Mastercard Debuts PRICELESS – An International Culinary Collective Bringing the World’s Finest Dining and Cocktail Experiences to New York City

 Mastercard introduces its first flagship restaurant experience, PRICELESS – An International Culinary Collective, created in partnership with Spring at its venue in New York City. The experience will recreate immersive, multi-sensory experiences from world-renowned chefs and mixologists who are driving what’s next in dining and cocktails. The first three culinary destinations to take up residency at PRICELESS include The Rock from Zanzibar, Tanzania, Teruzushi from Kitakyushu, Japan and Lyaness from London, United Kingdom. The PRICELESS rooftop at Spring will also host a global food experience expertly curated by Chef JJ Johnson.

“With PRICELESS, we are reinventing experiential dining to create a feast for all your senses by completely immersing you in the environment of these world-renowned locales,” said Raja Rajamannar, chief marketing and communications officer, Mastercard. “PRICELESS will serve as an ongoing destination for an exciting roster of restaurants and bars, where our cardholders can fuel their passion for food and create unforgettable moments.  We’re excited to have The Rock, Teruzushi and Lyaness to be the first culinary destinations to take up residency.”

From witnessing Chef Watanabe’s maverick style of sushi making, to dining at the exact replica of the fairytale restaurant perched on a rock in the Indian Ocean, to relaxing with cocktails by famous mixologist Ryan Chetiyawardana of Lyaness fame, the culinary adventures at PRICELESS have been created and curated with meticulous attention to detail. A bespoke sonic branding concept featuring custom tracks captures the essence of each signature location – including the sound of Chef Watanabe’s sword blades, the Indian Ocean’s tide rising and falling at The Rock, and the ice cubes dropping in the highball glass at Lyaness – while weaving in the Mastercard sonic identity. This combination will create a unique ambient sonic DNA for each restaurant in residence and throughout PRICELESS.

“Through this unique partnership with Mastercard, we are building on Spring’s track record of producing amazing restaurant collaborations,” said Tom Punch, Global President and Chief Creative Officer of Spring. “This Culinary Collective will be our most ambitious food experience to date, recreating a series of restaurants in immaculate detail and delivering fabulous far-flung food experiences right to your doorstep in Manhattan.”

Here’s what visitors will experience at the first culinary destinations to take up residency at PRICELESS – An International Culinary Collective:

The Rock – The Rock is a remarkable restaurant off the coast of Zanzibar, only accessible by foot during low tide and by boat when the tide rises. Here, traditional African hospitality and cuisine with an Italian twist meets awe-inspiring, 360 degree views of the Indian Ocean. At PRICELESS, The Rock has been brought to life through every small detail. Diners will smell the ocean air rich with moss and beech wood, hear the waves and take in the views captured from the original restaurant, while experiencing the same impeccable service.

Lyaness – Famed for its focus on exploration and experimentation, Lyaness comes from the team behind Dandelyan, which was voted World’s Best Bar in 2018.  Creator Ryan Chetiyawardana applies a chef’s approach to flavor, empowering Lyaness to reinvent the world of cocktails and elevate them to a true art form. The Lyaness at PRICELESS is an exact replica of the original London hot spot, from the green onyx curved bar to the light blue hue that washes the interior, and from Ryan’s masterful surprises to the unexpected ingredients such as the koji.

Teruzushi – Maverick chef Takayoshi Watanabe is known for his talent to redefine the dining experience through exceptional ingredients, innovation and his signature theatrics. Watanabe prepares his dishes with a long 70 cm blade featuring an aggressive curve that significantly affects the texture of the sushi and lends to a theatrical element of showmanship in this “sushi theatre.” Watanabe will temporarily close its doors in Japan to bring his signature style and his exotic blades to this 12-seat culinary theater in the heart of Manhattan.

Global Market – On Spring’s elegant TriBeCa rooftop terrace, James Beard award-winning chef JJ Johnson will curate small plates that complement signature drinks from Lyaness, fitting in perfectly with the communal ambience.

