Supported, narrowly	Only the longest. The 7 pages in our tally that print a time say 2 to 3.5 hours (October 2026), and the other restaurant pages we read say 90 minutes to about three; four hours comes from Sons & Daughters' 24 courses ("three and a half to four hours", June 2026), from Per Se in 2017 and from Eleven Madison Park's 25 courses before its 2016 cut. MICHELIN gives no hours at all.^{65, 66, 67, 70}
You'll leave hungry.	Not supported	No one we read has surveyed diners, but every figure points the other way: Per Se's nine courses measured 1,230.8 calories in 2007, and 2,416.2 with bread, butter, wine and chocolates (those extras from standard values); a 2010 nutritionist's estimates ran from 1,470 to 3,045 calories; Gauthier Soho printed 1,852 for eight courses with petits fours. Keller: after "10, 11, 12 or 13 courses, of course your appetite has been satisfied".^{74, 75, 76, 123}
Tasting menus can't do allergies.	Mixed	Most kitchens we read can, with notice of anything from "at booking" to 7 days; some cannot at all (Sézanne, Ynyshir), and others refuse named diets or allergies such as vegan, alliums or a risk of anaphylaxis (the table).^{8, 13, 35, 38, 43}
You must tip on top.	Mixed	In the US it depends on the restaurant: Eleven Madison Park leaves gratuity out, Alinea and Quince add a fixed charge, Per Se includes service. In France service is in the posted price; in Japan tipping is "not common"; on the UK pages we read that mention service, a discretionary charge is already on the bill (by country).^{1, 5, 8, 78, 105, 107}
The service charge goes to the staff.	Mixed	In Great Britain, by law, if the employer controls it. In the US the IRS says an employer may share a service charge out "in any manner it chooses or may retain all or part"; Quince says its 22% is "retained by Quince and is partially distributed" among the team.^{8, 101, 103, 104}
You can't ask for more bread.	No source found	None of the restaurant pages we read mentions bread refills. Etiquette writers say not to ask for more food in general (Fine Dining Lovers, 2016), and David Chang calls asking for a second helping of a course a "cardinal sin" (as reported, 2025), not bread.^{89, 90}
A degustation menu is different from a tasting menu.	Not supported	Degustation is "tasting especially in a series of small portions" (Merriam-Webster), and restaurants use the word for the same menu: Restaurant Botanic in Adelaide, Field in Prague ("ten course degustation menu"), Maido in Lima ("Menú de degustación de 12 pasos"). The terms are on the prix fixe guide.^{28, 30, 57, 137}
Everyone at the table has to order it.	Mixed	Some print the rule (Del Cambio, Asador Etxebarri, Guy Savoy's signature menu, The Waterside Inn, Les Amis, Reale, Core's Chef's Table), and a chef told DuJour "At Juni everyone at the same table has to order the same tasting menu"; Alinea only asks everyone taking wine to take the same pairing; Quintonil says its menu "es individual, no se puede compartir" (cannot be shared). Most pages we read say nothing, so ask.^{5, 15, 21, 22, 40, 48, 49, 51, 54, 142}
Tasting menus are getting shorter.	Supported, narrowly	Reported in 2024 (TASTE), 2025 (The Wall Street Journal: "Gone are the days of 18-course menus") and 2026 (Resy: "brevity has won the day"), and many restaurants now sell a shorter menu beside the long one. But Corima went from six courses in 2024 to about 10 to 13 in October 2026, and Sons & Daughters serves 24.^{4, 66, 68, 72, 73}
The number on the menu is every plate you'll get.	Not supported	Snacks and bread are often left out: the Royal Crescent prints two snacks and a bread course on top of its "SIX-COURSE" menu, Sat Bains brackets its dishes with an "Introduction" and a "Conclusion", and Cynthia in New York stretches "seven courses into something closer to twelve plates".^{10, 16, 73}
A tasting menu has no choices.	Mixed	Most courses are set, but choices appear: a meat or "VEGGIE" main at Florilège, monkfish, duck or wagyu for one course at Providence, cod or duck on Sat Bains's Prelude, "Fish or Meat" on L'Orangerie Koan's shorter menus, three of six courses chosen at Canlis.^{9, 10, 24, 47, 56}
Mignardises always come free.	Mixed	Often they are part of the menu (Fine Dining Lovers counts petits fours among the extras you do not pay for, unlike an aperitif you choose), but The Waterside Inn prints £12.00 under its coffee and mignardises line.^{48, 89}
The alcohol cooks off in a sauce or dessert.	Not supported	USDA's measurements: 75% of the alcohol is left after flaming, 85% when stirred into a boiling liquid, 40% after 15 minutes of baking or simmering and 5% after two and a half hours. We found no agency advice to diners on alcohol in cooked food.¹²²
Raw fish is fine in pregnancy if it was frozen first.	Not supported	Freezing kills parasites, not bacteria. The NHS says to avoid sushi with raw fish "even if it has been previously frozen"; FSANZ, that vulnerable people "should not eat raw fish"; the FDA lists raw fish among foods for at-risk groups to avoid.^{110, 115, 118}

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The words

Tasting menu terms, defined

Only the words our prix fixe guide does not already define (tasting menu, in English since 1979 by the Oxford English Dictionary's earliest evidence, menu dégustation, omakase, kaiseki, chef's table, set menu and prix fixe are there).¹³⁵

Carte blanche menu · menu carte blanche

French for a blank cheque: a menu left wholly to the kitchen, sold in a set number of courses.

Where it comes from. Septime: "Menu carte blanche en 7 étapes".¹⁹

Wine pairing · accord mets vins; beverage pairing

A glass of wine chosen for each course, sold as one price on top of the menu.

Where it comes from. Eleven Madison Park: "wine pairings to accompany the tasting menu experience starting at $125 per guest".^{1, 32}

Non-alcoholic pairing · zero-proof pairing; soft pairing; temperance pairing

A drink without alcohol chosen for each course, sold as a pairing.

Where it comes from. Providence's "zero-proof beverage pairings", Kitchen Table's soft pairing, Restaurant Botanic's "The Temperance".^{9, 28, 39}

Half pairing · short pairing

A smaller drinks pairing, with smaller pours or fewer glasses than the full one.

Where it comes from. Schola: about "1/4 bottle of wine (equivalent to about 2 glasses of wine)" over seven courses; MICHELIN's inspectors' "two or three tailored pours".^{44, 65}

Corkage

The fee a restaurant charges to open and serve a bottle you bring.

Where it comes from. Eleven Madison Park, $75 a 750 ml bottle; Alinea and Atelier Crenn $125; The Ledbury "£75 per 750ml bottle".^{1, 5, 7, 13}

Snacks · canapés; introduction

The one-bite dishes that open a tasting menu, often not counted as courses.

Where it comes from. Sons & Daughters' "few snacks in a communal lounge space"; Sat Bains's "Introduction".^{10, 66}

Pre-dessert

A small course between the last savoury course and dessert.

Where it comes from. L'Orangerie Koan prints "Pre-dessert" between the meat and the dessert.⁴⁷

Mignardises · petits fours

The small sweets served with coffee at the end of the meal.

Where it comes from. L'Orangerie Koan's "Coffee and Mignardises"; The Waterside Inn's "Coffee or tea and mignardises".^{47, 48}

Discretionary service charge

In the UK, a percentage added to the bill that the diner may decline (our reading of "discretionary"); in Great Britain the 2023 tips Act covers it.

Where it comes from. The Ledbury: "a discretionary service charge of 12.5% will be added to your bill".^{13, 101}

Automatic service charge · auto-gratuity

A fixed percentage a restaurant adds to every bill; in the US the IRS says it is not a tip: the employer may keep it or pay it out as wages.

Where it comes from. The IRS: "mandatory service charges, are not tips".^{5, 104}

Prepaid reservation · ticket

A booking paid in full in advance, usually not refundable but sometimes transferable.

Where it comes from. Atelier Crenn: "final and non-refundable, similar to concert or theater tickets".^{7, 41}

No-show fee · late-cancellation fee

A charge, often the full menu price, for a booking cancelled late or not kept.

