Oscietra caviar and Galvin at Windows’ White Snapper

Last week was (highly unusually) a big week for caviar - and caviar substitutes which I ate on two successive nights paired with everything from vodka to beer. Decadent or what?

But it was this original and delicious cocktail - an inventive twist on the classic Bloody Mary - by the bar team at Galvin at Windows ‘caviar in the sky’ event that really stood out for me.

Apparently it was made with Bulldog gin, various (unspecified) spices and clarified tomato juice which gave it a delicate but not overpowering tomato flavour - and, as you can see, was very prettily garnished with a dried slice of lime.

We tried a whole range of caviars with it (from King’s Fine Food who sell online if you’re minded to repeat the experiment) and it pretty well sailed through them all except the denser, saltier, pressed caviar. The oscietra was my favourite though.

Fred Sirieix at Galvin at Windows is planning a caviar dinner on the strength of the tasting. Some of the prepared caviar dishes we tried from head chef Joo Won which included scallop tartare with lime zest and juice, olive oil, lychee, orange, borage flower, coriander cress and oscietra and crispy quail egg, charred baby leeks, cep cream and ceps with Siberian caviar were amazing. I’ll be writing more about the other pairings in due course.