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EVER WONDER WHAT it must take to get three Michelin stars?

While we have our own culinary stars in Ireland, only one restaurant here (Patrick Guilbaud’s in Dublin) currently has two stars from the global ranking organisation.

The difficulty of reaching the dizzying heights of three Michelin stars is such that fewer 100 restaurants around the world currently hold the holy trinity.

For that reason, we might have to settle for these astonishing photographs of the food at the three-starred Alinea restaurant in Chicago. It was number 7 on Restaurant Magazine’s Best World Restaurants list last world and you have to book two months in advance to get a seat at the table there. Diners are required to purchase a ticket for their seat that can cost up to $285 per person, depending on the day of the week. And that’s without including beverages.

What makes the experience of Alinea so unique is the avant-garde dish presentations and unexpected combination of flavors dreamt up by molecular gastronomy chefs Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas. Each of their 18 tasting menu courses offers a new way to eat that appeals to your taste, sight, touch, and smell.

Adam Goldberg, a food lover who takes incredible pictures of his meals for his blog A Life Worth Eating, was lucky enough to dine twice at this world-renowned restaurant. He shared pictures of his second round at Alinea with us.

Achatz has once again changed his menu since Goldberg’s 2011 meal, but a few of the courses — including the Hot Potato and Steelhead Roe — are still there.