Where it comes from. Resy: whether to charge it is the restaurant's call, "This is not an automated process".^{62, 63}

Consumer advisory

The US menu warning, often an asterisk, that a dish is served raw or undercooked.

Where it comes from. FDA Food Code §3-603.11; Gramercy Tavern's "Marinated Fluke*" footnote.^{53, 114}

Otsumami

The small plates served before the nigiri in an Edomae sushi omakase.

Where it comes from. Sushi Noz: "5-6 otsumami, small plates that highlight seasonal fish and vegetables".⁶¹

Hassun · 八寸

The kaiseki course of seasonal bite-size foods on a wooden tray, served near the start.

Where it comes from. Second on Kikunoi's October menu; MICHELIN: "Named for the eight-inch wooden platters"; a cookbook (Dashi and Umami, 2009): "roughly 24 cm square".^{59, 133, 134}

Palate fatigue

The drop in enjoyment of a food after a few bites of it, one of the reasons given for small courses.

Where it comes from. Beth Forrest, Culinary Institute of America, as reported by CNN (2018): after three or four bites.⁸⁸

Sensory-specific satiety

Liking a food you have been eating less than foods you have not eaten yet.

Where it comes from. Raynor and Epstein (2001): "greater reductions in hedonic ratings or intake of foods consumed compared with foods not consumed".^{125, 126}

FAQ

Tasting menus, answered

What is a tasting menu?

A run of small courses chosen by the chef, sold at one price, with few or no choices; often the whole table takes it. On the October 2026 menus we read that print a count or list their dishes, it ran from 4 to 15 courses, and snacks, bread and sweets are often extra to the count.

How does a tasting menu work?

You book, often paying in advance, and tell the restaurant about allergies and diets ahead. On the night you choose drinks or a pairing, then the courses come one at a time: on the menus we read, fish and meat courses and a dessert, and on many of them snacks, a raw or cold course, vegetables, an ice before dessert and small sweets with coffee, each cleared before the next. You pay one price per person, plus drinks and, depending on the country, service.

How many courses is a tasting menu?

In the 16 October 2026 menus we read that print a count or list their dishes, 4 to 15; MICHELIN reported 24 at Sons & Daughters in June 2026. Shorter lunch or bar menus we read run four to nine (most four to six). Counting rules differ: snacks and bread are usually not counted.

How long does a tasting menu take?

Restaurants that print a time give anything from about 90 minutes (Guy Savoy's lunch, 'or more') to about four hours (Sons & Daughters' manager, via MICHELIN, for 24 courses); about three hours comes up most often. In our tally, 7 of the 31 pages print a time, from 2 to 3.5 hours. MICHELIN itself gives no duration. Bigger tables take longer.

How much does a tasting menu cost?

On the restaurants' own pages in October 2026, from 1 795 CZK (V Zátiší, four courses) and £135 (the Royal Crescent, an April 2026 menu) to $495 (Providence's chef's menu), £395 (Ikoyi) and 4,500 DKK (Geranium). Drinks are extra everywhere we read except where a pairing is sold with the menu, and service may or may not be included.

Is a tasting menu worth it?

Critics split. Against: Pete Wells (2012, 'nibbled to death'), Corby Kummer (2013), Charmaine Mok (2023, 'an endurance sport'). For: Harvey Steiman (2013) and Fine Dining Lovers (2016, 'the best way to get to know the chef's cuisine'). Mixed: Stuart Walton (2022) and Robert Sietsema (2025). Our suggestion: check the price with drinks and service, the time, and whether the kitchen can meet your diet.

Do you tip on a tasting menu?

It depends on the country and the restaurant. In the US some add a fixed 20 to 22% service charge (Alinea, Quince, Nisei), which the IRS says is not a tip, some include service (Per Se), and some leave the tip to you (Eleven Madison Park). On the UK pages we read, a discretionary 10 to 12.5% is added to the bill; in France service is in the posted price; in Japan tipping is not common.

Can a tasting menu be vegetarian or allergy-friendly?

Often, with notice: the kitchens we read ask for anything from 'at booking' to 7 days. Some sell a vegetarian tasting menu (Le Bernardin $270, Field, Per Se's vegetable menu). Some refuse named diets (vegan, alliums, dairy-free) and two accept no changes at all (Sézanne, Ynyshir). Tell them when you book, not on the night.

What do you wear to a tasting menu?

Check the restaurant's page. In what we read the rules ran from no dress code (Eleven Madison Park, Attica) to 'Jackets are recommended but not required' (Le Bernardin, Quince); none required a jacket, several ban sportswear, and Core and Moor Hall apply their cancellation charges if you are turned away for dress.

Can two people share one tasting menu?

Not where a restaurant says so: Quintonil's menu 'no se puede compartir' (cannot be shared, our translation), and several ask the whole table to take the same menu (Del Cambio, Asador Etxebarri, The Waterside Inn, Les Amis). None of the pages we read offers sharing; ask when you book.

Will I be full after a tasting menu?

Probably. Per Se's nine courses weighed about 496 g (a little over a pound) and came to 1,230.8 calories in a 2007 lab test, 2,416.2 with bread, wine and chocolates (the extras from standard values); a 2010 estimate put long menus at 1,470 to 3,045 calories. No restaurant prints portion weights except Quintonil, whose protein portions run up to 40 g.

What does degustation mean?

Tasting, especially in a series of small portions (Merriam-Webster). A degustation menu is a tasting menu: menu dégustation is the French name, and Australian and Czech restaurants use degustation in English, as Restaurant Botanic and Field do.

What is a chef's tasting menu?

The tasting menu the chef chooses. Le Bernardin uses the name for its eight-course chef-chosen menu beside a four-course prix fixe you choose from; Providence for its dearer menu ($495) above a 'classic tasting menu' ($375). The name says who chooses, not how many courses.

What is the difference between a tasting menu and omakase?

Omakase leaves each piece to the chef, classically sushi at a counter: Sushi Noz serves 5 to 6 small plates, then 12 to 14 courses of nigiri, miso soup, tamago and dessert in about 2.5 hours. A tasting menu is a set run of plated courses at a table. Kaiseki is a style of cuisine, omakase a style of service (the MICHELIN Guide, as quoted on our prix fixe guide).

What is the difference between a tasting menu and prix fixe?

Both have one price. A prix fixe often lets you choose a dish in each of a few courses; a tasting menu is the chef's run of many small ones with few or no choices. Le Bernardin sells both: four courses you choose for $225 and eight the chef chooses for $350 (October 2026).

Can you take photos at a tasting menu?

Most restaurant pages we read say nothing about it. Two print a rule: Quince discourages DSLR cameras and bans flash and video; Eleven Madison Park encourages photos but asks for no excessive flash, no tripods or selfie sticks, and no pictures of other guests without their permission. Bans by chefs are in older reports (The Waterside Inn's 'No photos, please' card in 2017). Skip the flash and ask if unsure.

Can you bring children to a tasting menu?

Check first: minimum ages in what we read ran from none (Attica, at the full menu and price) to 13 (Sézanne), with 10 at Le Bernardin and Quince, 12 at Moor Hall and over 12 at L'Enclume. Most that admit children ask them to eat the full menu.

Sources

The restaurants, guides, critics, laws and studies behind this guide

How each source was read (in full, as a PDF, in an archived copy, through a page-reading tool, as the fragment shown before a paywall, or as search fragments of a scanned book) and the month we read it are in its entry and under how this page was made. Readings reused from our prix fixe guide say so. Blogs, magazines, critics' newsletters and booking platforms are labelled. Counts, shares, conversions and suggestions marked ours are our own.

