Alta Bistro 604-932-2582, altabistro.com

Alta Bistro Executive Chef Nick Cassettari has catered to the rich and famous on megayachts around the world. He once worked for a family in Dubai that smuggled two kilograms of fresh Iranian caviar across the border every second week. In other words, he’s eaten caviar’s crème de la crème. And yet he’s still “very impressed” by B.C.’s Northern Divine.

“The buttery flavour is quite unique and there’s no muddiness at all.”

That clean flavour shimmers through a kaleidoscope of textures in the chef’s elegantly deconstructed caviar parfait. Tiny pebbles of roe, spooned over drops of green curry oil, cascade down a smear of smoky potato aioli layered with smoked shallots, preserved Meyer lemon, whipped crème fraîche, raw radish, garam-masala-seasoned potato chips, micro greens and albacore tuna two-ways (smoked and seared).