Rate your truffle experience

It was our first visit to Braidwood, and we were delighted by the charming town after the drive from northern beaches in Sydney. On Saturday night, we started our truffle weekend with an extra special truffle dinner at the Albion Cafe, formerly the Albion Hotel – one of the most handsome buildings in historic Braidwood. Thanks to Kate and Peter from Terra Preta Truffle (whom were we lucky enough to be sitting next to) for supplying the truffle, James Kidman and staff from Dieci e Mezzo restaurant in Canberra for travelling to Braidwood and cooking such an exquisite 5-course truffle meal; and the fantastic staff at Albion Cafe for their warm hospitality. And the wines (some were local but have forgotten names sorry) were well matched. I believe a kilo of truffle was provided for the meal, so we got to taste plenty! Appetiser: Mushroom and truffle pastries and gruyere and truffle melts; entree: Parmesan and truffle risotto with quail egg, fresh truffle; main course: Slow cooked rolled leg of lamb, spinach and pear puree, fresh truffle with organic carrots, potatoes cooked in duck fat, Roman beans and garlic; Dessert: Hazelnut and truffle opera cake, hazelnut ice cream and truffle anglaise; Petit four: Truffled macaroons.

Next morning the would-be truffle hunters met at Albion Cafe to be taken by bus to Kate and Peter’s place – Terra Preta Truffle – about 15 minutes away. Warmly greeted by family and their 2 gorgeous dogs (one a 4-month-old in training), we were treated to delicious wholemeal apple danish from Dojo Bakery in Braidwood. Peter explained about truffle growing and then we went to a crop of hazel trees to start the truffle hunt. Sal the lab-kelpie cross was calm despite 20 or so people “in her patch” – she would walk up to a tree, gently paw the earth and sure enough Kate would find a truffle. The visitors were also invited to dig for them. The beautiful black truffles are grown organically – no herbicides. After a couple of hours of finding truffle after truffle, we had an opportunity to see how they had restored a tired and eroded dairy farm – no more 30-ft gullies of erosion, now healthy soil and water holes where the water was so clear you could see the bottom to healthy, and of course the wildlife has returned – black swans even! Walking back to the open fire we were treated to truffle infused brie – divine! Thank you Kate and Peter, we are still enjoying our truffle – and our truffle-infused eggs are heaven in the mornings, and been trying many different recipes with truffle. I will be very sad when our supply finishes. This was the 7th and final truffle hunt for the season. I am very pleased I chose this weekend! I’ll be back next year.

I have to agree with the other review on line which considered the Hyatt dinner somewhat as a failure, particularly when compared to last year’s which I thought was quite sensational. This year there were only a few of the many dishes which demonstrated the special taste and nuances which truffles provide. In fact, it was almost as if they had forgotten to add truffles to many of the dishes. Very disappointing (and and an unnecessarily late finish as well.)

This was our first time trying anything in the Truffle Festival and were quite exctied about such a decadent evening. But perhaps our expectations were too high – the meal was far too long with us getting there at 6.30 and leaving at 11 without waiting for the final course (being a Friday we were too tired after a working week). We waited over an hour for the first course.

The staff were lovely and friendly, and the wines were interesting, generous and well matched. The food however was patchy, an amazing soup starter set the bar high and unfortunately wasn\’t met again throughout the meal. The mass production seemed to trip them up a little with food being a little tasteless and things that were meant to have crispy skin being stretchy and overcooked (barramundi and pork dishes). The wagu beef was almost inedible and looking around the room there were many plates left with food on them after this course.
We probably won\’t be back.

We had no idea there was a local truffle festival until a friend told us about it recently and suggested we go to the truffle evening at the Promenade Cafe at the Hyatt.

Yum!!! The food was superb and generous, the wine was beautiful and the staff were great. They were well briefed on both the truffles and wines and were more than happy to answer our questions.

The food was outstanding. Each dish complemented the truffle flavours beautifully and the wines were well matched. A carrot and lime palate cleanser arrived just at the right point in the dinner and was absolutely delicious. The barramundi dish with shaved truffles was the only dissappointment. There was not enough truffle to have much of an impact.

Thanks for putting together such a great festival and such a beautiful dinner We will definitely be taking part next year

Perhaps I’ve been reading too many Peter Mayle/Provence books as well as his humorous fiction “Anything Considered” (about truffles with a slight touch of crime), but when I happened on the Capital Country Truffle Festival website link, I decided that tasting truffle close to home was to be my next adventure.