Eleven Madison Park (2026). FAQs. elevenmadisonpark.com (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026, in full: the six-course Full Tasting Menu at $385 "about two to three hours", the Bar Tasting Menu (priced $255 in one answer and "begin at $225" in another on the same page), durations "based on tables of two", gratuity not included, wine pairings from $125, corkage, the booking window and table size. elevenmadisonpark.com
Le Bernardin (2026). Chef's Tasting, Vegetarian Tasting and Dinner menus. le-bernardin.com (restaurant's own menus), read 23 October 2026, rendered in a headless browser: Chef's Tasting Menu $350, $530 with wine pairing (eight dishes); Vegetarian Tasting $270, $450 with wine pairing; the four-course dinner prix fixe $225 and its supplements; "If you have a food allergy, please notify us.". le-bernardin.com
Thomas Keller Restaurant Group (2026). Per Se: today's menus. thomaskeller.com (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: two nine-course tasting menus daily, a chef's tasting and a vegetable tasting; "No single ingredient is ever repeated throughout the meal"; "New menu page coming soon", no price printed. thomaskeller.com
Corima (2026). Home page. corimanyc.com (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: "approximately 10-13 courses" at $140 a person, spirit pairing $90, an à la carte menu alongside, "unable to accommodate most allergies or dietary restrictions". corimanyc.com
Alinea (2026). FAQ. alinearestaurant.com (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026, rendered: Gallery and Kitchen Table "generally last three and a half hours", the Salon about two hours for two; a 20% service charge; wine pairings $195, $285 and $475 that "exclude service fee and tax"; all sales final; 72 hours' notice for diets and to reschedule; corkage; the booking window. Its home page says bookings move from Tock to OpenTable. alinearestaurant.com
Kasama (2026). Home page. kasamachicago.com (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: "Tasting Menu $325", beverage pairing $195, "Non Alcoholic Pairing $95". kasamachicago.com
Atelier Crenn (2026). FAQ and Dietary Restrictions. ateliercrenn.com (restaurant's own pages), read 23 October 2026: "Your experience should last 2-3 hours"; a 20% service charge and a 3% SF Health Care Mandate surcharge; reservations "final and non-refundable, similar to concert or theater tickets"; vegetarian and vegan menus with 72 hours' notice and "only limited modifications"; corkage. ateliercrenn.com
Quince (2026). Info & Reservations and Before your visit. quincerestaurant.com (restaurant's own pages), read 23 October 2026: the Gastronomy Menu "an 8- to 10-course tasting journey composed nightly", four-course lunch and bar menus; a 22% service charge "retained by Quince" plus a 6% surcharge; all reservations final; diets with 7 days' notice; corkage; photo rules; dress and age rules. quincerestaurant.com
Providence (2026). Dinner menu. providencela.com (restaurant's own menu), read 23 October 2026: "$375 classic tasting menu / $495 chef's tasting menu", ten dishes (our count) with a choice for one course, wine and zero-proof pairings available, prices "exclusive of tax and gratuity". providencela.com
Restaurant Sat Bains (2026). Menus, and the Overture and Prelude menu PDFs. restaurantsatbains.com (restaurant's own pages), read 23 October 2026: three menus by length (Overture £259, £289 at the Chef's Table; Prelude £199, £229; Interlude, "a menu with choices throughout", £149 to £169); the pairings; the Overture PDF (undated) with "Introduction", nine named dishes and "Conclusion" and "A discretionary 12.5% gratuity"; the Prelude PDF (file named for 12 September) with cod and duck printed side by side. restaurantsatbains.com
Restaurant Sat Bains (2026). Booking Information & Cancellation Policy. restaurantsatbains.com (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: a £50 per person deposit, five days' notice, the late-cancellation charge per menu, diets it cannot cater for, children eight and over. restaurantsatbains.com
L'Enclume (2026). The L'Enclume Experience sample menu, FAQ and Cancellation Policies. lenclume.co.uk (restaurant's own pages), read 23 October 2026: one menu at £275 (an undated sample listing 14 dishes and a final "Anvil", our count), pairings from "Clarity" £80 to £600, "A discretionary 10% service charge"; the FAQ prints a £275 charge for cancelling inside 7 days and the Cancellation Policies page £265*; children over 12; prices include VAT. lenclume.co.uk
The Ledbury (2026). Food & Wine. theledbury.com (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: lunch "6 Course Tasting Menu: £220" and "8 Course Tasting Menu: £270", dinner "Tasting Menu: £295" (eight dishes, the deer "Served as two courses"), pairings, "a discretionary service charge of 12.5%", corkage, and the diets it no longer accommodates. theledbury.com
Ikoyi (2026). Home page. ikoyilondon.com (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: "Our tasting menu is £395", a shorter tasting menu £180, the booking window, and a supplement for "unannounced allergy and dietary changes". ikoyilondon.com
Core by Clare Smyth (2026). Home page, wine list of 22.10.26 and Reservations. corebyclaresmyth.com (restaurant's own pages), read 23 October 2026: two tasting menus and à la carte (menu prices not printed on the pages we could render); "Wine Pairing £175 Per Person"; a £175 per person charge under 72 hours, "not discretionary", also for a turned-away dress-code breach; no sportswear; the Chef's Table rules; young guests on the regular menu. corebyclaresmyth.com
The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa (2026). Tasting dinner menus (PDF). royalcrescent.co.uk (restaurant's own menu), read 23 October 2026, a PDF dated by its file name 1 April 2026 (an older menu still online): "SIX-COURSE" Classic Tasting Menu £135, two snacks and a bread course printed above the six courses, six-glass wine pairing £80, vegetarian, pescatarian and vegan versions, "A discretionary 12.5% service charge". royalcrescent.co.uk
Arpège (Alain Passard) (2026). Menu Dîner and Menu Déjeuner (PDFs). alain-passard.com (restaurant's own menus), read 23 October 2026, PDFs uploaded September 2026: dinner 380€ "Prix net, Service compris", 12 dishes; lunch 260€, 9 dishes (our counts); the menu "may change with the gardeners' harvests" (our translation). alain-passard.com
Mirazur (2026). Reservation. mirazur.fr (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: the November Forest Menu "6 courses menu · €380 per guest", pairing 250€, a €450 a guest charge for late cancellation (inside 15 days) or no-show, and the four "Universe" menus set by the date. mirazur.fr
Septime (2026). Official site and FAQ (autumn menu). septime-charonne.fr (restaurant's own pages), read 23 October 2026: "Menu carte blanche en 5 étapes" 85 at lunch, "en 7 étapes" 135 at dinner, pairings 60 and 75 (no currency printed; euros by location, our reading); bookings open daily at 10:00 for the next 21 days. septime-charonne.fr
Disfrutar (2026). Home page. disfrutarbarcelona.com (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: two tasting menus at 325€, wine pairing 180€, "Price valid until 07/08/2027", and "we advise you to choose the menu without seeing it previously detailed". disfrutarbarcelona.com
Asador Etxebarri (2026). Home page (Spanish). asadoretxebarri.com (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: "Precio 300€", "IVA incluido", "No incluye bebida", paid in advance for every diner, tasting menu or à la carte "a mesa completa", no vegetarian or vegan menu, 2 to 6 guests (our translations). asadoretxebarri.com
Ristorante Del Cambio (2026). Information (PDF, English). delcambio.it (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026, a PDF uploaded May 2026: "Tasting menus are designed to be shared by the entire table", à la carte with at least two savoury courses each, and the tasting menu for the whole table at six or more. delcambio.it
Geranium (2026). Menu, lunch & dinner. geranium.dk (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: "The Autumn Universe (minimum 3 hours)" 4,500 DKK, wine pairings 2,500 to 20,000 DKK, the non-alcoholic "Fruit & Vegetables" 2,300 DKK, a 1,500 DKK per guest deposit, 2 to 6 guests online, bookings 3 months ahead (the page also carries old notices). geranium.dk
Florilège (2026). Reservations, and its TableCheck booking page. aoyama-florilege.jp (restaurant's own pages), read 23 October 2026: lunch ¥12,000 "approx. 2 hours 30 minutes", dinner ¥24,000 "approx. 3 hours", "Prices include taxes. Additional 10 % service fee"; pairings; a meat or "VEGGIE" main but no vegetarian or vegan course; 100% charged for same-day cancellation; children from junior high school; no strong perfume. aoyama-florilege.jp
Den (Jimbocho Den) (2026). English home page. jimbochoden.com (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: bookings by telephone only, up to 2 months ahead, parties of up to 4; same-day cancellation or fewer diners charged "the full pre-fixed price"; diets "cannot guarantee"; no price, count or time printed. jimbochoden.com
Attica (2026). Reservations, Terms and Conditions, and Menu. attica.com.au (restaurant's own pages), read 23 October 2026: "Our multicourse tasting menu is $395pp", "about three hours", the table "yours for the evening"; a four-course lunch $220pp from November; a $150pp dinner deposit; a 10 percent service fee for six or more and 15 percent on Victorian public holidays; 72 hours for diets; children at full price; "more faith in playlists than dress codes"; alcoholic, non-alcoholic and mixed pairings; a sample menu "without spoiling any surprises" (prices printed with $ only: Australian dollars by location, our reading). attica.com.au
