We saw that they could arrange a private truffle hunt - definitely arrange this ahead of time…read more
When we arrived at 9:30am, they had water and some sweets and cookies laid out very nicely for us. We were greeted by the owner, the manager (?), our truffle hunger, and our interpreter. The truffle hunt was €30 a person, and the interpreter was €40 an hour (2 hour hunt), which was well worth it. Her English was perfect, and she could help explain everything the truffle hunters were saying in both Italian and Piedmontese. We learned a ton about truffles and the process.
We drove out about 10-15 min away to a random area and were surprised that the dogs started sniffing and finding stuff right away. It was a drought year, which explains the outrageous prices, but they found some black ones and some tiny white ones. There ended up being two truffle hunters and their loyal dogs, and they just train dogs and do this for the love of it - not just to sell to restaurants. If you wanted, you could pay for the truffles that were found, but they were honest and said the quality wasn't great. It was a super educational experience and seemed better than the more expensive one offered by the Fiera de Tartufo.
After the hunt, we had some time to walk around town before lunch. When we came back in, the dining room was about half full by 12:30pm, completely full after that.
We started with a basket of bread, crackers, and grissini all made in house - I loved the lingua cracker (like the Rustic Bakery ones in the US). Then, they brought over some house made butter and soft focaccia.
We opted for a Riserva from Coppo next door, which is a big local producer in Canelli. It's too bad we didn't get to go see their famous underground cellars.
To start (on the house):
Puréed cauliflower with a soft cooked quail egg, topped with white truffle - possibly my favorite dish.
The tasting menu is incredibly reasonable at €55 per person (they also had a la carte and a €45 option). We opted to skip truffles since we had been eating them at every meal, but it seems like everyone else was going all out with truffles.
Tasting (degutazione): €55
1. Veal tartare: with a marinated egg yolk and an amazing balsamic reduction. This was great with the long lingua cracker.
2. Fondue: with porcini and crispy bread - I've never had such big fresh porcini mushrooms before - they were generous on the mushrooms. The cheese was great
3. Tajerin: served table side. I regretted not adding truffles since the buttery noodles were basically made as a vehicle for truffles
4. Risotto: quite al dente. I liked the sauce - a jus/reduction drizzled in. It was served with a roasted cardoon. In the end, I couldn't finish all of the rice
5. Lamb: I actually wanted something lighter and got a seasonal zucca (pumpkin soup) as a substitution, which I was happy with. I did try the lamb. It was on the saltier side but wasn't too gamey
5. Cheese plate: at this point, I was so full (and jet lagged), but they made me a small plate with local cheeses and house made marmalade's (all very interesting using local seasonal produce).
When we went to pay up front, they had a nice tray of chocolates, chocolate truffles, torrino, cookies for us by the door to nibble on.
In the end, for the truffle hunt, interpreter, meal, and very nice bottle of wine, it was about €300 for 2 of us. Service was very polite, we never felt rushed, and I thought the truffle hunt experience was pretty unique and awesome. They do speak English in the restaurant.
The drive was about 40 min from Alba. I would definitely recommend driving out here for the truffle hunt experience (5 stars) and the lunch (a great value for a Michelin starred place).
