Trifling with truffles

10 April 2012

There's nothing quite like some white truffles at this time of year.

Fay Maschler

Cecconi's

5A Burlington Gardens, W1 (020-7434 1500). Mon-Sun £120

First he didn't inhale, then he didn't have sex with that woman and now it turns out that Bill Clinton didn't order risotto garnished with a wildly expensive white truffle, said to weigh well over a pound and cost £40,000 (unlikely) when dining with his chums Kevin Spacey and Prince Andrew. He did apparently foot the bill, a generous gesture at this fashionable renaissance of a restaurant which, since 1978, has attracted the high and mighty. The Italian menu is unfussy - the best basis for shavings of the funky tuber - and in a few Venetian-inspired dishes pays tribute to the provenance of the original owner. Design by David Collins has created pools of privacy seductively upholstered in dark leather.

Passione

10 Charlotte Street, W1 (020-7636 2833). Mon-Sat £90


Fungi of every kind are the passion of fun guy Gennaro Contaldo who, if he is to be believed, taught both Antonio Carluccio and Jamie Oliver everything they know. A table outside his small, attractive restaurant displays the bounty of autumn including various wild mushrooms which Contaldo says are everywhere under our feet if only we would look for them. Wild mushrooms are often the basis of dishes of the day and leaves such as wild sorrel frequently the flavouring for a risotto or pasta stuffing. White truffle shaved on home-made tagliatelle makes an ideal lunch preceded by one of the salads which utilise only the best prosciutto, culatello, coppa etc, the sweetest tomatoes, the milkiest buffalo mozzarella. In the evening make pasta or risotto with truffle a second course and move on to a homely rabbit dish or an old-fashioned veal escalope. Breads are a course in themselves.

Il Convivio
143 Ebury Street, SW1 (020-7730 4099). Mon-Sat £90

A couple of years ago Enzo Quaradeghini, one of the owners of the Etrusca Group, of which this Belgravia restaurant is a member, donated an enormous white truffle to a dinner in aid of StreetSmart, the charity which in November and December asks restaurant customers to add £1 to their bills to help the plight of the homeless. His well-heeled, comfortably housed customers are happy to pay a great deal more for the presence of truffle on the menu. Chef Lukas Pfaff uses the tuber in interesting and imaginative ways making a complete truffle-infused meal a possibility. Staff do their best to bring the restaurant name to life even if they are sometimes a little over-eager in their ministrations. Dishes are distinguished by the high quality of the ingredients. Unusually for an Italian establishment, desserts seduce and deliver.

Riva

169 Church Road, SW13 (020-8748 0434). Mon-Sun £90

I am frequently asked which are my favourite restaurants. Riva comes top of the list. I know it helps if Andrea Riva knows you, but he knows most of his customers which only adds to the pleasure of eating there. I admire his passion for northern Italian food, especially that of his native Lombardy, his enthusiasm in tracking down and sharing special wines, his love of Sixties music and his talent for partying. He is always in his restaurant, as is the handsome young chef Francesco Zanchetta who comes from the northeastern region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Between them they deliver a very particular experience. White truffles are only one ingredient among many others carefully selected to be within the regional boundaries that authentic Italian meals respect. Forget heaven being foie gras and trumpets: think white truffle shaved on to melted fontina and taleggio and the Animals' Eric Burdon singing 'House Of The Rising Sun'.


La Fontana
101 Pimlico Road, SW1 (020-7730 6630). Mon-Sun £85

Signor Pavesi has been extolling the virtues of white truffles since 1964 when this rosy, cosy restaurant opened, long before we probably even knew that there was more than one type of mushroom. Eating here is - reasonably enough - an old-fashioned affair with much pressing of the ladies to a lovely zabaglione for dessert, but it is whisked up at the table over a flame, as are various other preparations, and there are precious few places that do that any more. White truffle is shaved on to risotto or tagliatelle or on to scrambled eggs if requested (I rather love it on fried eggs). Truffle trimmings are incorporated into a sauce that is champion on carpaccio (sliced raw beef). Dishes of the day are often agreeably rustic preparations, sometimes built around game.

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