Most Expensive Seafood Delicacies You Must Try

When it comes to fine dining, some of the most popular menu items include oysters, caviar, and lobster. Seafood is almost synonymous with luxury dining, and some of it comes with a high price tag thanks to high demand and cost of the supply. If anything though, this only prompts more people to want to sample the most expensive seafood in the world.

To help you dine like royalty, we’ve compiled a list for you to keep in mind next time you’re dining out at a five-star restaurant as we take a look at what is the most expensive seafood.

Get more details: Best Seafood Restaurants in Chicago

What Are the Most Pricey Seafood Dishes Around the World? Our Favorite #2

1. Baby Eels

It may be unexpected to see this so high on this list since, despite its high price point, it’s not one of the first things that comes to mind when you think of luxury seafood. Nevertheless, baby eels are one of the most expensive seafood dishes (or just one of the most expensive dishes period) that money can buy. With some available at $2000 per pound, you may be wondering what’s so special about them.

Originating in Spain (and referred to there as Angulas), baby eels were actually only used as livestock feed at one time. That is until world-renowned Spanish chefs began incorporating them into their dishes. Their price isn’t reflective of their mild flavor, but instead, due to their scarcity, which is down to overfishing, natural disasters, and seasonal fishing restrictions. In recent years, around only 10,000 tons have been sold each year.

2. Bluefin Tuna

If you’re a fan of sushi, you may already know that bluefin tuna is one of the most sought-after seafood dishes in the world. Coming in at $584 per pound, a single mouthful of toro (the most popular, melt-in-the-mouth cut of bluefin) can easily set you back around $15-$20 at an upscale sushi house and 40,000 to 68,000 metric tons is sold each year in total. Toro is so popular thanks to its fatty consistency and is often dubbed ‘the butter of the sea’, making it one of the most delicious dishes in the world.

This type of tuna is so unique that Miru restaurant, one of the most expensive restaurants in Chicago has a special bluefin tuna experience only on wednesdays.

The price of bluefin tuna is very high since it comes primarily from Japan. With huge global demand, resistance to farming, and the slow growth of this breed all being contributing factors as to why the cost of this type of tuna is so high.

3. Coffin Bay King Oysters

It will come as no surprise to see that oysters made this list! But while oysters in general are one of the most eaten foods in the world, these aren’t just any oysters – these are world-famous Coffin Bay king oysters. These oysters come in at $383 per pound and are renowned for taking between 6 and 7 years to produce the world’s most desired pearls. That said, this isn’t the reason they’re so expensive.

Instead, their high-ticket price point is down to them taking 18 months to grow, resulting in huge and delicious oysters. The flesh inside a Coffin Bay King is around 10x meatier than that found inside regular oysters, making them a true standout among shell-fish aficionados. They’re also not too easy to come by, thanks to them only being found in Coffin Bay on the southern coast of Australia. Because they’re only found in one or two locations, only 300 tonnes of Coffin Bay king oysters are produced and sold each year.

4. Sea Cucumber

If you have an adventurous palette, then sea cucumber should definitely be on your list of sought-after seafood to sample. Priced at $116 per pound, these long, soft, spiky sea creatures are brownish-black in color, and despite their strange appearance are actually a historical delicacy in parts of Asia.

They are now a popular choice amongst health food fans, thanks to their many benefits, with around 10,000 tonnes of sea cucumber sold each year. They have been used as a treatment for the symptoms of arthritis and blood clots, and are considered by many to be a healthy ‘superfood’.

5. Uni (Sea Urchin)

Another spiky sea creature that makes for a delectable dish is Uni. More commonly known as a sea urchin, some of these can cost up to $110 per pound. While there are about 1,000 sea urchin species around the world, only 18 of these are actually edible. Despite this, around 70,000 tonnes of sea urchins are harvested and sold for consumption each year. The meat found inside them is famous for its delicate and unique umami flavor.

Uni is a popular delicacy in Hawaii so if you really want a taste of island life, be sure to sea urchin during your stay. Whether you dine on it for breakfast in Maui, or for a classy dinner at an upscale resort in Honolulu, the opportunities are endless.

Harvesting and cracking these open is a very laborious process, and is one of the reasons the cost of sea urchin is so high, it also doesn’t freeze well, so can only be consumed when fresh, meaning that only high-quality sushi restaurants will stock it.

Final Words:

Since you won’t have the opportunity to prepare many of these expensive seafood items at home thanks to how rare they are, it’s a great idea to enjoy them when dining out in the city, or better yet, at a seafront resort. Be sure to indulge in these healthy, mouthwatering luxury seafoods next time you get the chance!