每
个星期，“风尚亚洲”都会挑出一件值钱的东西，比如昂贵的收藏品、珠宝、牛仔裤乃至牛肉面，目的是说明为什么有些人愿意为它们一掷千金。读者们对这些“评估”报导非常欢迎，经常还会在评论区里进行激烈的辩论。要是你错过了其中的一些报导，就可以看看下面这些最受欢迎的“评估”──再发表一点儿自己的意见。
2. 1,000美元的牛仔裤：美国的PRPS牛仔裤公司在日本和香港的分店里出售一种特殊的牛仔裤，裤子布料上那些不规则的“纱节”（小疙瘩）是30多道手工工序和古董织机的产物。
3. 1,820万美元的瓷瓶：这只18世纪的乾隆御用瓷瓶并不是苏富比今年拍出的最贵瓷瓶，表现却大大超过了拍卖之前的估计。这只瓷瓶是在紫禁城的作坊当中烧制的，评论家们说，它的浓艳釉色便是由此而来。这只瓷瓶拥有宜于把玩的形状和完好如新的品相，还曾经在一些著名的中国艺术品收藏家手中辗转，堪称流传有绪，由此就成了一件令众多藏家垂涎三尺的珍品。
4. 324美元的牛肉面：台北牛爸爸餐馆供应世界上最昂贵的牛肉面，材料只是120克面条、5块牛肉、一块牛筋和一点汤。不过，餐馆大厨王聪源说，面条里的牛肉来自四个国家，每个部位的牛肉用的都是恰如其分的刀法。除此之外，他还用了特殊的冷冻方法来让牛肉入味。一碗牛肉面就需要差不多一个星期的烹制时间。
5. 835美元一位的宴席：为了准备11月份在香港上桌的11菜宴席，美国著名大厨托马斯•凯勒（Thomas Keller）花了将近8个月的时间。准备工作之一是从9家酒厂和13个供应商那里调用原料──包括为宴席特制的黄油和大厨本人亲手种植的花园菜蔬。前来香港文华东方酒店（Mandarin Oriental）准备宴席的不光是凯勒先生自己，还有他从自己的美国餐厅里挑来的8名员工。开宴之前半年，宴席上的415个座位就已经被抢订一空。
Amy Ma
（本文版权归道琼斯公司所有，未经许可不得翻译或转载。）
Each week, Scene picks apart something valuable ─ an expensive collectible, piece of jewelry, pair of jeans, even a bowl of noodles ─ to explain why some people find it worth paying a lot of money for. These 'Valuations' stories are popular with readers, and often hotly debated in the comments section.
In case you've missed any of them, here's your chance to read some of the most popular Valuations ─ and add your two cents.
1. A watch for $312,000: This Patek Philippe watch sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong watch auction in October and looks deceptively simple. Its special feature is the minute-repeating function, which is considered the 'ultimate complication' by watch connoisseurs. It consists of 342 hidden parts, and does one thing: It reports the time with a series of 'ding' sounds. This is a call-back to the pocket watch.
2. A pair of jeans for $1,000: U.S.-based company, PRPS jeans, sell a special model of jeans in their stores in Japan and Hong Kong that uses more than 30 hand-done treatments and antique machinery to get irregular 'slubs' (tiny knots) on the fabric.
3. A ceramic vase for $18.2 million: This piece, made for Emperor Qianlong in the 18th century, wasn't the most expensive item in the lot when sold at a Sotheby's auction this year, but it smashed the presale estimate. The enamel work was done in the Forbidden Palace workshops, which critics say yielded a finish more opaque and richer in color. Add to that the easy-to-handle shape, mint condition, as well as a traceable provenance to some of the big-name collectors in the Chinese works-of-art world, and you have a piece coveted by many collectors.
4. A bowl of beef noodles for $324: Niu Ba Ba restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan, serves up the world's most expensive bowl of beef noodles that's just 120 grams of noodles, five pieces of beef, one piece of tendon and soup. But the chef, Wang Cong-yuan, says he sources his beef from four countries, has a custom cutting method for each part of the cow, and uses a special freezing technique to let flavors seep in. The total time to prepare one bowl comes in at close to a week.
5. An $835 dinner: Renowned American chef Thomas Keller spent close to eight months planning the 11-course meal he served in Hong Kong in November. The preparation included the use of ingredients from nine wineries and 13 suppliers ─ including specially made butters and garden vegetables grown by the chef himself. In addition to Mr. Keller, eight members of his team, hand-selected from his restaurants in the U.S. ─ flew in to prepare the meal at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong. The 415 seats were all snapped up six months in advance.
Amy Ma
In case you've missed any of them, here's your chance to read some of the most popular Valuations ─ and add your two cents.
1. A watch for $312,000: This Patek Philippe watch sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong watch auction in October and looks deceptively simple. Its special feature is the minute-repeating function, which is considered the 'ultimate complication' by watch connoisseurs. It consists of 342 hidden parts, and does one thing: It reports the time with a series of 'ding' sounds. This is a call-back to the pocket watch.
2. A pair of jeans for $1,000: U.S.-based company, PRPS jeans, sell a special model of jeans in their stores in Japan and Hong Kong that uses more than 30 hand-done treatments and antique machinery to get irregular 'slubs' (tiny knots) on the fabric.
3. A ceramic vase for $18.2 million: This piece, made for Emperor Qianlong in the 18th century, wasn't the most expensive item in the lot when sold at a Sotheby's auction this year, but it smashed the presale estimate. The enamel work was done in the Forbidden Palace workshops, which critics say yielded a finish more opaque and richer in color. Add to that the easy-to-handle shape, mint condition, as well as a traceable provenance to some of the big-name collectors in the Chinese works-of-art world, and you have a piece coveted by many collectors.
4. A bowl of beef noodles for $324: Niu Ba Ba restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan, serves up the world's most expensive bowl of beef noodles that's just 120 grams of noodles, five pieces of beef, one piece of tendon and soup. But the chef, Wang Cong-yuan, says he sources his beef from four countries, has a custom cutting method for each part of the cow, and uses a special freezing technique to let flavors seep in. The total time to prepare one bowl comes in at close to a week.
5. An $835 dinner: Renowned American chef Thomas Keller spent close to eight months planning the 11-course meal he served in Hong Kong in November. The preparation included the use of ingredients from nine wineries and 13 suppliers ─ including specially made butters and garden vegetables grown by the chef himself. In addition to Mr. Keller, eight members of his team, hand-selected from his restaurants in the U.S. ─ flew in to prepare the meal at the Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong. The 415 seats were all snapped up six months in advance.
Amy Ma
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