8 amazing Italian restaurants in Bangkok to try white truffle this season
The premium delicacy is only available for a couple of months every year and sells at auction for thousands of dollars per pound.
Italian chef Luca Cesarini just left the restaurant, leaving this special truffle menu as his parting gift. With freshly-shaved Alba white truffle topping each dish, the menu includes pan-roasted scallop with potato foam (B1,999), porcini mushroom risotto (which is finished by the table in a Parmesan cheese-wheel, B1,999) and braised wagyu beef with polenta (B2,399). You can either order each dish a la carte or go for a five-course meal (two antipasti, one pasta or risotto, one main and one dessert) at B6,999. Extra shaved truffle sets you back B299/g. Available throughout November.
1/F, Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, 250 Sukhumvit Rd., 02-649-8364
To welcome the white truffle season, Vesper rolls out a special menu comprising dishes like “The egg & white truffle,” a deep-fried egg served with parmesan cheese cream and Alba white truffle (B790), tagliolini al tartufo (fresh handmade tagliolini pasta served with parmesan cheese, French butter and 2g of white truffle, B890) and risotto with Parmesan cheese and 2g of white truffle (B990). The aromatic mushroom also complements the Australian beef tenderloin (B1,600), served with porcini mushrooms. An additional gram of white truffle is available at B490/g.
10/15 Convent Rd., 02-235-2777
The Italian grillhouse takes its truffle menu seriously, with chef-partner Luca Appino creating dishes with Alba truffle and house sommelier Thanakorn Mankit pairing them with wine from the same Piedmont region. Each dish is served with 2g of the white truffle. Wood charcoal-grilled Hokkaido scallops (B1,400) get paired with Michele Chiarlo, Gavi Palás, DOCG, 2014 (B1,600) while the sommelier suggests Marchesi di Barolo, Barbaresco Serragrilli, DOCG, 2012 (B3,800) with fresh handmade tagliolini pasta and French echiré butter and Parmigiano Reggiano (B1,250). For Australian wagyu ribeye (B1,890), the suggestion is Barolo Cannubi, DOCG, 2011 (B4,500).
1098/2 Rama 4 Rd., 02-286-8833
In addition to the two restaurants above, chef-proprietor Appino also created some dishes for his eponymous venue. His baked egg with Parmesan cream and truffle sets you back B990 to start with. You can also get seared Hokkaido scallop with Jerusalem artichoke sauce and truffle at B1,250 before moving on to the angel hair pasta dish with a promised minimum of 3g of truffle (B1,590) or risotto with porcini mushrooms and pumpkin (B1,590). The housemade panna cotta ice cream also features the truffle too (B590).
Terrace 49, Sukhumvit Soi 49, 02-204-1731
The restaurant offers to top any dish on the menu with shaved Alba white truffle at B340-390/g depending on the market price of the lot (they fly the truffle in twice a week). Of course, you can have it on the restaurant’s star spaghetti cacio e pepe (the cheese and pepper pasta finished in large Parmesan wheel) at B1,990 or even a hazelnut ice cream (B890).
73 Sathorn Soi 10, 02-234-9933
Throughout November, La Scala’s new chef David Tamburini presents dishes that highlight the aroma of the rare-find truffle, including mushroom brioche bruschetta with poached egg and Parmigiano cream (B2,800), Piemonte egg tagliolini (B2,900), potato filled tortelli in chicken broth (B2,900), roasted veal chop with Jerusalem artichokes puree and anchovy oil (B4,400) and warm hazelnut genoise and soft mascarpone cheese meringue (B2,600). Each dish comes with 5g of freshly shaved Alba white truffle, but if there’s still not enough, you can get some extra at B450/g.
The Sukhothai Bangkok, 13/3 Sathorn Rd., 02-344-8888
Italian chef Daniele Bettini also created a special menu with 2g of white truffle from Alba on each dish, including beef tartare with quail eggs and crunchy ciabatta bread (B1,300), housemade tagliolino pasta with porcini mushroom and green asparagus (B1,200), roasted halibut with green pea puree and truffle foam (B1,950) and Valrhona chocolate cake with raspberry coulis, truffle almond genoise and truffle dirt (B280). You can also opt for a four-course dinner (with 1g of the truffle on each dish) at B3,600.
G/F, Anantara Siam, 155 Ratchadamri Rd., 02-126-8866
Sukhumvit’s homely-yet-refined Italian mainstay has a new head chef. Stefano Borra recently arrived in Bangkok after relocating from his native Piedmont, where his restaurant, Ristorante VO, still sits in the Michelin 2016 guide accredited with one star. His white truffle specials menu introduces to the restaurant a few new specials you can expect to become mainstays, like a beef tartare made from Piedmont’s famously lean fassona beef and topped with a fudgy, slow-cooked egg yolk (B790). There’s also simple pleasures like homemade tajarin pasta (another special of Piedmont made with vast quantities of egg yolk) topped with butter and Parmesan cheese (B300), and a risotto of Parmesan cheese (B300). Certified Alba white truffle is charged in addition by the gram at market rates, which range from B350-400.
39 Sukhumvit Soi 27, 02-258-4386
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