'You always want what you can't have' keeps ringing in my ears at the moment. And on hearing that a friend had visited the swanky Caviar Kaspia in Paris recently, I found myself reminiscing fondly about the 'good old days' of baked potatoes with sour cream and oscietra at their now deceased London outpost.

So it's heartwarming to hear that, while Russia's 87 billionaires may be diminishing slightly, there is clearly still a demand for the black gold.

Take the new eco- and sturgeon-friendly Latvian brand of caviar, Mottra, which has just launched. Utilising a technique of massaging the roe from the fish without harming them, voila, we get happy fish and legit eggs, and everyone's a winner.

An even more affordable option is Arenkha which, although made from smoked herring, squid ink and lemon juice, is, if you half close your eyes and chase with ice cold Stoli, a rather good substitute.

But I say, stick to the real thing. And the most readily indulgent way to get your caviar hit in the capital is to drop into J Sheekey for Eggs Benedict Royale, spiked, of course, with 30g of Sevruga.

Now that's recession decadence.