Brae (2026). Reservations and Terms & Conditions. braerestaurant.com (restaurant's own pages), read 23 October 2026: "Menu $380pp", alcoholic pairing + $240, non-alcoholic +$140, Sunday 10% and public holiday 15% surcharges; 50% of the menu price prepaid; 48 hours' notice; no children under six; largest table five; noon bookings at most 3 hours. braerestaurant.com
Restaurant Botanic (2026). Dining Experience. restaurantbotanic.com.au (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: "an artfully curated degustation experience", "$330pp", pairings $205, $375 and $650, the non-alcoholic "The Temperance" $145, "full payment of menus at the time of booking", a three-course Core Menu at lunch. restaurantbotanic.com.au
Quay (2026). Home page. quay.com.au (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: early seatings printed as "5.30pm (2 hour dining)"; no menu price on the page. quay.com.au
Field (2026). Menu and FAQ. fieldrestaurant.cz (restaurant's own pages), read 23 October 2026: "two degustation menus (ten course or six course)" at 4,900 and 3,200 CZK, vegetarian 4,600 and 2,900 CZK, a four-course lunch 1,950 CZK, pairings (ten-course: wine A 6,400, wine B 2,200, non-alcoholic 1,300 CZK); a table held 15 minutes, smart casual, not suitable under 6. fieldrestaurant.cz
La Degustation Bohême Bourgeoise (2026). Menu and Reservation. ladegustation.cz (restaurant's own pages), read 23 October 2026: "Menu 3500 Kč", wine pairings 2000 and 3700 Kč, non-alcoholic pairing 1300 Kč; card details to finalise a booking; smart casual recommended; "Every course on our menu has its own origin story". ladegustation.cz
V Zátiší (2026). Tasting Menu. vzatisi.cz (restaurant's own menu), read 23 October 2026: "5 course menu- 1 985 CZK / person * 4 course menu - 1 795 CZK / person", wine pairings Iconic and Classic, non-alcoholic pairing 695 CZK, each wine's pour printed (0,1 l or 0,05 l), a vegetarian version. vzatisi.cz
Rivera, E. (2025). Pujol: precios y menú del restaurante con dos estrellas Michelin. Grupo Animal (magazine), 25 June 2025, read 23 October 2026 in full; NOT the restaurant's page (Pujol's site and its OpenTable page blocked us): a 9-course taco omakase at the bar ($3,995 pesos) and a 6-course menu in the dining room ($3,595 pesos), drinks not included, "cada seating es de dos horas" (our translations). grupoanimal.mx
Firedoor (2026). Home page. firedoor.com.au (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: a "three-course chef's set menu, only available for lunch, for $155 per person". firedoor.com.au
Langbaan (2026). FAQ. langbaanportland.com (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026, undated (footer 2025): "Tasting Menu is priced at $145 per person", wine pairing $70, non-alcoholic pairing $45, "An automatic gratuity of 20%", the full menu price inside 48 hours, 2 days' notice for restrictions and the ones it cannot meet, corkage. langbaanportland.com
Nisei (2026). FAQ. restaurantnisei.com (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: "Please allow at least 3 hours", the cadence adjusted if told ahead, non-refundable but transferable deposits, "A 20% service charge is added to all purchases", 48 hours for allergies, what cannot be removed, no children under 12 unless they eat the full menu, "casual elegance or cocktail attire". restaurantnisei.com
Moor Hall (2026). Legal (booking terms). moorhall.com (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: tasting menus £155 (lunch) and £285, "a discretionary service charge of 12.5%", a 50% deposit, 14-day cancellation, the full menu price inside 24 hours, no children under 12, arrive 30 minutes early, no sportswear; its restaurant section rules out vegan menus while its Luxury Lunch section offers one. moorhall.com
Ynyshir (2026). Home page and FAQ. ynyshir.co.uk (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: dinner "from £450+ 20% VAT per person", "not suitable for those with food allergies, intolerances, and dislikes", all sales final, children only for the full menu, "music throughout along with a disco ball". ynyshir.co.uk
Kitchen Table (2026). Home page. kitchentablelondon.co.uk (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: Wine Pairing £175, Grower Champagne pairing £250, a soft pairing; select allergies with a week's notice and the ones it cannot cater for; smart casual; "All reservations are non refundable"; "please arrive ... punctually". kitchentablelondon.co.uk
Restaurant Guy Savoy (2026). Card and menu (English site). guysavoy.com (restaurant's own page), read 23 October 2026: a set menu "served for the entire table - Excluding drinks" at 760 €; at lunch a "Seven-course tasting menu served in 90 minutes or more", €295 without drinks or €410 with 4 glasses of wine. guysavoy.com
Alchemist (2021). Reservation policy. alchemist.dk (restaurant's own page), effective 18 February 2021, read 23 October 2026: prepaid tickets refundable until 14 days before (1 to 3 guests) or 21 days (4 or more), "The service fee is non-refundable at all times", no-shows pay the full menu price. alchemist.dk
Nén Tokyo (2026). Visitor information (TableCheck booking page). tablecheck.com (restaurant's own policy), read 23 October 2026: 0% more than 48 hours before, 50% at 24 to 48 hours, 100% inside 24 hours or no-show; "a timed experience (about 2.5h)"; more than 20 minutes late without notice may count as a no-show; children 7 and over order the tasting menu; smart casual. tablecheck.com
Sézanne (Four Seasons Hotel Marunouchi Tokyo) (2026). Book at Sézanne (TableCheck booking page). tablecheck.com (restaurant's own policy), read 23 October 2026: "100% cancellation fee" within 7 days, "unable to accommodate any dietary restrictions or allergies", courses may be cut for arrivals more than 15 minutes late, guests 13 and older only, prices "Svc & tax incl." (Menu SÉZANNE ¥56,925). tablecheck.com
Schola (Nakameguro, Tokyo) (2026). Online reservation listing. AutoReserve (restaurant's own text on a booking platform), read 23 October 2026, an undated summer listing: the full 7-glass pairing the equivalent of three to four glasses of wine in total, a half pairing of about 1/4 bottle, non-alcoholic drinks, the meal "over approximately 2 and a half hours". autoreserve.com
Saint Peter (2026). Menu, and the Summer Sample Menu (PDF). saintpeter.com.au (restaurant's own pages), read 23 October 2026: "Ten-course tasting menu, $395 per person", an all-fish run from raw albacore to "Sweets of the Sea", and "Walk-ins always welcome. Bookings available, not required.". saintpeter.com.au
Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester (2026). Harmonie menu (PDF). alainducasse-dorchester.com (restaurant's own menu), read October 2026, a PDF uploaded October 2026: scallop, mushroom, lobster, turbot, lamb, French cheeses and a Mont-Blanc, £285. alainducasse-dorchester.com
L'Orangerie Koan (The Kitano Hotel Tokyo) (2026). Restaurant page on TableCheck. tablecheck.com (restaurant's own listing), read October 2026: autumn set menus labelled by course, the longest (¥18,000, "Svc excl. / tax incl.") with a "Pre-dessert" and "Coffee and Mignardises", the shorter ones with "Fish or Meat (please choose)". tablecheck.com
The Waterside Inn (2026). Menu Gastronomique, October & November 2026 (sample PDF). waterside-inn.co.uk (restaurant's own menu), read October 2026, a PDF uploaded September 2026: five lines from egg to coffee and mignardises, "to be ordered by the whole table", £35.00 for each substitution, £12.00 printed under the coffee and mignardises line, VAT included and a discretionary 12.5% service charge excluded. waterside-inn.co.uk
Quintonil (2026). Menú Nuestro México, Octubre 2026. quintonil.com (restaurant's own menu), read October 2026 (Spanish; translations ours): 13 lines, each protein's weight printed (tuna 25 gr, lobster 20 gr, trout and rib eye 40 gr), "El menú degustación es individual, no se puede compartir", Menú $6,090 MXN. quintonil.com
Jean-Georges (2026). Ten-Course and Six-Course tasting menus. jean-georgesrestaurant.com (restaurant's own menus), read October 2026: the ten-course (398) runs amuse-bouche, amberjack and tuna, mushroom, fish, lobster, foie gras, duck and one dessert; the six-course (298) amuse-bouche to wagyu and dessert (no currency printed). jean-georgesrestaurant.com
Les Amis (2026). Le Menu Dégustation (PDF). lesamis.com.sg (restaurant's own menu), read October 2026: autumn menus with every course labelled in the French order (cold hors d'oeuvre, shellfish, sea fish, main, cheeses "Au Chariot", dessert), "prepared for the entire table", taxes and service charge extra. lesamis.com.sg
Azurmendi (2026). Menus. azurmendi.restaurant (restaurant's own page), read October 2026: the Gran Menú from a "Welcome picnic" through the kitchen, the garden and a viewpoint to plated courses, a cheese trolley "before moving on to the sweet world", desserts and petits fours, bread "During the tasting menu", 350€ VAT included. azurmendi.restaurant
Gramercy Tavern (2026). Dining Room menu. gramercytavern.com (restaurant's own menu), read October 2026: the Seasonal Menu, $178 per person, with "Marinated Fluke*" and the footnote "*Consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish, or eggs may increase your risk of foodborne illness.". gramercytavern.com
Reale (Niko Romito) (2026). Degustazione Reale (PDF). nikoromito.com (restaurant's own menu), read October 2026, a PDF uploaded October 2026 (Italian; translations ours): 11 lines with "Pane" as the fourth course, "realizzato per un tavolo completo", 250 €, and a note that some ingredients, the salt cod among them, are bought frozen. nikoromito.com
