Sydney Eat Street: Where to find the best truffle dishes in Sydney
IT’S open season for truffle-mad foodies. From French omelets to French toast and ice cream, here’s where to enjoy this culinary black gold around Sydney.
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IT’S open season for truffle-mad foodies. From French omelets to French toast, here’s where to enjoy this culinary Black Gold around Sydney.
Take a tour of the area’s best eateries right here with The Sunday Telegraph’s Eat Street. Are you hungry for more inspiration? Follow us on Instagram.
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MADAME TRUFFLES
WHEN you’re ready to have a go at your own truffle creation, there’s no better place to visit than the Madame Truffles pop-up shop in Chippendale.
Open for a mere three months, the full stretch of truffle season, here you can pick up the real deal, sourced weekly from around Australia, including the Blue Mountains’ Hartley Truffles or for your first round, try something from their own range of products such as truffle salt and truffle honey.
Even the meekest of cooks can make it a meal and pick up a package of fresh truffle and mushroom ravioli (specially made by Pasta Emilia in Surry Hills) and small tub of truffle ice cream.
It’s not all in-store though as Madame Truffles will play host to a number of off-site events including cooking classes, degustation dinners and even the popular Truffle Toastie Day at Marrickville’s Grifter Brewery. Stop in for further details, general information or just drop by to smell what all the fuss is about.
— 28 Kensington St, Chippendale
BUTTER
STREET meets luxury. That’s the way chef, co-owner and former Young Chef of the Year Julian Cincotta describes the inspiration behind Butter’s diverse truffle menu. It’s as eclectic as the place itself.
Here you can you can pick up a pair of top shelf sneakers, order a bottle of Dom Perignon, listen to old school hip-hop music but most of all, get your fill of fried chicken. Sounds random, but it works.
Best enjoyed with a cold beer, or better yet, a glass of bubbles from their Champagne bar.
— 6 Hunt St, Surry Hills; and Shop 3/140 Marsden St, Parramatta
ST CLAUDE’S
FINE dining dishes with meticulously placed spheres of sliced truffles may look enticing, but to truly understand truffle’s allure, chefs recommend keeping it pure and simple.
“Anything porous,” says Matt Barnett, chef and co-owner of this French bistro, St Claude’s in Woollahra, noting that a mere dish of pasta and butter is one of the best ways to showcase the truffle.
The same holds true for the classic egg and Gruyere cheese French omelet, often shared as an appetiser with bites of toast.
Topping it off with shaved truffle may appear to be where it gets the flavour but Mr Barnett explains how it’s really all about the egg itself as he keeps them in a jar with some truffles so the essence can be absorbed through the shell.
“The taste really comes from the smell so you don’t need to use a lot,” adds co-owner Stewart Parsons.
As Barnett and Parsons make regular changes to their specials’ board, based on what’s market fresh, you’ll want to give them a ring to avoid disappointment.
— 10 Oxford St, Woollahra
KOI DESSERT BAR
THE culinary creatives at KOI are at it again, this time, embracing the truffle season with a variety of offerings from the dessert bar, dining and adjacent bar.
At both the Chippendale and Ryde shops, there is the dramatic Black Truffle Opera Cake, seven layers of hazelnut, sea salt, and a coffee jelly topping set with more truffles and a wisp of gold gilding.
Upstairs at Koi Dining brothers Arnold and Reynold Poernomo will be offering a Truffle High Tea, which, commencing mid-July will feature booth sweet and savoury treats.
And next door at their sister venue, Monkey’s Corner, you can sip on a truffle infused vodka martini along with a bowl of mushroom sauce and egg noodles, both topped with, what else, truffle.
— KOI; 46 Kensington St, Chippendale/Monkey’s Corner; 40 Kensington St, Chippendale
THREE WILLIAMS
FORGET Christmas or Sydney summers — for Three Williams’ head chef, Jacqui Ektoros, her favourite time of the year is truffle season. Or at least it is from a culinary perspective as when the earthy fungus hits the markets, that’s when she gets to have some fun with the menu.
Already known for her seemingly magical method of preparing the moistest duck you’ll ever have, she has incorporated it into a main of angel hair pasta and ginger-infused cream sauce adorned with shaved truffles.
It’s easily the hands-down favourite, that is until you come to dessert where the competition turns chilly.
Envision a chocolate cake base surround by a mountain of caramel popcorn crumb and golden crisp pearls holding up a scoop of truffle ice cream crowned with shaved truffles. But wait, there’s more.
There’s also the dessert-slash-brunch option of the mandarin and honey crumpet with truffle ricotta. With so many choices, you’ll need the whole season to enjoy them all.