I made a booking at Grazing at Gundaroo, selected from the “Where to eat truffle – now!” list. All the suggestions looked great, so my choice was based on proximity to my home in North Belconnen. I mentioned my particular interest in truffles with my booking phone call and was assured that there would be truffles on the menu. I invited my small family to celebrate with me – mid-winter,
truffles and family birthdays, and we were a group of 5.

It’s a lovely atmosphere at Grazing and we received a warm welcome, our table waiting. The menu gave a wonderful choice, but I could find no mention of truffles, so asked our waiter, who then produced a sheet with three dishes – a delicious-sounding soup, a main of a Beef Wellington dish (with truffle) and a
vegetable side of broccolini with shaved truffle. I stayed with my choice from the main menu (duck) but added the broccolini side dish.

We all ordered different meals (entree, main & dessert) and each was declared excellent. The others also shared some of the broccolini – cooked to just the right level of perfection, but found the truffle shavings not enough to really stand out. This was the only disappointment of a great lunch.

Next year I’ll make the effort to go further afield (no pun intended), as I do like the sound of the truffle and scrambled eggs breakfast at Silo Bakery.

We have been eagerly waiting for our truffle weekend to arrive. With precise timing we left after work on the Friday afternoon only to be greeted with heavy traffic. Taking 30mins longer then we wanted we unfortunately missed out on our Locanda dinner reservation as their kitchen closed at 9:30pm. Our only suggestion was to have them stay open longer especially on a Friday night during the truffle season. Still in high spirits we woke up early the next day and visited the Farmers Markets at Exhibition Park. The produce was fresh and delicious, we sampled each food stall and bought a boot full of fresh pasta, bagels, macarons, meat pies and vegetables. We could not miss out on purchasing the fresh truffles – they were zip-locked, safely wrapped in paper and encased in the chiller bag, the aroma of the truffle was still forever present when we opened the car boot. We nodded in unison… yep… truffle season… we love you. The word ‘Full’ was officially banned from our vocabulary as we drove to Silo Bakery for breakfast. As we hovered amongst the other diners we knew we wanted the truffle butter ball and their truffled scrambled eggs. The queue was long but moved efficient, don’t be discouraged as it is worth the wait. Next stop was poachers pantry – we ordered every item on their truffle menu but our favourite was their smoked seafood platter. Another couple of bags of smoked meats later we made our way back into the city but not before making a pit stop at Gallagher Wines. We met the owner himself and he was extremely lovely and the wines were amazing. We couldn’t decide which wines we loved more so we got some of each and a few of their cheeses too. We were ready for our dinner at Dieci e Mezzo – their dinner menu had a lovely selection but our favourite was their truffled pasta and wagyu steak. Their desserts were also divine. Before we even paid the bill for Dieci we had already made our lunch booking at Tres Bon for the next day. We were on a mission! They opened at 12pm and we were there at 12pm and we weren’t the only ones. The lunch crowd was already rolling in. They are by far the most generous when serving their dishes with truffles. We ordered every dish from their Truffle Menu and it was amazing. No words can describe it but the silence of all of us eating and nodding is our seal of approval. What a lovely way to end our weekend. Thank you for putting the festival together, it showcased Canberra and Australian produce at its finest. We will be back, there is no doubt about that.

As we came from Sydney, we decided to stay overnight in Bungendore. We dined at Tres Bon on Saturday night, which probably set a very high standard for any further dining! We booked a Truffle Hunt at Robinson’s farm with lunch at Lark Hill Winery aferwards. Our tour set off from Lark Hill after an excellent cup of coffee. Robinson’s truffery was great fun and very informative and gave us an appetite for lunch. Unfortunately the staff, though very friendly, didn’t know where we had been and didn’t mention anything about truffles. The meal,which included a matched glass of wine was very nice and good value but couldn’t compare with the Tres Bon dining experience. I would suggest that if Lark Hill do special Truffle lunches in future they should make sure their staff are fully informed and can add value to the experience for their clients. We will be back next year for sure.

We went to the Truffles in the Pub lunch after the Tarago hunt. There was a truffle grower talk, a local wine maker (Domaine Rogha Crois) and two well presented truffle courses for a bargain $55. Everyone loved the potato truffle mash. We always want more truffle but this was great value. Staff were great too.