The best white truffle menus of the season

Carbone welcomes newly appointed head chef Jack Carson to continue the Italian-American restaurant’s penchant for excess. His lavish truffle dishes include timeless classics like the truffle eggs crostini with lightly whipped eggs ($588); house-made truffle fettuccine slicked with Sardinian butter ($748); and ricotta tortellini ($888) with plump morsels and freshly shaved truffles. For loyal regulars who are dedicated to the permanent a la carte menu, Carbone offers additional shavings by the gram ($188 per gram). I don't know about you, but for us, dishes like the Carpaccio Piemontese and the succulent steaks make a perfect canvas for truffles.

Crossing continents and cultures, two of the season's best delicacies come together at Sushi Hakucho for the Shanghai hairy crab and white truffle omakase (starts from $1,080). Featuring prized crustaceans from Jiangsu (the region known for harvesting the creamiest golden roe) and white truffles from the misty forests of northern Italy, this unique pairing is both rare and extravagant. Keeping in tune with the restaurant’s Kyushu-style cuisine, chef Harada Makoto infuses these flavour-rich ingredients into its authentic menu. Highlights include the halibut and Bafun sea urchin roll, which blends hairy crab miso with Modena balsamic vinegar and truffles in a harmonious combination of flavours from land and sea, as well as the Kumamoto A5 Wagyu and hairy crab roe miso with alba truffles.

The annual Furs, Feathers & Iode menu ($2,880), a premium showcase of the best hunted game from around the world and the finest seafood from Japan, returns at French fine dining restaurant Écriture. Taking on the season's top ingredients, the menu would be incomplete without a little white truffle. In the Pheasant and Galinette – a balance of poultry with subtle gamey undertones and red gurnard fish served with clarified jelly and white truffles – the result is as harmonious as it is heavenly in its match of flavours, aromas and textures. Using white truffles again in its final dessert dish, the hazelnut dessert is a lighter-than-air souffle-in-tart topped with pear sorbet and a final touch of truffles.

Introducing its inaugural white truffle menu, southern Italian restaurant Giacomo is paying tribute to the treasures of Alba with simple dishes that emphasise the truffles themselves. Interpreting the traditional pairing of truffles with egg, confit Taiyouran organic egg ($850) is a deliciously creamy and runny sous vide egg with the richest of yolks. The restaurant’s culinary roots in seafood shine through in its warm scampi dish ($880) which marries the inimitable aroma of truffle with prawns and scampi jus to extract the best of land and sea in each bite. Testing the culinary versatility of truffles, the white truffle gelato ($480) is a delightful finale with homemade gelato infused with white truffle, sabayon foam and more white truffle shavings. The set lunch is available as two ($480), three ($550), or four ($680) courses with wine pairing options ($280/$380). Similarly, the six-course tasting menu ($1,580) can also be enjoyed with the wine pairing for $680.

Innovative Italian restaurant Radical Chic is making its truffle debut this season with a limited White Truffle Degustation ($2,880), complete with wine pairing options (from $880-$1,380). The five-course menu recalls classic dishes with an added touch of luxury and generous tableside truffle shavings. A play on the caviar and blinis appetiser, the white truffle and amaretti uses a traditional Italian biscuit instead of a Russian pancake, which is then topped with creme fraiche, Beluga and Baerri caviar, and white truffle shavings. Another standout dish from the menu is the eggs done four ways; featuring Japanese sea urchin, Sturgeon caviar and salmon roe pulled together with cream of potato and truffle on top – a decadent rendition of the traditional egg dish often seen on truffle menus.

At Associazione Chianti, you can pile on as much white truffle as you wish. Available as an optional supplement to their starters, steaks and pasta, diners can choose how much they want and what they want to pair Piedmont’s finest with. Going for $188 per gram, you can lay a truffle blanket on the Carne Cruda steak tartare ($188), house special steaks finished in truffle butter (starting from $328), or the luscious tagliatelle ($218) tossed in butter. Shaved over any of the dishes here, the funghi’s flavour shines in this ode to the season's most coveted culinary treasure. 

Known and loved for its homemade tagliolini in 'Au Koque' carbonara sauce, Castellana is the place to go when it comes to exquisite Italian dishes. Now, truffle lovers will be pleased to know that the restaurant’s new four-course menu includes this must-order dish featuring classic homemade tarajin, as well as creamy whipped mountain egg to start, choice of Brittany blue lobster with potato foam or Racan pigeon for main, and white truffle tart with hazelnut cream ganache to finish – all enhanced with a generous flurry of white truffle shavings. The new four-course Alba white truffle menu (available at market price with wine pairing option for an additional $780) is limited in quantity, so make sure you reserve in advance.

When it comes to ingredients, Paolo Olivieri of Spiga is all about freshness and seasonality. This is why the head chef has prepared enticing new recipes which accentuate the best produce he can get his hands on. Going back to basics, he pares down a simple pasta dish to spotlight the white truffle. Using freshly made tagliolini with a creamy Parmigiano fondue and marinated egg yolk ($328), he captures only the essential flavours which give way to the aromatic Italian white truffles.

Usually a prized ingredient for Italian cooking, it takes a creative chef trained outside of the cuisine to take on the mighty truffle. Chef Gu Jin Kwang, who typically works with dishes for Korean vegetarian cuisine, takes on the challenge to present four new Korean temple inspired dishes, each enriched with two grams of truffle. Satisfy your truffle craving with the asparagus with truffle mash potatoes ($428), an earthy dish with complementing flavours, or sample the royal mushroom and truffle consommé ($338), an aromatic starter made to bring out the best taste of white truffles.