Considered by most aficionados to be the best smoked salmon in the world, the Balik salmon traces its roots back to Imperial Russia, where the art of fine dining and its quality reached unprecedented levels among the Russian aristocracy.
For decades, Balik salmon was all but forgotten, until Hans Gerd Kübel had a chance meeting with the grandson of the Imperial Court smoker, Israel Kaplan. The two embarked on a challenge to recreate the original smoke ovens as they existed in the days of the Imperial Russia.

The location they chose - a 300 year-old farmhouse in the heart of the Swiss Alps – was selected not only for its pure groundwater, but also for the quality of the wood in its forests and its altitude – which influences the smoking process.

In 1978 the first production of Balik salmon was presented to the elite of Swiss gastronomes and created an absolute sensation
In 1984, Peter G. Rebeiz, the president of Caviar House, experienced Balik salmon for the first time and contacted Mr. Kübel.
As a result of this encounter, Caviar House became the proprietor of Balik and it is with great pride that, today, Caviar House & Prunier continues the tradition of the famous Balik salmon
to the same standard as that produced by the Imperial Court of
Tsar Nikolaj II.

The optimized perfection is guaranteed by the quality control certificate following ISO norm 9001.