It was the meal of a lifetime according to Nick Pegna (below). The Hong Kong resident was a guest at Saturday's million-baht dinner (HK$225,000) in Bangkok. While some critics called it an ostentatious waste, a foodie such as Pegna was in heaven as one of about 40 people to experience the 11-course Epicurean feast prepared by some of the world's top chefs.

'It was absolutely fantastic from start to finish,' the managing director of Berry Bros.&Rudd recalled. 'But it did take 15 to 20 minutes for each dish to be prepared so the whole dinner was quite drawn out. We left at 1.45am and started at 8pm. The best thing for me was seeing the Michelin chefs who are normally competitors help each other in the open kitchen. I work in wine, so my afternoon was spent decanting the wines and making sure all 60 bottles were in perfect condition.'

By his reckoning, there were about five people from Hong Kong there. But the big question remains, was the meal worth a million baht? 'An experience like this is hard to quantify. What made it easier to consider was that all the proceeds went to charity.'