An invitation to lunch at Caviar Kaspia was, once upon a time,<br>
<br>
an offer you simply didn't refuse. Providing, of course, that the <br>
<br>
bill was on someone else. Because caviar, smeared on blinis or <br>
<br>
piled high on baked potatoes, sure didn't come cheap. There <br>
<br>
may have been other things on the menu, but no one paid them much heed.<br>
<br>
This was all about lashings of the black stuff.<br>
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Caviar Kaspia's signature baked potato and caviar: ‘there are few better dishes on earth…only the price, at just under £150,<br>
<br>
is ridiculous'<br>
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<br>
<br>
Caviar Kaspia popped her final tin about two decades back.<br>
<br>
And that site, hidden down a smart Mayfair mews, was taken over <br>
<br>
by Gavin Rankin (who used to be the boss), and transformed into the <br>
<br>
brilliant Bellamy's. It prospers to this day. Kaspia, on the other hand, went quiet.<br>
<br>
Until last year, when she reopened as a members' club in another Mayfair backstreet.<br>
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<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>
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<br>
<br>
Which is how we find ourselves sitting in a rather handsome - albeit <br>
<br>
near empty - dining room, lusciously lavish, <br>
<br>
under the stern gaze of a stern painting of a very stern man. The soft, <br>
<br>
crepuscular gloom is broken up by the glare of table lamps, indecorously bright, while a loud <br>
<br>
soundtrack of indolent, indeterminate beats throbs in the background.<br>
<br>
The whole place is scented with gilded ennui.<br>
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Our fellow diners are two young South Korean women of <br>
<br>
pale, luminescent beauty, clad in diaphanous couture.<br>
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<br>
They don't speak, rather communicate entirely via camera phone.<br>
<br>
Pose, click, check, filter, post. Immaculate waiters hover in the shadows.<br>
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We sip ice-cold vodka, and eat a £77 caviar and smoked-salmon Kaspia croque monsieur that tastes far better than it ought to.<br>
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Next door, a large table fills with a glut <br>
<br>
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 <br>
<br>
she burst into an impromptu performance of ‘Willkommen', we would <br>
<br>
have barely blinked. Baked potatoes, skin as crisp as parchment, insides whipped savagely <br>
<br>
hard with butter and sour cream, are a study in tuber art.<br>
<br>
A cool jet-black splodge of oscietra caviar, gently <br>
<br>
saline, raises them to the sublime. Only the price, at just under £150 each, is <br>
<br>
ridiculous. But there are few better dishes <br>
<br>
on earth. 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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<u>About £200 per head. Caviar Kaspia, 1a Chesterfield <br>
<br>
Street, London W1; caviarkaspialondon.com</u><br>
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<br>
<u><strong>★★★★✩</strong></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 <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 (£62): Arts de la Table <br>
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is edible theatre at its most delectable.<br>
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<strong>theritzlondon.com</strong><br>
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Otto's<br>
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Come to this classic French restaurant for the canard <br>
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or homard à la presse (£150-£220 per person); stay for <br>
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beef tartare (£42), foie gras (£22) and poulet de bresse rôti (£190, two courses).<br>
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<b><u>ottos-restaurant.com</u></b><br>
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<i><u>Sushi Kanesaka</u></i><br>
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Piscine perfection comes at an eye-watering £420 per person, sans <br>
<br>
booze. But this 13-seat sushi bar shows omakase dining at its very <br>
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finest.<br>
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<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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Check out my blog: <a href="http://autotek.lv/user/ToniaChauvel/">แพ็คเกจ ลาดบัวขาว</a>
An invitation to lunch at