Kong Hans Kælder (2026). The Signature Menu. konghans.dk (restaurant's own page), read October 2026 (Danish; translations ours): amuse-bouche, eight hors d'oeuvre, fish, "surf & turf", quail, sweetbreads, wagyu, an optional cheese trolley (+325 kr.), a granité, desserts and the dessert trolley, 3200 kr.; waiters "fillet, flambé and carve at the table"; no vegan menu. konghans.dk
Canlis (2026). Menu. canlis.com (restaurant's own menu), read October 2026: "a 6-course dining experience" in which the diner chooses 3 courses, a 1950 salad "prepared tableside for the entire party" for +$20, and "A 20% service charge". canlis.com
Maido (2026). Home page. maido.pe (restaurant's own page), read October 2026: "Menú de degustación de 12 pasos" (a 12-step tasting menu) and prices that include tax and the service surcharge. maido.pe
Osteria Francescana (2026). Menu. osteriafrancescana.it (restaurant's own menu), read October 2026: the "Ho Fame! Ho Fame!" tasting menu, 11 dish names, most of which do not say what kind of course they are, € 350. osteriafrancescana.it
Kikunoi (菊乃井) (2026). 今月の献立 (this month's menu), Kannazuki (October). kikunoi.jp (restaurant's own menu), read October 2026 (Japanese; readings and translations ours): an example October kaiseki at 30,000 yen, tax and service extra, in ten named courses from choko and hassun to rice, closing soup and mizumono; ingredients vary with the market. kikunoi.jp
Odo (2026). Menu. odo.nyc (restaurant's own page), read October 2026: kaiseki "with each course defined by a particular cooking method", a sample sequence from sakizuke to dessert, lunch six courses $150, dinner "8-9 courses for $270 per guest". odo.nyc
Sushi Noz (2026). Home page and FAQ. sushinoz.com (restaurant's own page), read October 2026: "5-6 otsumami", then "12-14 courses of seasonal nigiri", miso soup, tamago and dessert, "about 2.5 hours", and the diets it cannot accommodate. sushinoz.com
Resy (2026). Cancellation fee charges. Resy helpdesk (booking platform, restaurant side), last updated 25 February 2026, read October 2026: the restaurant decides whether to charge a no-show or late-cancel fee, "This is not an automated process". helpdesk.resy.com
SevenRooms (2026). Terms of service. sevenrooms.com (booking platform), updated 17 April 2026, read October 2026: each venue sets its cancellation policy, at least 30 minutes' notice where it has none, prepayment, cancellation fees or a card to hold the booking, and "Disputes with Venues must be resolved directly with the Venue". sevenrooms.com
Tasting Table (2026). The OpenTable reservation penalty you'll want to avoid. Tasting Table (magazine), undated, read October 2026; a magazine's reading of OpenTable's rules (OpenTable's own pages timed out): a no-show includes being more than 15 minutes late, and four in 12 months suspend an account. tastingtable.com
MICHELIN Guide (2025). Our MICHELIN Guide inspectors share their best fine dining tips. MICHELIN Guide, 23 April 2025, read 23 October 2026 in full: "And when it comes to length? Flexibility is the magic word"; a shorter menu at a one-star restaurant "can ease you in"; lunch; "two or three tailored pours" instead of a full pairing. No duration in hours. guide.michelin.com
Shortell, D. (2026). How Sons & Daughters makes a 24-course tasting menu feel intimate and engaging. MICHELIN Guide, 24 June 2026, read October 2026 through a page-reading tool (the site blocks plain downloads): the general manager on a menu "designed to take around three and a half to four hours", about 30 minutes of snacks in a shared lounge, pacing tailored per table, tableside presentations. guide.michelin.com
Forbes Travel Guide (2017). What is the dress code at Per Se? Forbes Travel Guide, 23 May 2017, read 23 October 2026: the tasting menu "takes about four hours to get through" (2017; Per Se's own page prints no time). forbestravelguide.com
Haines, A. (2024). The tasting menu gets a trim. TASTE (magazine), 23 September 2024, read 23 October 2026 in full (the same article as /guides/prix-fixe's reference): menus cut (bōm 13 to ten, Jōji 21 to 19), short menus added (Corima "six courses for $98"), Daniel Garwood's "no more than two-and-a-half hours", the writer's "four-hour menu" at Mirazur, and Mirazur's chef on smaller servings at the same price. tastecooking.com
Walton, S. (2022). Horses for courses: Stuart Walton on tasting menu challenges. The Good Food Guide (signed opinion feature), 2 September 2022, read 23 October 2026 in full: "three or four hours of stoically maintained patience", the whole-table rule "reasonable enough", the run of a long menu, "please understand, Chef. It's enough", and "scores of tasting menus that are purposeful, exciting, well positioned and enjoyable". thegoodfoodguide.co.uk
Shott, C. (2016). Tasting menus are gradually demanding less of your life. Food Republic (magazine, relaying the Chicago Tribune and The New York Times), 18 July 2016, read 23 October 2026 in full: the remodelled Alinea's menu "pared down to around a dozen or so dishes" and "around three and a half hours"; Eleven Madison Park's "four-hour, 25-course routine" cut to "around 14 dishes". foodrepublic.com
Lalley, H. (2017). Is à la carte dead in fine dining? Restaurant Business (trade magazine), 21 August 2017, read 23 October 2026 in full: Alinea's menu "trimmed from 30 courses down to 12", McCrady's "two-hour, 15- to 18-course" menu, Dirt Candy's 15 or more courses in "about two and a half hours". restaurantbusinessonline.com
Gibson, A. (2025). Can the tasting menu survive a possible recession? The Wall Street Journal, 4 April 2025, read 23 October 2026 as the print of the article on the author's Muck Rack portfolio (not wsj.com): "Gone are the days of 18-course menus unfurling like a three-act opera over three-plus hours", Reverie's and Herons' cuts, Alchemist's "up to 50 'impressions'". muckrack.com (author's copy)
Rodbard, M. (2026). Today's tasting menus have evolved, with something for all of us. Resy (booking platform's editorial; Resy sells these reservations), updated 8 September 2026, read 23 October 2026 in full: "brevity has won the day"; Saga, Jacaranda, Cynthia and Indienne; Cynthia's "sweep" that stretches "seven courses into something closer to twelve plates". blog.resy.com
New York Magazine (2007). Per Se, per calorie (lab test of the nine-course tasting menu). New York, 27 April 2007, re-read October 2026 (the same lab test as /guides/prix-fixe's reference): weight and calories of every course; "the nine courses tallied 1,230.8 calories", 2,416.2 with the amuse-bouche, wine, rolls with butter and chocolates. nymag.com
Grub Street (2010). Hey, did you know that tasting menus are super-calorific? Grub Street (New York magazine, relaying Zagat Buzz), 6 December 2010, read October 2026: a nutritionist's ESTIMATES, not lab tests: L'Atelier 1,470 calories to Alinea 3,045. grubstreet.com
lovefood.com (2011). Calorie counting sabotages fine dining. lovefood.com (magazine opinion column), updated 6 September 2011, read October 2026: Gauthier Soho printed calories on its menu, its £68 eight-course tasting menu with petits fours at 1,852 calories, drinks excluded (the restaurant's figure as the column reports it). lovefood.com
Sutton, R. (2026). Eleven Madison Park hits $1,000 for two! The LO Times (critic's newsletter), 12 March 2026, read 23 October 2026 (the same article as /guides/prix-fixe's reference): EMP's menu up $20 to $385 from April 2026, dinner for two $992 after tax and tip; the published prices of New York's priciest tasting menus (Per Se regular $425 for one, service included; Le Bernardin $350); Aska's NA pairings $150; prepaid and non-refundable. thelotimes.com
Sutton, R. (2025). Per Se's long tasting is now $1,000. Is it worth the mortgage? The LO Times (critic's newsletter), 7 January 2025 (the same article as /guides/prix-fixe's reference): Per Se's and The French Laundry's entry menus $425 a person, "All prices are inclusive of service". thelotimes.com
Wikipedia contributors (2026). Tasting menu. Wikipedia (what popular pages say), read 23 October 2026: its body dates Pete Wells's "spreading like an epidemic" line to 2013 while its own footnote cites "Nibbled to Death", The New York Times, 9 October 2012; its "40 courses or more" claim is not verified here. wikipedia.org
Mok, C. (2023). Stop with the tasting menus. I don't want to sit at a table for hours on end. South China Morning Post, Post Magazine (critic, opinion), 6 June 2023, read October 2026 as the opening fragment shown before the paywall: "Eating has become an endurance sport". scmp.com
Kummer, C. (2013). Tyranny: it's what's for dinner. Vanity Fair (critic, opinion), February 2013 issue, online 9 January 2013, read October 2026 in full: the diner "strapped into a chair" for "a minimum of three and often four and five hours". vanityfair.com
Steiman, H. (2013). The point about lengthy chef's menus. Wine Spectator, Harvey Steiman At Large (critic's blog, opinion), 9 January 2013, read October 2026 in full: "Leave it to us privileged foodies to complain about getting too much"; he has "waved off two or three late courses at the French Laundry". winespectator.com
Shilcutt, K. (2012). Scott Tycer serves comfort food in a comfy setting at Kraftsmen Cafe. Houston Press (alt-weekly), 24 October 2012 (print issue of 18-24 October 2012), read October 2026: a cafe review that quotes The New York Times critic Pete Wells's recent warning, "nibbled to death" and "This is a challenge no chef should saunter into casually" (the Times itself blocked us; the 9 October 2012 date is Wikipedia's footnote). houstonpress.com
