This Mount Everest Pop-Up Restaurant Requires an Eight-Day Climb

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For the world’s most audacious adventurers, conquering Mount Everest is, both literally and figurative, a pinnacle, an activity synonymous with doing the impossible. But if you really want to show the Earth who’s boss, you don’t just climb Mount Everest, you eat a seven-course fine dining dinner while you’re up there.

A group of chefs is hoping to set a world record for the highest ever pop-up restaurant by serving dinner 11,600 feet above sea level at Everest Base Camp, according to Fine Dining Lovers. Pop-up aficionados may recall that back in 2016, ex-Noma chef James Sharman also held a pop-up dinner at Everest Base Camp, but reportedly that meal was never officially recognized by Guinness World Records; though even if it was, Everest has multiple base camps at multiple elevations. (Or this new group could simply eat on stools.)

For this project, called “Triyagyoni,” the plan is for four chefs and ten diners to take an eight-day trek up the mountain starting in Lukla, Nepal, at the end of this month. Along the way, the group plans to forage for the ingredients that will make up their final seven-course meal—which will also include assumedly non-foraged wines.

“The biggest challenge of course will be the altitude, which will affect everything,” Sanjay Thakur, an Indian chef who is one of the four behind the pop-up, told Fine Dining Lovers. “Flavour [perception] will be decreased, so we will be designing a menu of extraordinary dishes accordingly, where spices will have the upper hand.”

Beyond pure adventure, Triyagyoni is also intended to raise awareness of sustainability issues, and along those lines, Thakur said that the meal, furniture included, is designed to leave nothing behind on the mountain. Additionally, all the money raised will go to local charities.

Speaking of money, for those interested in the journey, assuming it’s not already sold out, tickets are apparently being sold for $5,600 which includes flights, accommodations, and meals. It actually doesn’t sound like a bad deal, though keep in mind that you’re also signing up for about six hours of hiking each day. Or you can also take a helicopter. But you if you’re going to take a helicopter, you might as well just take a helicopter to Eleven Madison Park. You can find contact information for the event on Fine Dining Lovers’ website.

And for the record, as impressive as eating a dinner at Everest Base Camp may be, at “just” 11,600 feet, you’re still only about a third of the way towards the mountain’s summit, which rises 29,030 feet into the air. So, yeah, let us know when you’ve had a cheese plate and some Chianti up there.