— 613a Elizabeth St, Redfern
FOODIE FIELDS OF WINTER – A FUNGI FEAST
'TIS the season to celebrate all things fungi and on Sunday, August 5th, there is no better place to do it than next door to the farms that harvest them all.
As part of the series Food Field Days, quarterly long lunches that celebrate the season’s best produce, chef Brigid Kennedy has put together a true Fungi Feast – an inspired seven-course degustation menu featuring the rich and aromatic flavours of local mushrooms and truffles matched with local beverages.
- The Loch, 581 Greenhills Rd, Berrima (tickets via www.theloch.net.au)
MODE KITCHEN AND BAR - FESTIVAL OF TRUFFLE
LAST year saw the launch of MODE Kitchen and Bar just in time for truffle season and as a newcomer on the block Head Chef Francesco Mannelli didn’t disappoint.
This year as part of MODE’s Festival of Truffle, he has brought back that divine mushroom and truffle risotto. Until mid-August, there’ll be the option of a three-course truffle tasting menu which includes the beurre bosc pear & black truffle financier, The Truffle Table - a four course menu for groups of 8-12, truffle cocktails as well as the option to add truffles to most any dish on the menu.
- Ground Floor, Four Season Hotel Sydney, 199 George St, Sydney
THE TRUFFLE FESTIVAL – Canberra Region
FOR foodies everywhere, truffles are a thing to celebrate and come winter, Canberra does it in style with its annual Truffle Festival.
Now in its 10th year, thanks to a group of dedicated volunteers and the region’s black winter truffle growers including the festival’s founders Wayne Haslam of Blue Frog Truffles and Fred Harden the event has grown to run throughout the season with a calendar of events that includes truffle hunts, degustation dinners and cooking classes.
A highlight of the festival will be the Westfield Belconnen Truffle Market Day, 28 July 2018, which will include cooking demonstrations by Elena Duggan, winner of MasterChef 2016, who will prepare a variety of dishes utilising the region’s black truffles. There’ll also be market stalls selling local produce and truffle products, presentations on truffles and wine pairings, as well as truffle cocktail masterclasses.
MUST TRY
TRUFFLE SUNDAE
BRINGING luxury to the layman, the gents at Devon Cafe were some of the firsts in Sydney to take truffles mainstream by adding them to breakfast and lunch staples such as the truffle jaffle and truffle chips.
There’s also co-owner and chef, Morris Baco’s sweet creations including a soft serve sundae with truffle ice cream, truffle honey, mini-chestnut pop-tarts and truffle slices.
Plus check out Devon’s Surry Hills and North Sydney locations for other offerings.
— Devon Cafe; 19/200 Barangaroo Ave, Barangaroo
MARRON WITH HARTLEY TRUFFLES
HAVING worked in kitchens around the world, chef Insup Kim’s menu features dishes that reflect his International influences, including Korea and the US, which he translates with Australian ingredients.
Using Hartley Truffles he gets from the Blue Mountains, Insup has paired it with marron, bone marron and squid ink as well as with the sweet corn and sea urchin risotto.
— Altitude Restaurant, Shangri-La Hotel; 176 Cumberland St, Sydney
WHITE ASPARAGUS AND BLACK TRUFFLE
THE mere presence of some foods, much less their smells can be forth a flood of memories. For Chef Alessandro Pavoni, it’s truffles that do it, as they remind him of his hometown in Italy and eating truffles with his family.
Whether that meant dinners enjoying this divine white asparagus with aged manchego consommé, black truffle along with a charcoal asparagus tip and hollandaise is yet to be told.
— Ormeggio at The Spit; D’Albora Marinas, Spit Rd, Mosman
POTATO GNOCCHI WITH BLACK TRUFFLE
COLDER months call for comfort food, which often means simple and hearty dishes. With this house made gnocchi topped with Tasmania Black truffle shavings, you get a gourmet version of a winter warmer.
— Silvester’s, Sydney Marriott; 1 Bulletin Pl, Sydney
NUTTY BLACK TRUFFLE DESSERT
WITH innovation at the core of their menu, you’ll want to experience all every dish and thankfully, InterContinental Hotel, where head chef Luke Fernley has designed a truffle tasting menu that allows you to try it all rather than sneaking a fork full from the next plate over.
Hard as it maybe, try to hold out for Head Pastry Chef, Simon Veauvy’s Nutty Black Truffle dessert, a beautiful (and delicious) plating of vanilla black truffle ice cream, macadamia praline and white chocolate Chantilly cream that highlights his passion for Australian ingredients and a bit of his notable French flare. (Friday and Saturday for dinner)
— 117 dining, InterContinental Hotel; 117 Macquarie St, Sydney