Reynolds, G. (2022). The death of the tasting menu. Club Oenologique (magazine, opinion), 9 May 2022, read October 2026 in full: a 27-course, four-and-a-half-hour meal recounted, and a "third way" of "more than three, fewer than 27" courses at around £50; also quotes Pete Wells's "as much like a victim as a guest". cluboenologique.com
OC Weekly (n.d.). Five reasons tasting menus are a dining scourge. OC Weekly, Stick a Fork In It (food blog, opinion), date and byline not shown to us (a bot check blocked the page's details), read October 2026: "the cost is probably justified", and "three or more hours in the same chair". ocweekly.com
Sheldon, A. (2025). Is the tasting menu still the pinnacle of dining out in Scotland? The List (magazine; chefs quoted), 3 November 2025, read October 2026 in full: tasting-menu sales "much lower" than à la carte at one restaurant, "the best year in our history" at a tasting-menu-only one, "Appetites are shrinking". list.co.uk
Sietsema, R. (2025). Why you should try the tasting menu. Robert Sietsema's New York (critic's newsletter), 29 January 2025, read October 2026 (the free part): "Tasting menus have lately gotten out of hand", wine, tax and "often, service" extra, and four he calls "worth it, and almost affordable". substack.com
Hetter, K. (2018). So much food: why do restaurants serve tasting menus? CNN, republished by WRAL (news; experts quoted), 30 April 2018, read October 2026 in full: Keller's "one and a half bites" (Clark Wolf), "palate fatigue" after three or four bites (Beth Forrest, Culinary Institute of America), Alice Waters's "too much and too long", Carlo Mirarchi's "up and down flow", and omakase vs a Western tasting menu. wral.com
Fine Dining Lovers (2016). Master Michelin-starred dining etiquette: 10 dos and don'ts. Fine Dining Lovers (S.Pellegrino-owned magazine; etiquette opinion), 2 September 2016, read October 2026 (the numbered headings did not come through): the menu "meant for the entire party", diets at booking, bread and petits fours unpaid but a chosen aperitif charged, staff who "accompany you to the bathroom and replace your napkin", and "always the best way to get to know the chef's cuisine". finedininglovers.com
Bulla, L. (2025). One of the worst things you can do at a tasting menu restaurant, according to Dave Chang. Chowhound (magazine, reporting a podcast), 11 July 2025, read October 2026: David Chang calls asking for a second helping of a course a "cardinal sin"; if you must, ask "at the end of the meal" (the podcast itself was not heard). chowhound.com
Amenta, F. (2026). Les 5 erreurs à éviter lors d'une réservation dans un restaurant gastronomique. Gault&Millau France (magazine; restaurant staff quoted), 24 March 2025, updated 14 May 2026, read October 2026 (French; translations ours): state allergies and diets when you book; lead times from 48 hours on weekdays to three months; card imprints against no-shows; "tenue correcte" and no shorts; minimum ages set by each house. gaultmillau.com
The Local France (AFP) (2014). French chef to diners: no food pictures. The Local (news), 13 February 2014, read October 2026: Gilles Goujon on photos that take away the surprise, and Alexandre Gauthier: "Photos aren't forbidden, but I want people to question it". thelocal.fr
The Staff Canteen (2017). Alain Roux's The Waterside Inn will no longer allow diners to photograph their food. The Staff Canteen (trade press, citing The Telegraph and the Daily Mail), 1 November 2017, read October 2026: a "No photos, please" card at the door; Michel Roux Jr and The Araki allowed photos, the Araki without flash. thestaffcanteen.com
Mintahoe Catering & Events (2024). What is a wedding food tasting? What to expect and how to prepare. Mintahoe (caterer's blog), 4 November 2024, read October 2026: a session where a couple samples a caterer's dishes "to help couples finalize their wedding menu". mintahoe.com
US Food and Drug Administration (2026). Food allergies. FDA, content current as of 11 March 2026, read October 2026 in an archived 2026 copy (fda.gov blocked us): FALCPA's eight major allergens, sesame the ninth from 1 January 2023, and labelling that does not apply to food wrapped "following a customer's order". fda.gov
US Food and Drug Administration (2026). Food Code 2026. FDA (a model code: binding only where a state or locality adopts it), read October 2026 in the archived copy of 29 September 2026: ¶3-602.12(C), written notice of major food allergens in unpackaged food, and the Preface: "not federal requirements" until adopted. fda.gov
Food Standards Agency (2026). Allergen guidance for food businesses. GOV.UK, updated 17 July 2026, read October 2026 in full: the 14 allergens, allergen information for every non-prepacked item "as well as meals served in a restaurant", in writing or verbally with a written notice; prepacked for direct sale (Natasha's Law) foods such as sandwiches made and sold on site. gov.uk
European Parliament and Council (2011). Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers, Article 44 and Annex II (as adopted). Official Journal of the European Union, read October 2026 in legislation.gov.uk's copy of the text as adopted (EUR-Lex showed only a bot check): allergen information mandatory for food sold without prepackaging, member states choose the means; the 14 in Annex II. legislation.gov.uk
European Commission, DG SANTE (2026). Food information to consumers: legislation. food.ec.europa.eu, read October 2026: "mandatory allergen information for non-prepacked foods, including in restaurants and cafes", in application since 13 December 2014. food.ec.europa.eu
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (2025). Allergen labelling. FSANZ, updated 26 November 2025, read October 2026: Plain English Allergen Labelling from 25 February 2024; for unpackaged food the information "must be displayed with the food or can be requested"; sulphites at 10 mg/kg or more. foodstandards.gov.au
UK Parliament (2023). Employment (Allocation of Tips) Act 2023, section 1 (as enacted). legislation.gov.uk, read October 2026: a "tip, gratuity or service charge (however described)", and VAT is not part of it. legislation.gov.uk
Department for Business and Trade (2026). Distributing tips fairly: statutory code of practice (landing page, and the draft revised code). GOV.UK, read October 2026: the landing page ("Applies to England, Scotland and Wales"); the code first in force 1 October 2024; quoted lines come from the 2026 DRAFT revision, which covers service charges "applied automatically by a business and those added discretionarily by a customer" (the in-force 2024 text was not read). gov.uk
Acas (2026). Tips, gratuities and service charges. acas.org.uk, read October 2026: the 2023 Act covers tips, service charges and gratuities the employer has "control or significant influence" over, passed on without deductions other than tax and National Insurance. acas.org.uk
Internal Revenue Service (2026). Tip recordkeeping and reporting. irs.gov, updated 31 July 2026, read October 2026: "mandatory service charges, are not tips"; an employer may distribute them "in any manner it chooses or may retain all or part"; only a voluntary amount on top is a tip. irs.gov
Ministère de l'Économie, des Finances et de la Relance (2020). Réponse à la question écrite n° 18891 (pourboire). Assemblée nationale, Journal officiel, answer published 22 December 2020, read October 2026 (French; translations ours): under the arrêté of 27 March 1987 the posted price is "taxes et service compris" where service is charged, a tip on top is the customer's free choice, and a compulsory tip is not envisaged. assemblee-nationale.fr
DGCCRF (2025). Restaurants (fiche pratique). Ministère de l'Économie, /guides/prix-fixe's reading (its pages blocked us in October 2026): "Prix service compris" in the posted price. economie.gouv.fr
South China Morning Post, This Week in Asia (2025). Foreign tradition of tipping upends Japan's culture of gracious service. South China Morning Post (news, quoting the Japan National Tourism Organization), 3 September 2025, read October 2026 as the fragment shown before the paywall (JNTO's own page would not load as text): "It's not common to tip for services such as those provided in bars, cafés, restaurants, taxis and hotels". scmp.com
SBS The Feed (2023). Your favourite restaurant may be adding an automatic tip to your bill. Should tipping be normalised? SBS (news, quoting the ACCC), 15 February 2023, read October 2026 (the ACCC's own pages blocked us, so this is second-hand): SBS's own sentence that under Australian consumer law tips are "optional charges" or "pre-selected extras"; an ACCC spokesperson's that a consumer misled into one can "request a pro-rata refund". sbs.com.au
GHR (Groupement des Hôtelleries et Restaurations de France) (2021). Obligation de mise à disposition de doggy bags depuis le 1er juillet 2021. ghr.fr (trade body reporting the law), published 2 July 2021, read October 2026 (French; translation ours; Légifrance blocked us, so the statute was not read; CCI Paris Île-de-France says the same): reusable or recyclable containers for uneaten food "doivent être mis à disposition des clients qui en font la demande"; free or paid is left to the restaurant ("à titre gratuit ou payant est laissé au choix du professionnel"). ghr.fr
NHS (2026). Foods to avoid in pregnancy. nhs.uk, last reviewed 15 June 2026, read October 2026 in full: sushi with raw fish "even if it has been previously frozen", raw shellfish, raw or undercooked meat, cold cured meats, cheeses by type, raw-egg foods made with British Lion eggs, and alcohol. nhs.uk
Food Standards Agency (2018). Listeria. GOV.UK, published 8 January 2018, read October 2026: pregnant women and people with weakened immunity are advised to avoid ready-to-eat cold-smoked or cured fish such as smoked salmon or gravlax. gov.uk
