[Piedmont Restaurants: Reviews & Recommendations]

Hi Pedalforte,

actually this is Rina's forum, she has the fine taste and sensory perception for food and ingredients and an intuitive ability to know what combines with what and how to put the whole thing together, (woe betide a restaurant which doesn't do its job properly and then overcharges) as well as acquiring and expressing a superb Piemontese cucina with high compliments from all our local friends, I am just the fingers until she gets her own keyboard (but I do the wine!)

We would love to have you pedal by next time you are in the area, we have had many cyclists stay with us this year as a covenient pit-stop close to Asti, and I am suprised that you didn't find Il Gatto e Il Volpe, its truly a wonderful restaurant for beginning or ending your tour.

Some other guests of ours have spoken highly of Antine, we will have to try it one of these days, problem is just too many restaurants in Piemonte and when you cook as well as Rina does, its not much incentive to go out that much, except to cross check places our guests have raved about (which is how we get to know so many restaurants, we might not be able to eat at all of them, but every year we will be getting direct feedback from hundreds of guests, hich is how we judge the ebb and flow), and we like Rabaja so much that its difficult not to go there when in Barbaresco.

A presto

Tim

[Trying to find dry tajarin]

Whereas we sympathise with your failed attempts to make tajarin at home, please persevere, if you find a dried egg pasta it just not the real tajarin anymore!

We have great success with our Imperia machine and so many of our guests learn the secret from Rina as they also fail at home. Rina says no whole eggs please, only yolks, you don't really need as many as 40, but I suppose it helps that we have our own hens, organic free-range and fresh eggs make a world of difference, plus using fresh ground flour (again from our own organic grown wheat) makes a world of difference, plus there are a few other tricks which an intuitive cook will find out.

Sorry but we haven't yet figured out how to add an image file.

[All about truffles]

I, too, have a retirement home in Neive, and while others may make their claims (including the ever-popular "most of the truffles at the Alba fair come from Croatia" which, even if true, doesn't matter, because the fair is over before the best truffles are even available in November), it is hard to imagine any better truffles than those from the area around Alba.  The best that I have ever had come from Monchiero.  I have also learned that the best truffles, and often the whitest for some reason, come from the roots of oak trees rather than chestnut or hazelnut.

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Bill actually I was more interested in truffles from other regions besides Piedmont, it was not my intention to get into a discussion of which sub-areas of Piedmont are better then others. Have you tried tartufi from the Northern Monferrato around Castelnouvo Don Bosco, or around southern Monferato around Acqui Terme to compare with those from around the Langhe?

BTW what type of truffles do they serve at autogrill?

[What countries have the cheapest seafood eateries?]

I can concur with the last reply about Kerala, I still dream whistfully of the last time I was there, including a few days at Kovalam, a sort of downmarket but inexpensive beach resort between Trivanduram and Cochin, but fabulous seafood and cheap, resturant called Shiva's Moon, a prototype Slow Food place as it tooks hours to preapre the food, but it was well worth the wait, and yes I had a massage with ginger-leaf oil too, fantastic.

[All about truffles]

I have been following e-gullet forums for some time, without posting, but today have taken the plunge!

I am fortunate to live in Piedmont, home of the world's most delicious and pungent white truffles (tuber magnum pico), which in late November are reaching their most instense peak. However I do know that white truffles are not exclusive to Piedmont, they are found in the woods all over this geographical climate zone, North and Central Italy (Tuscany, Umbria, Le Marche) and over the border in Slovenia and Crotia, maybe a few more places, and it appears that people living in these places also swear by their truffles.

Now I have only started appreciating white truffles since I moved to Piedmont some 6 years ago, and I am curious to her from gourmet travellers who have eaten truffles in several locations, not just one, what is their opinion. Are some truffles better then others? Is it like wine, different vintages and localities produce better tartufi? I would love to hear serious opinions.

[Piedmont Restaurants: Reviews & Recommendations]

"From Malpensa on the way to Neive, is there any place you might suggest that they stop for a reasonable lunch? That is, they'll be tired from the overnight, but there's no good reason to not eat well for their first meal in Italy, right?

-- Do you know these restaurants near Canali: LaSosta in Montabone (near Bistagno/Canelli); Il Bardone (Canelli/Calamandrana); Rabaja in Barbaresco and Cascina Schiavenza in Serralunga? These came highly recommended as lower-key, more local places. Whatever that means."

Opps I didn't see the rest of the thread, I am new to this forum. Il Bardon in Calamandrana has an excellent reputation, although it was aways closed or full when I wanted to go there. I have covered Rabaja and Schiavenza, and although some diasagree with me about Rabaja, I beg to disagree with them, almost all of or guests who have eaten there this year have loved it, and we thought that they were one of the best of many restauarants we tried out last year for our reccomended list. Of course you can't always please all the folks all of the time and especially true with restaurants. I have never eaten at Il Centro, but our guests who follow e-gullet were truly disapointed by their lunch.

but I can most highly reccomend Il Gatto e Il Volpe in Ollegio near to Malpensa airport as a great starting point for a Piedmontese experience.

[Piedmont Restaurants: Reviews & Recommendations]

Questions:

-- Will they still be able to get fresh truffles in restaurants and for approximately how much (say, shaved on tajarin)?

-- Which restaurants should they hit for lunch or dinner? My recommendations are two years old now; are they still the spots? Antine? Posta? Cesare's new place? Guido's neew place? Vicoletto still going? Il Centro in Priocca? How about in Alba itslef?

-- Are these restaurants outrageously expensive?

Hi Pedalforte, I have seen you before on Slow Travel Forums.

for my take on this thread, IMO early December is one of the best times for Piedmontese white truffles, the later the year the better, it should be no problem to find good restaurants with superb truffles.

This has been a good year for Tartufi Bianchi, the prices from truffle dealers are around 2.50 a gram, and you should expect to pay around 3.50 a gram at a restuarant. Myself I do not like the restuarants who offer a pre-shaved truffle dish at xxx euro (can vary from 20 to 40 euro depending on the restuarant and the generosity), I want to choose the truffle, have it weighed and shaved at the table, which most of the osterie offer.

Most of the restaurants you have named are very expensive for Piedmont, since this years winter Olympics I have noticed a trend of food critics in US publications promoting some of the more fancier restaurants such as Guido's, La Contea, etc. IMO real Piedmontee cuisine comes from the little mom and pop trattorie which abound in Piedmont, most of them not posted on Michelin or even Slow Food's guide. Some guests of ours ate at Il Centro last week and got stung at 150 euro for two, for essentially a light lunch with one bottle of Barbera, not even truffles. If you pay more then 30-40 euro a head (without wine or truffles) then the food had better be superb, but in most cases it is no better sometimes not as good as the little trattorie, you are paying for the name and ambience.

And furthermore although the restaurants in the Langhe centred around Alba are of course very good, I always think the area around Asti is just as good if not better as its less well known, besides being more central to all of Piedmont's wine areas and closer to Turin. Piedmontese white truffles are not the exclusivity of Alba you know (here in Asti they claim the Albanese come to Asti in the early morning to buy truffles to sell to tourists, but I don't believe that anymore, maybe Umbria!) The entire Monferrato and Langhe hills around Asti, Alba and Allessandria are the home to what is claimed are the best white truffles in the world.

My favourite restaurants for this year, in a real price range are Rabaja in Babaresco, Cascina Schiavenza in Serralunga d'Alba, Barolo & Co and Pompa Magna in Asti, Madama Vigna in Baldichieri, and if you want an expensive (but not too) restaurant try I Bologna in Rochetta Tanaro or Vignaiolo in La Morra.