At Rs 1.2 lakh, this burger is world’s costliest
LONDON: The world’s most expensive hamburger is here and it could cost you as much as a luxury holiday to the Maldives. A Chelsea restaurant in west London called Honky Tonk has created the world’s most expensive burger embellished with gold leaf and caviar.
Priced at £1, 1237.50 with service (Over Rs 1.2 lakhs), the burger took three weeks to develop.
Talk about extravagance and “The Glamburger” has it all. The burger patty is made from 220 grams of Kobe Wagyu beef minced with 60 grams of New Zealand venison to perfectly balance the fat content, and a rich centre of black truffle brie to create a liquid pocket once the meat has cooked. The burger patty is then seasoned with smoked Himalayan salt and served with a Canadian lobster poached in Iranian saffron. Atop the lobster, creator of the burger, chef Chris Large, has added maple syrup-coated streaky bacon, Beluga caviar and a hickory-smoked duck egg intricately covered in edible gold leaf.
The bun is seasoned with a Japanese matcha and cream mayonnaise and coated in gold leaf. Finishing touches come in the form of a mango and champagne jus and grated white truffle. The burger has been verified by Record Setter as the highest priced in the world. The dish has about 14 listed ingredients — including salt and mayonnaise – costing around £78.50 each. Interestingly, the restaurant has thrown open a competition to win a chance of having the burder for free. The creation is to celebrate the sale of the restaurant’s five millionth food and drink voucher. “Anyone brave enough to rise to this monstrous challenge can enter this prize draw for a chance to travel to Honky Tonk and taste this burger for free,” the restaurant said. One winner will be selected at random and contacted by 6pm on Oct 13, 2014. For waist watchers, here another caveat — the burger adds up to a total of 2,618 calories: more than the recommended daily intake for an adult. (PTI)
UK man admits hotel hammer attack on UAE tourists
London: A British man has admitted battering three sisters from the United Arab Emirates with a hammer during an attack at an upscale London hotel, but denies trying to kill them. Philip Spence has admitted three counts of grievous bodily harm. The plea was entered last week but could not be reported until today because of a judge’s order. He is due to go on trial this week for attempted murder, which he denies. One woman was left in critical condition and all three suffered head and facial injuries. The April attack, and a later attack on an Emirati family in London, were front-page news in the Gulf nation, where violent crime is rare. British police said there was no indication the victims were targeted because of their nationality. (AP)
Munich Oktoberfest attracts over 6 mn visitors
Munich: The Munich Oktoberfest, the world’s largest beer festival, has attracted over six million visitors from all over the world this year. According to the organisers, there are 100,000 less visitors this year compared to last year, Xinhua reported. A total of 6.5 million litres of beer have been consumed.
Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter described this year’s 181st Oktoberfest, held from Sep 20 to Oct 5, as “relaxed and it brings again lots of fun”. At least 112,000 beer mugs have been stolen from different beer tents.
The number of visitors was 81,000 in 2013, which means they were interested in the traditional beer mugs with Bavarian characteristics and planned to take the souvenirs with them. The history of Oktoberfest dates back to 1810, when Bavarian Prince Ludwig married Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen.
Since then, people celebrated the anniversary of their marriage in midst of the Theresienwiese, which was named after Princess Therese. (IANS)
Man rescued from inflatable bubble off coast of Florida
Miami: A marathon runner attempting a bizarre crossing from Florida to Bermuda inside an inflatable bubble has been rescued after succumbing to exhaustion, the US Coast Guard said. US citizen Reza Baluchi was pulled from the water off the coast of Florida yesterday after triggering a radio beacon signalling he needed help, a press release said. The US Coast Guard said they had first become aware of Baluchi’s odyssey on Wednesday when personnel received a report of “a US citizen floating in an inflatable bubble.” “Baluchi was reportedly disoriented and asking for directions to Bermuda,” the statement said. A US Coast Guard vessel arrived on the scene and urged Baluchi to halt his trip after “conveying the dangers of his voyage.” Baluchi, whose bubble was stocked with protein bars, bottled water, a GPS device and a satellite phone, ignored the advice and continued. However he finally threw in the towel yesterday, floating 130 kilometres off the Florida coast. The US Coast Guard scrambled an HC-130 plane and MH-60 helicopter crews from a base in Clearwater, Florida. A rescue swimmer hoisted Baluchi from an inflatable raft where he was whisked back to land for medical evaluation. (AFP)
China launches first Giant Panda Valley in Sichuan
Beijing: China has launched its first ever Giant Panda Valley in southwest Sichuan province as part of efforts to reintroduce the conservation reliant endangered species into the wild. The Valley is located in the forest hills just fifty kilometers away from Chengdu, the panda’s natural habitat. The Panda Valley is close to the Longxi-Hongkou Nature Reserve, which also has pandas, a news agency reported. The valley will be divided into three main areas: a district for research and education, plus another two areas to help reintroduce pandas to the wild. The giant pandas will be going through one area at a time. So far, over 350 giant Pandas are living in captivity. The giant panda lives in a few mountain ranges in central China, mainly in Sichuan province, but also in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. As a result of farming, deforestation, and other development, the panda has been driven out of the lowland areas where it once lived. (PTI)
Now, ‘’macho-man’’ Putin depicted as Hercules in art exhibition!
London: An art exhibition held at a small Moscow gallery reportedly showcased paintings depicting Russian leader Vladimir Putin as Hercules-the mythical Greek hero. According to the Guardian, opened for just a night in honour of Putin”s 62nd birthday on Tuesday, the exhibit reimagined his achievements as the 12 Labours of Hercules, beginning with the slaying of the Nemean lion – in this case, Putin strangling a bearded suicide bomber representing terrorism – and ending with the capture of the three-headed dog Cerberus, which symbolised the struggle with the United States and its “unipolar world”. (ANI)
Australian PM to ban preachers who incite hatred
Canberra: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott Wednesday expressed “frustration and anger” at “preachers of hate” who come to Australia to incidte hostility, saying he will move to ban them. Abbott said on Sydney radio Wednesday that he wanted to set up a “red card” system to stop these “hate preachers” getting visas to come to Australia. But he said it was unlikely that the system would be in place in time to stop an upcoming lecture being promoted by the radical Islamic political party, Hizb ut-Tahrir. Hizb ut-Tahrir has planned to hold a public lecture in Sydney Friday about the US-led military action in Iraq and Syria. The lecture, entitled “The War To End The Blessed Revolution”, will focus on the West’s role in attacking the “noble Syrian revolution”. (PTI)
Appearing on 2GB radio, Abbott was asked by host Alan Jones whether the government would ban the organisation, which advocates that all Muslim affairs be administered according to the Shariah rules.
Abbott said he shared Jones’ “frustration and anger” but under the current laws, the group, which the prime minister declared was “thoroughly objectionable” and “campaigns against Australian values and interests” could not be banned.
But he vowed the law will change. “At the moment we can only ban organisations that engage in terrorism,” Abbott said.