At first glance, it looks like a normal – albeit beautifully plated – slice of New York cheesecake. But this is no ordinary dessert. In fact, it’s not a dessert at all, but a savoury dish served in the middle of the 10-course, three-hour degustation menu at Eleven Madison Park, on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. What’s more, it provides a taste of the many elements that have made EMP, as it’s known, the most talked-about restaurant in the world.

My dashing waiter, Doug, tells me the crust of the cheesecake tastes like an “everything” bagel: that classic, New York-specific bagel variety that is topped with some combination of sesame seeds, poppy seeds, flaked onion, coarse salt, garlic and pepper. The cream cheese contains pureed white asparagus, which renders it both complex and delicate. Atop the cheesecake are thinly sliced layers of smoked sturgeon – a mainstay in New York delicatessens – and a heaping of caviar. Then there are the condiments: pickled daikon radish and pickled white asparagus, each served in ornamental caviar tins. A mussel-and-sturgeon sauce offsets the richness of the course with a light saltiness.