Trvalý odkaz Pridané používateľom Anonymný (bez overenia) dňa So, 11/30/2024 - 08:33
An invitation to lunch at Caviar Kaspia was, once upon a time, an offer you simply didn't <br>
<br>
refuse. Providing, of course, that the bill was on someone else.<br>
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<br>
<br>
Because caviar, smeared on blinis or piled high on baked potatoes, sure didn't come cheap.<br>
<br>
There may have been other things on the menu, but no one paid <br>
<br>
them much heed. This was all about lashings of the <br>
<br>
black stuff.<br>
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Caviar Kaspia's signature baked potato and caviar: ‘there are few <br>
<br>
better dishes on earth…only the price, at just under £150, is ridiculous'<br>
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<br>
Caviar Kaspia popped her final tin about two <br>
<br>
decades back. And that site, hidden down a smart Mayfair mews,<br>
<br>
was taken over by Gavin Rankin (who used to be the boss), and transformed into the brilliant Bellamy's.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
It prospers to this day. Kaspia, on the other hand, went quiet.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Until last year, when she reopened as a members' club <br>
<br>
in another Mayfair backstreet. But a £2,000 a year membership fee proved hard to <br>
<br>
swallow, meaning the doors were opened to the great unwashed.<br>
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<br>
<br>
<br>
Which is how we find ourselves sitting in a rather handsome - albeit <br>
<br>
near empty - dining room, lusciously lavish, under the stern gaze of a stern painting <br>
<br>
of a very stern man. The soft, crepuscular gloom is <br>
<br>
broken up by the glare of table lamps, indecorously bright,<br>
<br>
while a loud soundtrack of indolent, indeterminate beats throbs <br>
<br>
in the background. The whole place is scented with <br>
<br>
gilded ennui.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Our fellow diners are two young South Korean women of pale, luminescent beauty, clad in diaphanous couture.<br>
<br>
They don't speak, rather communicate entirely via camera <br>
<br>
phone. Pose, click, check, filter, post. Immaculate <br>
<br>
waiters hover in the shadows.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
We sip ice-cold vodka, and eat a £77 caviar and <br>
<br>
smoked-salmon Kaspia croque monsieur that tastes far better than it ought to.<br>
<br>
Next door, a large table fills with a glut of the noisily, glossily confident.<br>
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We're looked after by a wonderful French lady of such effervescent charm and charisma that had she burst into an impromptu performance of ‘Willkommen',<br>
<br>
we would have barely blinked. Baked potatoes, skin as crisp as parchment, insides whipped savagely hard with butter and sour cream, are a study in tuber art.<br>
<br>
A cool jet-black splodge of oscietra caviar, gently saline,<br>
<br>
raises them to the sublime. Only the price, at just under £150 each,<br>
<br>
is ridiculous. But there are few better dishes on earth.<br>
<br>
I'd eat this every day if I could. But I can't.<br>
<br>
Obviously. That's the problem with caviar. One taste is never enough.<br>
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<b>About £200 per head. Caviar Kaspia, 1a Chesterfield Street,<br>
<br>
London W1; caviarkaspialondon.com</b><br>
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<br>
<br>
<u><b>★★★★✩</b></u><br>
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<b>My favourite luxury dishes</b><br>
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Tom's pick of the best places to splash the culinary cash in LondonTom's pick of the best places to splash the culinary cash in London<br>
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The Ritz<br>
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Beef wellington sliced and sauced at the table (£150) and crêpes suzette flambéed with aplomb <br>
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(£62): Arts de la Table is edible theatre at its most delectable.<br>
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<b>theritzlondon.com</b><br>
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Otto's<br>
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Come to this classic French restaurant for the canard or homard à <br>
<br>
la presse (£150-£220 per person); stay for beef tartare (£42), foie gras (£22) and poulet de bresse rôti <br>
<br>
(£190, two courses).<br>
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<br>
<b>ottos-restaurant.com</b><br>
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<b><u>Sushi Kanesaka</u></b><br>
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Piscine perfection comes at an eye-watering £420 per person, sans booze.<br>
<br>
But this 13-seat sushi bar shows omakase dining at its very finest.<br>
<br>
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<br>
<br>
<b>dorchestercollection.com</b><br>
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Min Jiang<br>
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The dim sum is some of the best in town. But don't miss the wood-fired Beijing duck (£98) - crisp skin first, then two <br>
<br>
servings of the meat. Superb.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
minjiang.co.uk<br>
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An invitation to lunch at