Food Standards Agency (2017). Burgers. GOV.UK, published 19 December 2017, read October 2026: "a burger needs to be served well done, while a steak can be served rare". gov.uk
European Parliament and Council (2004). Regulation (EC) No 853/2004, Annex III, Section VIII, Chapter III (as retained in UK law). legislation.gov.uk, read October 2026 (EUR-Lex showed only a bot check): fishery products eaten raw frozen to -20 °C for not less than 24 hours or -35 °C for not less than 15 hours, a rule for businesses. legislation.gov.uk
US Food and Drug Administration (2023). Food Code 2022 (January 18, 2023 version). FDA (a model code: binding only where adopted), read October 2026 in the archived copy of 28 September 2026 (fda.gov blocked us): §3-402.11 parasite destruction (-20°C (-4°F) for 168 hours, or -35°C (-31°F) for 15 or 24 hours), §3-401.11 raw and undercooked food on request, §3-603.11 the consumer advisory. fda.gov
US Food and Drug Administration (2024). Selecting and serving fresh and frozen seafood safely. FDA (consumer advice), content current as of 5 March 2024, read October 2026 in the archived copy of 30 September 2026: a rule of thumb, "eat fish that has been previously frozen", and what at-risk groups should avoid (sashimi, some sushi, ceviche, raw oysters). fda.gov
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2025). Preventing Vibrio infection. CDC, last updated 7 July 2025, read October 2026 in an archived copy of 10 September 2026: "Do not eat raw or undercooked oysters or other seafood". cdc.gov
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2025). Preventing Listeria infection. CDC, last updated 31 January 2025, read October 2026 in an archived copy of 23 September 2026: any raw-milk cheese, queso fresco-type cheeses unless heated to 165°F, refrigerated smoked fish and pâté for higher-risk groups. cdc.gov
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (2025). Raw fish dishes. FSANZ (consumer advice), updated 29 July 2025, read October 2026: "Freezing raw fish for at least 7 days will kill parasites" (no temperature given), and vulnerable people "should not eat raw fish". foodstandards.gov.au
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (2024). Safe food for people at risk (fact sheet). FSANZ, PDF filed August 2024, read October 2026: raw oysters, sashimi and sushi, soft and surface-ripened cheeses (brie, camembert, ricotta, feta, blue) unless thoroughly cooked, and raw or lightly cooked eggs (aioli, mousse) as higher-risk foods. foodstandards.gov.au
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (2025). Pregnancy. FSANZ (consumer advice), updated 25 February 2025, read October 2026: "The National Health and Medical Research Council recommends that women who are pregnant or breastfeeding don't drink alcohol.". foodstandards.gov.au
厚生労働省 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan) (2026). アニサキスによる食中毒を予防しましょう (Preventing anisakis food poisoning). mhlw.go.jp, read October 2026 (Japanese; translations ours): freeze at -20°C for 24 hours or more, or heat to 70°C (60°C for 1 minute); vinegar, salt, soy sauce or wasabi do not kill the larvae. mhlw.go.jp
USDA Agricultural Research Service, Nutrient Data Laboratory (2007). USDA Table of Nutrient Retention Factors, Release 6. USDA ARS, read October 2026 (PDF): alcohol left after cooking, flamed 75%, stirred into a boiling liquid 85%, baked or simmered 15 minutes 40% to 2.5 hours 5% (the alcohol column read by us: the PDF's header is rotated). ars.usda.gov
NPR, Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! (transcript republished by KQED Bay Area Bites) (2014). Not my job: French Laundry chef Thomas Keller gets quizzed on actual laundry. KQED (radio transcript; chef quoted), show of 18 July 2014, transcript of 20 July 2014, read October 2026 in full: "the law of diminishing return", and appetite satisfied after "10, 11, 12 or 13 courses" over three to three and a half hours (his cookbook was not read). kqed.org
Embling, R., Pink, A. E., Gatzemeier, J., Price, M., Lee, M. D., & Wilkinson, L. L. (2021). Effect of food variety on intake of a meal: a systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 113(3), 716-741, abstract: more variety in a meal, more eaten (Hedges' g 0.405), with a high risk of bias across studies; lab meals, not tasting menus. doi.org
Raynor, H. A., & Epstein, L. H. (2001). Dietary variety, energy regulation, and obesity. Psychological Bulletin, 127(3), 325-341, abstract: sensory-specific satiety, a greater drop in liking or intake for foods eaten than for foods not eaten. doi.org
Hetherington, M. M. (1996). Sensory-specific satiety and its importance in meal termination. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 20(1), 113-117, abstract: in a lab meal, the commonest reason for stopping the first course was "I got tired of eating that food" (40%), and for the second "I felt full" (48%). doi.org
Havermans, R. C. (2012). Stimulus specificity but no dishabituation of sensory-specific satiety. Appetite, 58(3), 852-855, abstract: sensory-specific satiety is food-specific and was not reset by eating another food or by a distraction. doi.org
Lillicrap, D., & Cousins, J. (2010). Food and Beverage Service. Hodder Education, London, read October 2026 only as Internet Archive full-text search fragments, no page numbers: a tasting menu as a "set meal with a range of courses (often between 6 and 10)"; the à la carte cover (cutlery laid before each course) vs the table d'hôte cover (laid for the whole meal); plated service.
Gisslen, W. (2011). Professional Cooking, 7th edition. Wiley, read October 2026 only as Internet Archive full-text search fragments: a tasting menu "offered in addition to the regular menu", "5 or 6 or even as many as 10 or 12 individual courses", served only if everyone at the table orders it, changing daily.
Hardy, K. (2013). Bus perfection: barely seen, never heard. FSR Magazine (trade magazine), 26 February 2013, read October 2026: "many fine-dining restaurants clear tables all at once, when all diners have finished a course". fsrmagazine.com
The Peak (Singapore) (2017). Why these 3 restaurants serve food on custom-made plates. The Peak (magazine), 2 September 2017, read October 2026: each course "arranged on the assigned dish" at Odette; at Jaan, "No spoon is given for this". thepeakmagazine.com.sg
Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts (2017). Building a better tasting menu for special events. Escoffier school blog, 8 September 2017, read October 2026: build toward a peak, "frequently but not exclusively a protein". escoffier.edu
Yong, D. (2016). Kaiseki 懐石 or kaiseki 会席? MICHELIN Guide (Singapore), 6 June 2016, read October 2026 through a page-reading tool: "Traditionally, kaiseki meals comprised nine courses", hassun usually second, named for "eight-inch wooden platters". guide.michelin.com
Blumenthal, H., Barbot, P., Matsuhisa, N., & Mikuni, K. (2009). Dashi and Umami: The Heart of Japanese Cuisine (section "Appetiser as hassun"). Cookbook, read on ckbk.com, read October 2026 only as the ckbk preview fragment: a hassun served "on a wooden platter roughly 24 cm square". ckbk.com
Oxford English Dictionary (2026). Tasting menu, n. Oxford University Press, /guides/prix-fixe's reading: North American; earliest evidence 1979, in the Chicago Tribune. oed.com
Pearlman, A. (2024). The tasting menu. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Food Studies, /guides/prix-fixe's reading of the abstract: the tasting menu as "a set multicourse meal that a restaurant offers to all diners for a single price". oxfordre.com
Merriam-Webster (2026). Degustation (entry). Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, /guides/prix-fixe's reading: "tasting especially in a series of small portions". merriam-webster.com
Le Bernardin (2026). Menus and booking terms (September 2026). le-bernardin.com (restaurant's own pages), /guides/prix-fixe's September 2026 reading: "Cancellations must be made at least 48 hours in advance to avoid a $150 per person fee"; business casual, jackets recommended; no children under ten. le-bernardin.com
The French Laundry (2026). Reservations (Tock). Tock (restaurant's booking page), /guides/prix-fixe's September 2026 reading (Tock blocked us in October): prepaid, "$425 per person + add-ons". exploretock.com
Atomix (2026). Reservations (Tock). Tock (restaurant's booking page), /guides/prix-fixe's September 2026 reading (Tock blocked us in October): "we do not accept gratuities", a 10% administrative fee that "is not a gratuity", and the diets the counter menu cannot accommodate. exploretock.com
Masa (2026). Reservations and FAQ (Tock). Tock (restaurant's booking page), /guides/prix-fixe's September 2026 reading: the Chef's Reserve counter omakase at $1,200 a person, paid as a deposit when you book. exploretock.com
DuJour (2026). The 10 commandments of tasting menus. DuJour (magazine; chefs quoted), /guides/prix-fixe's reading: Shaun Hergatt, "At Juni everyone at the same table has to order the same tasting menu"; René Stein, "I need to know at least a day before". dujour.com
Eater (2017). How to design a tasting menu (The Upsell, with Naomi Pomeroy). Eater, /guides/prix-fixe's reading, 11 April 2017: the bell curve. eater.com
Great British Chefs (2026). Sat Bains and the science of the tasting menu. greatbritishchefs.com, /guides/prix-fixe's reading: rich followed by acid; when guests should feel full. greatbritishchefs.com
Time Out London (2025). Why are so many London restaurants now charging a 15% service charge? Time Out (magazine), /guides/prix-fixe's reading, March 2025: 12.5% was once the standard. timeout.com

