How Caviar Became Cool In 2024
Once the reserve of oligarchs and celebrities, caviar had a bit of a bad reputation for being unattainable, unsustainable and – occasionally – unethically sourced. That’s changing thanks to a new breed of conscientious suppliers who put welfare and quality at the centre of everything they do. Caviar will always be a luxury ingredient – because sturgeons are always going to take six years to start bearing eggs – but there are some fun new high-low combinations making it more accessible to those whose palates are perhaps a bit more refined than their bank balances.
This year has seen Parisian A-list magnet Caviar Kaspia relaunch its Mayfair members club, adding a restaurant that means more of us can order its signature baked potato topped with sour cream and caviar. In October, Bebe Bob – the cooler little sister to London institution Bob Bob Ricard – revamped its menu to add caviar to multiple dishes, from fried chicken to soft-serve ice-cream. And longtime Michelin-botherer Jason Atherton has brought back his much-missed Pollen Street Social dish – Marmite English custard tart with N25 Umai caviar – at his new opening, Sael in St James’s.
With entertainment season in full swing, we asked a handful of these chefs and experts to share their favourite ways to get stuck into the trend yourself…
Why is caviar so popular right now?
“When we started 15 years ago, a lot of our customers were private members clubs and five-star hotels with a slightly more old-school service – caviar on big silver platters alongside chopped egg, parsley, capers and chopped onion. I think people from normal backgrounds were perhaps a bit intimidated by it, because unless you've grown up learning how to eat caviar, when you're presented with this huge platter, you might not know what to do with it. The way caviar is served has changed enormously over the last few years and restaurants have been at the forefront of that. For example, Adam Handling has always used caviar as simply as possible. At the moment, he's just doing a hash brown and caviar as a course. We've always tried to encourage our restaurants to use caviar as an ingredient rather than something to superficially place on a dish just to say it’s got caviar on it.” – Harry Ferguson, operations director at Exmoor Caviar, which supplies Michelin-starred restaurants such as Alex Dilling at Hotel Café Royal, Bibendum, Claude Bosi at Brooklands and The Black Swan at Oldstead.
“I believe it’s because guests want a touch of luxury in their everyday experiences, without the typical high cost of a full tin of caviar. Pairing caviar with fried chicken or potato rösti works on multiple levels, as the rich, fatty flavours complement the salty, umami notes of the caviar. Offering a small portion on top of dishes like fried chicken helps keep prices down while making luxury food more accessible and satisfying.” – Tomas Minkley, CEO of Bob Bob Ricard & Bebe Bob.
“With caviar appearing more frequently in more casual dishes, and growing in popularity on social media, restaurants seem to want to showcase caviar in a more approachable way to create a different perspective and bring an element of surprise. Certainly, the high-low contrast can be an interesting conversation starter.” – Hermes Gehnen, founder of N25 Caviar.
“Caviar is the culinary equivalent of an exclamation point. It takes a good dish and makes it extraordinary by bringing an incredible depth of flavour and textural contrast.” – Jason Atherton, Michelin-starred chef behind Berners Tavern, Sael & City Social
How would you recommend serving it at home?
“Blinis and sour cream is the Russian classic way, which is perfectly nice, if a bit done to death. But all you need to do is follow that formula – a doughy base as a vehicle, dairy, then caviar on top. If you follow those three steps, you can make anything. We love doing caviar crumpets. Whenever we have chefs come down to the office to try some caviar, we just put out a plate of crumpets with a load of butter and some caviar on it. I’ve got a mate who has pubs in Kent, Belgravia and Clapham Old Town. And they all serve caviar with a packet of crisps and sauce gribiche. It feels like a pub snack. You can also make scrambled eggs on toast and put caviar on top. You don't have to do anything fancy. Everyone knows how to make scrambled eggs and toast some bread.” – Harry
“A warm, fresh crusty baguette with unsalted butter and a dollop of caviar on top – or, for something different, crème fraîche or vanilla ice-cream with a drizzle of good olive oil and a dollop of caviar. Caviar is surprising versatile.” – Tomas
“I love it with scallops. I recently made pan-seared scallops with hollandaise and oscietra caviar. It was delicious. I also love having caviar with pasta, on top of avocado and even with really good-quality vanilla ice-cream – it’s incredibly versatile and doesn’t have to be complicated. Caviar and ice-cream is something we also see at a few of the restaurants in London we work closely with: Dorian’s pistachio ice-cream with caviar, and Rafa Cagali at Da Terra using kaluga hybrid on his cachaça baba dessert with ice-cream.” – Hermes
Where should someone start if they’re new to buying caviar?
