An invitation to lunch at Caviar Kaspia was, once <br>
<br>
upon a time, an offer you simply didn't refuse.<br>
<br>
Providing, of course, that the bill was on someone else.<br>
<br>
<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,<br>
<br>
but no one paid them much heed. This was all about lashings of the black stuff.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Caviar Kaspia's signature baked potato and caviar:<br>
<br>
‘there are few better dishes on earth…only the price, at <br>
<br>
just under £150, is ridiculous'<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Caviar Kaspia popped her final tin about two decades back.<br>
<br>
And that site, hidden down a smart Mayfair <br>
<br>
mews, was taken over by Gavin Rankin (who used to be the boss),<br>
<br>
and transformed into the brilliant Bellamy's. It prospers to <br>
<br>
this day. Kaspia, on the other hand, went quiet. Until last year, <br>
<br>
when she reopened as a members' club in another Mayfair backstreet.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
But a £2,000 a year membership fee proved hard to swallow, meaning the <br>
<br>
doors were opened to the great unwashed.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Which is how we find ourselves sitting in a rather handsome - albeit near empty <br>
<br>
- dining room, lusciously lavish, under <br>
<br>
the stern gaze of a stern painting of a very stern man. The soft, crepuscular gloom is broken up by the glare of table <br>
<br>
lamps, indecorously bright, while a loud soundtrack <br>
<br>
of indolent, indeterminate beats throbs in the background.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
The whole place is scented with gilded ennui.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Our fellow diners are two young South Korean women of pale, luminescent <br>
<br>
beauty, clad in diaphanous couture. They don't speak, rather communicate entirely via camera phone.<br>
<br>
Pose, click, check, filter, post. Immaculate waiters hover in the shadows.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
We sip ice-cold vodka, and eat a £77 caviar and smoked-salmon Kaspia <br>
<br>
croque monsieur that tastes far better than it ought to.<br>
<br>
Next door, a large table fills with a glut of the noisily, <br>
<br>
glossily confident.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
We're looked after by a wonderful French lady of such effervescent charm and charisma that had she <br>
<br>
burst into an impromptu performance of ‘Willkommen', we would have barely blinked.<br>
<br>
Baked potatoes, skin as crisp as parchment, insides whipped savagely hard with butter <br>
<br>
and sour cream, are a study in tuber art. A cool <br>
<br>
jet-black splodge of oscietra caviar, gently saline, raises <br>
<br>
them to the sublime. Only the price, at just under <br>
<br>
£150 each, 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. Obviously.<br>
<br>
That's the problem with caviar. One taste is never enough.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
About £200 per head. Caviar Kaspia, 1a Chesterfield Street, London W1; caviarkaspialondon.com<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
★★★★✩<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
My favourite luxury dishes<br>
<br>
Tom's pick of the best places to splash the culinary cash in LondonTom's pick of the <br>
<br>
best places to splash the culinary cash in London<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
The Ritz<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Beef wellington sliced and sauced at the table (£150) and crêpes suzette flambéed with aplomb (£62):<br>
<br>
Arts de la Table is edible theatre at its most delectable.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
theritzlondon.com<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Otto's<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Come to this classic French restaurant for the canard or homard à la presse (£150-£220 per person); stay <br>
<br>
for beef tartare (£42), foie gras (£22) and poulet de bresse <br>
<br>
rôti (£190, two courses).<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
ottos-restaurant.com<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Sushi Kanesaka<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
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>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
dorchestercollection.com<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Min Jiang<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
The dim sum is some of the best in town. But don't miss <br>
<br>
the wood-fired Beijing duck (£98) - crisp skin first, then two servings of the meat.<br>
<br>
Superb.<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
minjiang.co.uk<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
Feel free to visit my web page - ขาย wine - <br>
<br>
http://hsecotour.co.kr/bbs/board.php?bo_table=free&wr_id=159819
An invitation to lunch at