The days of the caviar bump came and went, but the luxe ingredient is back on menus – this time sitting atop a crunchy piece of fried chicken. 

It’s the ultimate high/low pairing – a fast-food favourite crowned with briny little fish balls that go for over $100 for a 10-gram tin. 

At Momofuku in the US, $600 (about AUD$940) gets you two chickens, battered and fried whole, with a tin of Platinum Osetra Caviar (which retails for about US$135), chive crepes, creme fraiche, white barbecue sauce and potato chips.

In Sydney, the bar menu at Oncore has a southern-style fried chicken that’s been brined in buttermilk and mustard powder that costs $8, but you can take it up a notch with a scoop of N25 caviar for an extra $12. 

 

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Caviar and fried chicken: why it works

Newcomer Ruma in Sydney’s Double Bay has an opening menu featuring fried chicken and caviar. Chef Faheem Noor says it was a no-brainer, because it’s one of his daughter’s favourite meals. He also says that Korean fried chicken is his guilty pleasure and, when topped with the brininess of caviar, the dish levels up. 

“For a chef, it’s comfort food,” Noor says. “The combination of the crunchy fried chicken and caviar – which has umami, savouriness and saltiness – is the definition of comfort meets luxury. 

“They’re also two of the most-eaten items at home, fried chicken and caviar, because my daughter Maia loves it. We first discovered it when we went to Franca in Potts Point; they did a canele with caviar and creme fraiche about two years ago. Maia was two at the time, and from then on she ate any form of fish egg.” 

But caviar is a pricey product, which is why the delicious. team was curious about a Woolworths dupe. The supermarket is selling a 50g tin of lumpfish caviar for $6. And chef Noor doesn’t hate it. 

“It doesn’t have the brininess of caviar, but visually it looks like it and it mimics the texture,” he says. “I know a lot of cafes use that instead of the real stuff, because it’s good for garnishing. It does the trick.

“I would use it on fried chicken, chips or garnishing seafood. It also works great with a plain pasta, to zhuzh it up.” 

I gave it a crack. The small, shiny black balls certainly look like the real thing, but all I could taste was salt. There was no lovely oily mouthfeel as the balls popped in your mouth, and no minerality or brininess. 

Then I had it on a piece of chicken schnitzel. It was better; the saltiness worked well with the crunchy chicken. As a garnish on avocado toast, it’s also a winner. On its own? Not so much.

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What is the best cheap caviar?

Josh Rea, owner of Sydney-based caviar and truffle supplier Gourmet Life, believes you can get good caviar on a budget. The Darling Point providore stocks a range of options, spanning from $36 to $115. 

“We have one of the largest collections of caviar, across different brands and countries including Greece, Italy, Iran and Poland,” Rea says. “Each country has a point of difference. Caviar from the Caspian Sea, which is a landlocked saltwater lake, has a beautiful minerality. You also get great beluga from there – the egg is much bigger and has more creamy fat. Oscietra from South America is very popular; it’s a big egg and very creamy.

“The bigger the egg, the more fat in each egg, and that’s what gives you a much bigger mouthfeel rather than just a salt taste.” 

Rea says his most inexpensive caviar – Black River Caviar from Uruguay, which retails for $36 for 10g, $45 for 20g and $67.50 for 30g – is on the menu at some of Sydney’s best restaurants, and is an accessible Christmas splurge. 

“We wholesale that to the public,” he says. “It’s nearly 50 percent less than other retail outlets, and is a very affordable and amazing caviar

“We have more than 3000 tins of caviar in stock for Christmas. It should take us through the next two weeks.” 

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