Tasting menu: what it is, how long it takes, what it costs and what to expect, course by course

What is a tasting menu?

How many courses, how long, how much: 31 tasting menus, read on the restaurants' own pages

What the tally says (ours)

How long is a tasting menu? Every source's line, side by side

Longer, then shorter: the course count over time

Tasting menu prices, and what they include

How much food is a tasting menu?

How a tasting menu runs, course by course

Snacks and amuse-bouche

Bread

A raw or cold course

A vegetable course

Fish and shellfish

Meat or game

Cheese

Pre-dessert

Dessert

Mignardises with coffee

Why the plates are small

How each course is plated and served

Booking a tasting menu: deposits, cancelling, diets, dress and children

When tables are released

Deposits, prepaid tickets and cancelling

Dietary needs and allergies

What the law makes a restaurant tell you, by country

What to wear, and children

Tasting menu with wine pairing, a non-alcoholic pairing, or your own bottle

Non-alcoholic pairings

A half pairing, and how much you drink

Bringing your own bottle: corkage

What the price includes, and tipping and service charges by country

On the night: pacing, breaks, bread, photos, and when you have had enough

Pacing and arriving

Going to the toilet mid-meal

More bread, or a second helping

Taking photos

Not finishing, smaller portions, and saying you have had enough

Taking food home

Is a tasting menu worth it? The critics, for and against

Tasting menu vs omakase, kaiseki, chef's table, set menu, prix fixe and à la carte

Omakase vs tasting menu

Kaiseki vs tasting menu

Chef's table vs tasting menu

Not the same thing: a wedding menu tasting

Food safety on a tasting menu, by country: raw courses, pregnancy, cheese and alcohol

Raw fish and parasites: the freezing rules differ

Raw and undercooked courses, pregnancy and people at higher risk

The cheese course: three agencies, three lists

Alcohol in sauces and desserts

Popular claims about tasting menus, each with a verdict

Photograph your plate, see it re-plated

Your food, plated like a chef's

Tasting menu terms, defined

Chef's tasting menu

Carte blanche menu · menu carte blanche

Wine pairing · accord mets vins; beverage pairing

Non-alcoholic pairing · zero-proof pairing; soft pairing; temperance pairing

Half pairing · short pairing

Corkage

Snacks · canapés; introduction

Pre-dessert

Mignardises · petits fours

Discretionary service charge

Automatic service charge · auto-gratuity

Prepaid reservation · ticket

No-show fee · late-cancellation fee

Consumer advisory

Otsumami

Hassun · 八寸

Palate fatigue

Sensory-specific satiety

Tasting menus, answered

What is a tasting menu?

How does a tasting menu work?

How many courses is a tasting menu?

How long does a tasting menu take?

How much does a tasting menu cost?

Is a tasting menu worth it?

Do you tip on a tasting menu?