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There was a time when luxury was somehow unsexy, we restaurateurs felt that too.

After the economic crisis ten years ago, many exclusive products were suddenly frowned upon.

That also applied to caviar.

Due to the ban on wild catching, it was also a time when dubious hawkers from countries such as Azerbaijan offered imported goods in 1.8 kilo cans for 5,000 euros per kilo of beluga caviar at the door.

That was priceless and of course illegal.

Caviar cultivation, which was still in its infancy, found no followers in the three-star gastronomy. The quality from northern Italy or Aquitaine in France just wasn't as good as the wild catch. The aroma was too steely, sometimes musty, and it oxidized too quickly. But a lot has changed in terms of quality since then: there is now top-quality breeding caviar, and it is fun to use.

Our restaurant sold more caviar in April than ever before.

By shipping the boxes, we used seven and a half kilos instead of the usual three kilos that we use a month.

I use the product in my dishes like a salt substitute.

To do this, you need quantities on the plate that you can also feel.

Only four or five grams don't do anything, I have to put a real tablespoon full of caviar on a fish dish.

The fun only starts at ten grams upwards.

Thanks to the increased availability, this can now also be reasonably calculated when shopping.

If you want more, you can upgrade

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If three or four slices of Hamachi were served with just one espresso spoon of caviar, there would be no aromatic added value, something would be lost. I also like to drink champagne to quench my thirst, otherwise it's no fun. It doesn't make sense to save on the amount just for arithmetical reasons. In my restaurant, guests have the option of adding caviar to the menu. Ten grams are included, if you want more, you can upgrade. Half of the guests like to do this because the prices have settled at an affordable level.

In the meantime, I have my Kaluga caviar salted a little more heavily than usual by my supplier from Munich, according to my ideas. In this way, I myself have an influence on the quality of the product in a way that would not have been possible in the past - and I don't have to work with the sometimes mushy qualities that are still available on the market. So nutty-iodine matched to my dishes, so beautifully single-grain and firm in the grain, but then creamy on the palate, I didn't get caviar before.

I'm currently working on a menu for one of the next boxes in which caviar is used three times in different constellations.

We spent a long time discussing the quantities that should go with each dish.

There are now 15 grams per dish and person, so that you can taste the full range of different uses.

Oscietra, Schrenkii and Kaluga with Hamachi, with pasta with confit egg yolk, with Japanese beef with asparagus.

Caviar is sexy again.

Our columnist Christian Bau cooks at “Victor's Fine Dining” in Perl-Nennig, which has been awarded three Michelin stars.