The Caviar Club LAHORE- REVIEW BY SHAKEEL HAMEED
STAR RATING: 8.8 out of 10
COST : RS. 12,000 - 15,000 for 2 People, 5 dishes
REVIEW
Caviar club a new restaurant adding a pleasant surprise to the local fine dining scene. A spot hot enough to be seen and tried at the moment. The dynamic duo Kashif and Tremur who have been creating delectable dishes for over a decade, have brought an elevated sense of taste and have created dishes that have consistency and refinedness which is hard to control and is often missing in most restaurants. The restaurant is located in Polo ground in GOR 1 and has a nice aesthetic appeal to it with limited number of tables with more focus on quality than quantity.
STAFF AND TABLE
The Staff was very attentive and were eager to please. They changed the plates after every course so to enhance the dining experience. The cutlery, glasses and plates were clean and nicely laid out. Local Murree brewery sparking water (support local) was served which was really nice and crispy with lemon wedges.
FOOD
Fever-Tree Soda – Pink Grape Fruit and Cucumber Tonic
A sparkling twist of Pink grape fruit and cucumber tonic with natural flavors was the starting drink. The Pink Grape fruit soda offered a slight bitter under notes of grape fruit and sparkling water. It wasn’t too sweet and offered a refreshing balance of fruit and soda. The cucumber tonic had a stronger cucumber taste which remained apparent and was not well balanced as the grape fruit one. The cucumber remained over powered in the taste but nonetheless an enjoyable drink.
Tuna Tartar with Avocado and Quail Egg
Fresh Tuna and Avocados topped with raw quail egg and sesame seed. The base sauce is soy with Ponzu (Japanese citrus sauce) and fresh Wasabi root on the edges. When eating just the tuna in conjunction with avocado and quail egg, it created a slight creamy texture with tuna and avocado remaining the primary taste and egg yolk appearing subtly. When eating the same combination with the base sauce and wasabi, it created a new taste which allowed the wasabi root and ponzu sauce to immerse and offered a delectable palate to be savored.
There is something to be pointed out here, there is a bit too much soy ponzu sauce in the base, it should be half the amount. You only need to dip lightly in the sauce to enjoy the flavors, if the tuna avocado gets drenched in it, you will end up having a salt/citrus primary taste instead of tuna/avocado/egg. Use only a little bit of wasabi, you want it to appear, does its work, and disappear. This is a superb dish, primarily because the ingredients are of good quality and it’s put together well. NICELY DONE.
Blue Cheese Soufflé
Soufflé is made of whipped egg whites along with any other ingredient you want to add and baking it till it is all puffed up. The egg whites expand with air, allowing it to rise and keeping it fluffy. In this case, it was made with blue cheese. Soufflé is a time sensitive dish, it is best eaten when it comes out or it will deflate and loses it creamy fluffy texture. The soufflé came piping hot and had a creamy airy texture, the blue cheese notes were just about right (good job because blue cheese can bitter very easily). It was slightly salty that’s because of the cheese. The dish was slightly dense for my taste but its negligible. Well done in keeping it together.
Roasted Bone Marrow with Pickle Mustard Seeds
Roasted bone Marrow with sautéed mushrooms with pickled mustard seeds and a side of onion coulis (a thick sauce made with vegetable). The bone marrow was of very good quality, the sweet fat was delicious and melted in my mouth. It came with pickled mustard seed which didn’t add much to the flavor but when eaten on their own had a liquorish flavor to it. The onion coulis was sweet and was prepared well.
When eaten just with mushrooms and marrow, it offered a superb sweet earthy flavor which was thoroughly enjoyable. When eaten with bread and onion coulis, it diluted the flavors and made it a bit sweeter because of the coulis and the flavors got subdued a bit. I would highly recommend to eat it without the onion coulis and bread. This dish is big in flavor and you want to enjoy the essence of it. I would roast the marrow slightly more so the top caramelization can be enjoyed. You can’t go wrong with this dish, a must try.
Cajun Style Blackened Chicken with Grilled Vegetables.
Cajun chicken blacked with spices and a medley of roasted vegetables, a dish emanating from the quarters of New Orleans into our palate. The chicken seemed pan fried with Cajun spices. It was cooked right with Juices flowing exposing flavor of the meat. Although it was blackened but the punch of the Cajun spices was missing. The skin wasn’t crispy and had softened. I thought grilled vegetables were going to be just blah! but when I ate the medley, it lifted the flavor a lot. The surprise was the sweet pineapple in the vegetables. The grilled pineapple sweetness along with crispy vegetables made the dish very flavorful. The medley was cooked perfectly with a crisp of the vegetables adding a nice sweet and salty bite which brought the dish back to a savory stage.
Grilled Prawn with Cilantro Risotto
Grilled tiger prawn served over Risotto with tomato citrus sauce. Risotto is made with Arborio rice which is a small grain rice. The risotto to my surprise was just about perfect. The texture was gooey, sweet, creamy with fantastic hints of nutty parmesan. Tiger shrimps were grilled with Smokey charred stripes adding flavor to the sweet juicy shrimp and when eaten with risotto fought over the indigenous superiority of their presence. When eaten together, they both expressed their presence, making it a thoroughly enjoyable dish.
Then came the citrus part. There are two school of thoughts, some add citrus in the risotto and others absolutely avoid it. I prefer it without as I tend to think citrus is a conflict with cheese, especially if the quantity is more than grated lemon zest. In this case, tomato base citrus sauce was somewhat strong making its presence known. The consistency of the sauce was right and it offered a lemony ting to the dish. The highlight of the dish being the risotto and prawns is an exquisite dish to be enjoyed. AGAIN, WELL DONE.
Verdict
Caviar Club is definitely as nice new addition to the Lahore’s food scene. It is hip for the moment till the dust settles and then food consistency will decide if it remains to be a desirable place. I would highly recommend eating here, as so far this is the best culinary experience Lahore has to offer. Their effort and attention to detail shows that they are here to stay. I thoroughly enjoyed my dining experience and I look forward to trying them out again so to enjoy the remaining dishes.
KNOW WHAT YOU EAT, THAT’S HOW YOU EAT WELL