“We have eight caviars in our range, with six available for retail. We think of them all like white wine: the difference between chablis or sauvignon blanc or chardonnay is big, but they’re all white wine. That's how we describe different caviar. Some are really buttery, some are quite nutty, some are quite creamy, some have got like an oyster, saline brininess. Some are really, really rich and intense. We’ve designed our range so that we have something that will suit every palate. If you don't have the biggest budget in the world, baerii caviar goes a little bit further – you get a bit more bang for your buck.” – Harry
“N25 caviar is my ultimate favourite. I use the kaluga hybrid as I love the size of the eggs and the creamy nutty flavour. I also love the umai caviar which I use throughout my bistros and brassieres – it’s more affordable and great for home use.” – Jason
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How can people use it at home during entertaining season?
“Chef Brad Carter does potato smileys and caviar. For a party, there’s nothing easier than buying a packet of McCain's Potato Smiles, popping them in the oven and serving them with a big dollop of caviar on top.” – Harry
“I'd recommend incorporating caviar into simple dishes such as devilled egg, or even topping off a classic baked potato – it's an easy way to impress guests with a touch of luxury.” – Jason
“A big tin in the middle of a table is definitely a showstopper – you can help yourself. Be generous with it when putting it on other dishes or canapés. It’s also a great chaser for a frozen vodka martini, with a nice mild, saline kick. There’s so much fun to be had – and it’s a nice way to indulge over the festive season.” – Hermes
What are your thoughts on doing caviar bumps off the back of the hand?
“Many people who have never tried caviar before think you have to go to a five-star hotel and spend £300 on a tin to experience it. Caviar bumps offer a cheaper way for people to try different varieties. Whenever we pop-up at Taste of London, we offer £5 bumps. We always lose money on it, but it’s a great way to introduce people to caviar.” – Harry
“I'm not a huge fan of the trend. I much prefer to see caviar thoughtfully incorporated into dishes where its flavours can truly be appreciated, rather than just being consumed on its own as a quick indulgence.” – Jason
“One of my favourite ways to serve caviar is pure, as a bump. It’s the best way to enjoy the caviar and really appreciate the complex, creamy and umami flavours from the ageing process we use. It’s fun and there’s also some thought behind it – the temperature of your hand warms up the caviar slightly, softening it so the flavours can be released and enjoyed in full.” – Hermes
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And how do you feel about trout or salmon roe over caviar?
“Trout roe is really good now. For a long time it wasn't that great in the UK. But roe doesn't have the delicacy of caviar. When you bite into it, you get a full hit of fish oil because that's essentially what they are. They don't have that nutty, creamy, buttery note that caviar has. But it’s probably a tenth of the price of sturgeon roe. Sometimes people call it trout caviar and salmon caviar, because caviar sounds more luxurious than roe, but it's not caviar at all. Some people might try salmon caviar or salmon roe and, because it's quite fishy and intense, assume they’re not going to like caviar either.” – Harry
What do you say to someone who thinks they won’t like caviar?
“A lot of people are pleasantly surprised when they try caviar for the first time, because they think it’s going to have a really intense fishy, salty flavour like anchovy. It absolutely hasn’t. It’s creamy and delicate and smooth. We always say, even though caviar is a salted fish egg, it should never be salty or fishy. For that reason, we don’t always like associating roe with actual caviar because they're completely different. One of the reasons why caviar is such a special product is because sturgeon are essentially dinosaurs – they haven't changed in 150 million years. There's no other fish on the planet like sturgeon, which is why caviar is so different to any other fish roe.” – Harry
Are you here for the current trend of high-low caviar pairings?
“I’m all for it. There was a bit of craze on TikTok earlier this year for Pringles and caviar. Pringles are delicious but, you know, they're Pringles. So we designed our own caviar crisps. We have real caviar in the seasoning for the crisps. They're delicious on their own, but they're designed as an alternative to blinis. You can have caviar on crisps and the textural difference is nice. It's a nice vehicle. Because as much as I love crumpets, you need a lot of caviar on a crumpet. We just catered for the British Fashion Awards and kept things very simple. We had two trays going around, just serving bumps of caviar. Then there were bowls of crisps with tins of caviar on each table, and tins of caviar on each table. Nothing fancy – and very easy to recreate at your own parties.” – Harry
@tatianarestaurantnyc
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