Reviews - Il Trifulau
Reviews summary
Reviews from various users
Last update : 21.03.2024
This was a truly memorable dinner with the hosts of Il Trifulau in their welcoming, unpretentious farm restaurant. If you want to have a real taste of local cuisine with the best of white truffles, this is the place. The meal melt in your mouth veal tartare, local fonduta (small cups of melted cheese) and tajarin pasta was all lovingly home made, and served with as many shavings of fresh white truffle as you cared to buy. The price per gram was much less than at the Alba market, and the flexibility of buying as much or as little truffle as you want was part of the fun. Contrary to some reviews, the place is not difficult to find if you have good directions, and it's worth it.
We were brought there by our friend Battiste Briatico (the Best guide ever ! and this was a great choice ! Set in the middle of this beautiful area, with a view over the Barolo hills and the Alps far away, this agroturismo is worth coming in, even though the outside is nothing special. The team is great and very friendly. The food is typical and very tasty (truffles truffles truffles ... with a good Barbera ! Organize a 'truffle Hunt ' with a man and his dog to reach the climax of the place !
We made a last minute reservation for dinner. It was a bit difficult to find, even w/gps, but what a view lovely area. The owners are delightful. Actually, it turned out that it was unclear as to whether our reservation had been accepted. When we arrived it was all good, but when the next foursome, only other diners arrived, it was apparent the chef truffle searcher thought we were them. She looked a but shocked, but did have plently of delicious local fresh food for all! The look on her face was sheer surprise. While speaking no english, we had a good idea that we would be served several courses, mostly with the black mushrooms (summer time). We should have looked at the Trip advisor reviews planned earlier with desired meats, preps, etc. We loved it all were up for a tasting adventure, but perhaps we could have steered the chef better for our personal tastes. We did buy the truffles that were used in many of the courses the truffle hunter cleaned shaved them for many of the courses table side. After the meal, we visited the winery saw the cistern. Too cool. Would definitely recommend. If I go back, I would ask about whether the chef might give cooking lessons.
On our first night in the Piemonte, we had a marvelous dinner at Il Trifulau. Reservations are required. We had called well in advance and explained that there are certain meats we don’t eat. When we arrived, the menu was perfect for us! And we were the only diners that night. The table was set for us next to the fire which was nice since it was a very cold night. The first order of business, if you want to eat white truffles, is to have a look at the basket of truffles they bring to the table and pick which you want. It is then weighed and you pay for that in addition to whatever else you eat. The prices were very fair for white truffles (less per etto than other restaurants in the area). We started with a simple egg frittata with tartufo nero. Very tasty, followed by an insalata of mushrooms. The fonduta with tartufo bianco was very rich and excellent and the tagliatelle (tajarin) with white truffle was simple and very good. We also had rabbit in wine sauce that was great and cooked carrots. We had a nice mix of three desserts. We like the flan-like budino di cioccolatto best. The baby pear in wine and torta made with hazelnuts were good too. The couple who own the place clearly love their little restaurant and their small cantina which they toured us through for a little tasting at the end of our meal. Their organic wine is very good, by the way, and we ended up buying several bottles. We’ll go back for sure!
The previous review and the recommendation from our fantastic B B (Cascina sant 'Eufemia juiced us up but still we were in for quite a surprise. This is not your typical restaurant experience, it rather feels like you are inviting yourself into somebody 's home. After being greeted by 3 truffle hunting dogs telling the master of the house that I only spoke limited Italian, he replied 'neither do I, I only speak Piemontese ' ... But we got around language wise and after selecting 'our ' truffle (16gr for 52€ we got 3 appetizers (raw minced meat, pancake with black truffles, fonduta[a cheese sauce] , 1 pasta dish, some very delicious rabbit in red wine sauce and 2 desserts (hazelnut cake and chocolate pudding and with some white wine (this is a red wine region, faux pas on my behalf the total damage was 108€ This place is a bit tricky to find .. the map info to your right (as of 11/08 is incorrect: Take the gravel road starting at N 44° 36.355′ E 8° 1.498′ and follow it to N 44° 36.450′ E 8° 1.338′. I am looking forward to return, even when the truffle season is over, hopefully with some more vocabulary to try other dishes.