Wednesday, July 6, 2011

black gold at St Ali



I’m the first to admit that I may have a slight weakness for truffles, actually a massive weakness. It’s that sexy heady aroma that brings me to my knees ,like smelling a good burgundy I could sniff it for a few hrs before even consuming maybe even concocting some sought of bucket to head truffle sniffing device which I guess would be great on trams or the peak hour train instead of smelling the armpit of everyone around me I’m in sniffing heaven. 


Ms paint at its best. It’s like chroming but for rich people

So needless to say that when I heard Melbourne fringe food festival will be hosting a truffle dinner and it will be cooked by none other than Matt Wilkinson I wanted in.
It was unlike most truffle dinners I have been too because it had a range of different truffles from varying states(nsw,tas,w.a). It started off with baskets filled with truffles being passed around so we could really smell the difference between states. The nsw was a lot less on the nose compared to the massive aroma of the W.A where the Tassie somewhat sat in-between these two but still packed a bit of a punch and would have no problem chowing down on these bad boys. Matt comes out and gives a little informative talk about truffles and a little story then shortly after an overwhelming aroma starts to fill the room and then the fungi high kicks in and for once I actually know what’s going on unlike most fungal highs I have had J.  A sexy little number of polenta,prawn,crab and a very generous amount of Tassie is micro planed across the whole dish, it’s a sexy yet incredibly complex group of flavours I loved the creamy polenta and the occasional contrast of the seafood in mouth but the truffle can still shine and become the hero of the dish rather then something floating along in the back needless to say each bite was sex in the mouth and I was having multiple orgasms (brb need to change pants). 


Up next was a tasty little dish of purple congo potato and some other potato I forget, capocolo ,golden deep fried but still runny quail egg(I think otherwise that’s some tiny fucking eggs)rocket pulled from matts garden that morning, tarragon emulsion and of course NSW shaved truffle.


Another simple tasty dish where the ingredients just spoke for themselves ,I loved the NSW truffle it had in my opinion the most flavour of all the truffles when eaten but maybe the weakest nose.
And now on to my favourite dish of the night also the most simple : One week WA truffle infused Brie de meaux, toasted sourdough


It’s just by simply cutting a big arse wheel of brie in half, slicing a shitload of W.A truffle put the other top on, leave for a week and serve.



Oh yeah look at that, its begging to be dug into, The reason why I loved this so much is it really took on the truffle flavour and because it the W.A truffles It had a huge aroma. Plus well its good brie and good quality bread what’s not to like, plus I had pinot so life was pretty sweet.
Last but not least we had a truffle taste test, it was conducted with scrambled eggs(easily one of the best things to do with truffles) and we all had to guess which piece was from which state. Sadly there was no prize for guessing them all correct as this truffle tragic had done.


My memory now is kind of fading on me as if I have consumed a bit of burgundy  currently but I think it went, W.A,NSW,TAS

Overall though I had a great night drink some tasty wine from Holly’s Garden, had great conversation and caught up with some old blogger friends.  Rumour has it that another truffle dinner is coming up the 14 or 15th of July you better be quick though as this dinner sold out in about a day. Check  http://www.fringefoodfestival.com.au/ for details.

13 comments:

  1. Welcome back. This dinner won me over on the truffle front. I don't know if it was because they were so fresh (the WA ones arrived literally minutes before dinner), or if it was the quantity of truffles in the one place, but I'm just about obsessed with the little buggers now! The smell just hits something right in the base of my brain. Darn it! Not sure I can afford another expensive obsession.

    Glad you enjoyed it, and yes - it's looking like the Fringe Food Festival will be holding another dinner next week. Thanks for the link.

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  2. that ms paint drawing really just made my day.

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  3. Stunning pics Mat. I'm well jealous. I live in WA and haven't even seen a truffle let alone taste one. They are plentiful in Margaret River right about now but I am 800km north. Looking forward to seeing more of your fab foodie pics. Take care man.

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  4. Hey Mat, welcome back and what a way to start - truffles! Sounds like it was a great night. Looking forward to more blog posts from you.

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  5. I've never eaten truffle before .. hmm multiple orgasms ey ? .. might have to give them a try one day. XD. I thouroughly enjoyed your artistic skills. lol.. although those truffles looked to me to resemble chefs chocolate salty balls. hm.

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  6. I have to eat truffles now! never eaten them before but those pictures look so delicious! hmm

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  7. dude. get yourself a better camera. those food photos look pretty crap. dont rely on your smartphone. a reasonable camera and a small tripod (the little flexi leg ones to sit it on the table next to the food), switch off the flash, and bingo. youve got some great photos of food wile youre out and about. the trick is to get more light in your photos. the tripod helps with that, as you can extend the exposure (length of time the photo is taken for) without blurring the photo with shaking and stuff.

    at home, invest in an SLR and tripod. then you can take your time, and do lots of tweaking to make your food look the best it can.

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  8. dude. truffle sniffing device: i want one.

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  9. Wow at the toasted sourdough... must get involved in this next time...

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  10. so funny cartoon and about the food so delicious pictures

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  11. Truffles are just so darn good, they are my favorite, great review by the way.

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