When my wife and I were in Bruxelles/Brussels in June, we had an incredible meal at La Truffe Noire (Boulevard de la Cambre 12, (02) 640-4422). I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who loves truffles and/or great food. It is definitely worth going out of your way to get there! The rest of this message contains a review of our meal, which is excerpted from a travelogue I wrote.
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Our dinner at La Truffe Noire turned out to be the culinary highlight (so far) of our trip to Europe. And that is no mean feat, considering that while in Paris we ate wonderful meals at two of the most acclaimed Michelin three-star restaurants, Taillevent and Alain Ducasse.
The dining room of La Truffe Noire is modern yet gracious and comfortable, with high ceilings, light pink tableclothes and tables that are spaced generously apart. We were shown to a lovely table by the window. The proprieter of the restaurant, Luigi, came to our table and welcomed us to the restaurant. Luigi is an energetic and dapper man, with a moustache and an impeccable beige suit.
After spending some time perusing the menus, we decided to choose their special tasting menu, the "Menu Privilege du 10'eme anniversaire", which is in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the restaurant. Figuring that it would not hurt to raise the stakes a bit, I explained to Luigi that we love truffles and that we had had some great truffle dishes at Taillevent and Ducasse the week before. He became very excited and said that he admired those restaurants and their chefs very much, and that he was thus inspired to do his best to compete with them.
Our meal started with an "Amuse bouche" course, which consisted of some little taste teasers. It included a subtle cold creamy asparagas soup, and some really fantastic raw herring bits that had a texture like lightly cooked shrimp. We accompanied this light starter with our usual two flutes of champagne.
The starter was followed by the "Carpaccio aux truffes a la facon de Luigi". Thin slices of super-fresh beef are layed onto the bottom of a shallow porcelain dish about 12" by 7". Luigi then makes a sauce of olive oil, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, and mayonnaise. This is ladelled over the beef. Then he reaches into a huge foot-and-a-half-high mason jar filled with tennis-ball sized fresh black truffles and grabs one out. Using a wickedly-sharp stainless steel shaving plane, he vigorously and completely covers the platter of beef and sauce with a layer of black truffles. I think he used about 1/3 of a huge truffle per dish. Then he uses the plane to add a thin layer of Parmesan slices. Finally, he garnishes the dish with chopped parseley and black pepper. Voila!
Becky and I stared at the platters of Carpaccio that had been placed in front of us. The aroma of the truffles was so rich, so dense, and so seductive, that it is giving me goosebumps just thinking about it a week later. For those of you who have never smelled or tasted a truffle, you'll have to use some extra imagination here. The truffle is the most coveted, and most expensive, food item in the world. No one has ever figured out how to domesticate them, and the truffle is still collected using sharp-nosed animals (traditionally pigs, but now trained dogs). With each passing year, for decades, the truffle harvest has been decreasing, while demand has been increasing, with the predictable impact on prices. Wholesalers pay the truffle hunters $400 and up for a pound of fresh black truffles, and the retail price often exceeds $1,000 a pound. Why? Because a truffle has a unique aroma and taste that defies description, and which, once sampled, insinuates itself permanently into your memory. The best words I can think of to describe the smell of a truffle are: earthy and sensuous.
The texture of the raw truffle is not particularly interesting, it is rather dry and tough. That is why you have to meld the truffle with other materials, especially sauces, to bring out its amazing flavor and lend it a more appealing texture.
The combination of the copious truffle slices, the rich and tangy sauce, and the luciousness of the raw beef, topped by the crunchy saltiness of the parmesan and the occasional sharp pepper and parsely notes, was simply orgasmic. This Carpaccio is one of the most intoxicating and satisfying dishes that I have ever had.
After savoring every last bit of the carpaccio, we finished our champagne and awaited the next dish. To accompany the rest of the menu we chose a white Burgundy, a 1996 Corton Charlemagne from Pierre-Yves Masson. The waiters now poured us some of the wine, and then brought us the "Moelleux de filets de rouget au foie gras cru, witloofs a peine confits aux truffes".
This dish starts with fillets of red snapper which are cooked and then topped with a thin slice of foie gras. These fillets are then put briefly under a broiler to melt the foie gras into the snapper. The fish is served on a bed of a lightly frothed cream sauce with sauteed onions and truffles, and garnished with more black truffle shavings. The fish was perfectly cooked, and the foie gras added some really interesting and complementary flavors. The truffles infused the dish with their characteristic flavor, and a bit of crunch. The Moelleux was a very pleasurable dish, and we ate every bit of it and sopped up every last drop of the sauce with bread.
The next dish was the 'piece de resistance', the "Truffe de Carpentras a la croque au sel et ses grillettes". An entire golf-ball-sized truffle is simmered in a broth of port wine and beef stock and then placed along with the broth in a small crock whose lid has an ornamental truffle for a handle. The crock is then placed in the middle of a large platter on which is also placed a dish with butter with bits of raw truffle mixed into it, a dish of large crystals of sea salt, and about 20 small toasted bread slices which are arranged decoratively around the platter.
The aroma that rose from the truffle crock when the lid was lifted was luxurious and seductive, almost maddening. I wanted to pick up the crock, devour the truffle, and then lather the broth all over my body. And then over Becky's. Er, never you mind the rest of that thought!
Luigi explained that there was a recommended way to eat this dish. First you dab some of the truffled butter on one of the toasts. Then use your knife to slice off a bit of the truffle which you then put on the buttered toast. Garnish with a few crystals of salt. You take in a whiff of the aroma and then put the whole thing in your mouth and start to chew it. Your mouth if filled with the jumble of flavors and textures - the crunch of the toast, the creaminess of the butter, the earthiness of the truffle, the sharp saltiness. Then you take a spoon of the rich port-and-stock broth and slurp it into the mixture already in your mouth. All of a sudden everything starts to change, starts to gel into a glorious symphony as the broth fills your mouth with its richness, takes the edge off of the salt, and unleashes the truffles flavor. Wow!
We tried to pace ourselves and to savor this amazing dish, but before we knew it we had eaten every delicious bite. We sat back, contented, glowing from the pleasure. This is what great food is all about!
The amazing Truffe de Carpentras dish was followed by a twist on the traditional cheese course, the "Brillat-Savarin aux truffes, affine par nos soins". This is their home-made creamy cheese with layers of black truffles. It was served with a delicious bread with walnuts and yellow and black raisins, which was a perfect complement to the subtle cheese.
Finally, our dessert was the "Creme brulee aux pommes golden et truffe, glace vanille truffee", a delicious creme brulee with a perfectly finished sugar crust. It has thin slices of apple and truffle in the creme. The truffles added tremendous depth to the dish, and the apple slices gave it more texture and prevented the truffles from dominating or making it too earthy. It was served with a very nice vanilla ice cream with, of course, bits of truffle.
When we were finally done, I shook hands with Luigi and told him that this meal had indeed surpassed those that we had had at the famous Parisian restaurants. He smiled widely, and virtually danced across the dining room. For Becky and myself, it was a meal that we will never forget.
From [email removed] Mon Sep 28 18:09:19 EDT 1998
Article: 41455 of rec.food.restaurantsBelgium