PRICELESS – An International Culinary Collective builds upon Mastercard’s focus on curating exclusive culinary experiences that began with the introduction of PRICELESS Tables. Mastercard has hosted PRICELESS Tables across the globe in landmark locations such as top of a billboard on Times Square, in the Museum of Natural History, at the Christ the Redeemer in Rio and atop Palazzo Beltrami overlooking the Duomo in Milan. Mastercard has also long partnered with some of the most pre-eminent global chefs. Recently, it opened Bistro by Mastercard, a place for more discerning travelers to have a sit-down meal at Rome’s Fumiciano airport.

Avid foodies can follow @PRICELESS – An International Culinary Collective’s Instagram page to be the first to know which restaurants will be taking up residency in the coming months. The sensory-activating, palate-pleasing culinary adventure will be available for booking exclusively to Mastercard cardholders beginning on Wednesday, July 31^st on Open Table or visit www.priceless.com/restaurant for more information.

CHEF QUOTES:

“Food is a universal language we all understand, serving as the underpinning for bringing people and communities together,” said Chef JJ Johnson. “It’s been a tremendous opportunity to partner with Mastercard who is focused on continually creating new and unique culinary experiences that foster that communal spirit. PRICELESS takes that to an entirely new level, delivering sensorial dining while enabling guests to travel from the rooftop Global Market to the middle of the Indian Ocean, and from London to Japan.”

“Teruzushi was established around the premise that we provide an experience you can only have in our restaurant,” said Chef Watanabe. “In order to bring that here to PRICELESS we literally closed our doors in Kitakyushu and headed here to New York with our full staff in tow to ensure we could deliver on that promise and bring the tradition of Kyushu sushi to life for guests through dishes that stimulate the five senses.”

“New York and London are such twinned cities, so we’re incredibly excited to be working with Mastercard and Spring Place to bring such a true-to-life recreation of Lyaness for the groups of foodies, cocktail lovers and beer & wine enthusiasts here in Manhattan. Lyaness was an evolution of all the ideas we loved during our Dandelyan years and I couldn’t think of a more fitting audience to showcase Lyaness’ balance of cutting edge flavour exploration in a warm, fun and inclusive setting. Lyaness is a beautiful space (peerlessly so in my opinion!) so it’s incredible to bring more than just our ingredients, service and cocktails to life but actually building a recreation down to the smallest details. When I first walked in it was a surreal experience, from the green marble bar to the view of the River Thames projected on the window, I felt as I was transported back to Sea Containers. My favorite part of the bar is the one of a kind wall sconce I had made that captures your attention the second you walk in. Seeing it in PRICELESS- replicated to a tee- was very special to me. We can’t wait to welcome people to this Priceless experience this summer.” – Ryan Chetiyawardana, Lyaness.

“Visitors the world over come to The Rock for our idyllic setting but they stay for the simplistic elegance of our dishes that allow the food to speak for itself,” said The Rock’s owner Nigel Firman. “We appreciate the thoughtful attention to detail that was taken in bringing The Rock to life here at PRICELESS. From the sound capture from our home in Zanzibar to the views that guests enjoy as they dine and the flawless recreation of restaurant interior to the taste of authentic island spices and fresh, locally sourced seafood, this is experience on a whole new level.”

About Mastercard

Mastercard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. Our global payments processing network connects consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. Mastercard products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MastercardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.

About Spring

Spring is home to a global community of affluential creative professionals, industry leaders, artists and entrepreneurs in the business of shaping contemporary culture. We are reimagining how to build aspirational brands tapping into nine curated cultural verticals: art, beauty, culinary, fashion, film, music, sustainability, travel & wellness. Spring Studios combines a creative agency and production studios with state-of-the-art infrastructure. Spring Place offers a high-end professional members club.

Spring has offices in London, New York, Los Angeles and Milan, with further launches planned across four continents. Our partners include Airbnb, British Fashion Council, Canada Goose, Condé Nast, Timberland, Equinox, Estée Lauder Companies, Google, Kiehl’s, Luxottica, LVMH, M&S, PepsiCo, Tom Ford, Pomellato and Valentino, as well as seminal cultural programs like IMG New York Fashion Week The Shows, Tribeca Film Festival & Independent Art Fair.