White truffles in Asia: how top chefs are using the notoriously expensive ingredient in innovative ways, from Cantonese fare at Macau’s Wing Lei Palace to Hong Kong’s Caprice and Thailand’s Chef’s Table

Dec 12 , 2022

Alba white truffle, seared turkey fig, French cream cheese by Howard’s Gourmet. Photo: Handout

Chefs across Asia are putting new spins on the pricey Italian delicacy, like hare soup at Four Season Hong Kong’s three-Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant Caprice

Vietnam’s Da Vittorio Saigon pairs the ‘white diamond’ of gastronomy with lamb instead of beef, while Wing Lei Palace serves it with roast goose

Known to chefs as the “white diamond” of gastronomy, the white truffle is one of the world’s most highly prized ingredients. The best grow in the Piedmont region of Italy and are in season for only two months, with the supply ultimately determined by the weather.

“It’s the seasonality that makes them such a special ingredient. They also have a unique personality,” says Guillaume Galliot, chef de cuisine of Hong Kong’s three-Michelin-starred Caprice.

Guillaume Galliot, chef de cuisine at Caprice in Hong Kong, is one among a wave of chefs placing coveted white truffles in novel culinary contexts. Photo: Handout

That’s a sentiment shared by all those we interviewed for this article, including Andrea Zamboni, executive chef of Hong Kong’s Radical Chic: “White truffle has the capability to enhance, to make a dish decadent and elegant. I also love the strong link with terroir, growing and living in symbiosis with trees. It’s a jewel to cherish.”

In the hands of an imaginative chef this edible treasure has the flexibility to play an elevating role from the beginning of a meal to its end. For example, start with Galliot’s hare soup from the Loire Valley with Fourme d’Ambert toast and white truffle. Only available at dinner, the soup is made from a hare stock that uses every part of the animal, including the bones, which is well complemented by the Fourme d’Ambert toast’s blue cheese and foie gras. Hazelnut and white truffle shavings add a final flourish.

Truffles are one of the most highly prized raw ingredients. Photo: Da Vittorio Saigon

“The result is a refined soup, rich in texture and complex in taste, with its temperature bringing out the aroma of this prized ingredient,” Galliot says. “I wanted to pair it with something different, something other than eggs, pasta or risotto, so I decided on soup as it’s something unconventional. I chose hare because it too is a seasonal product.”

Next comes New Zealand coastal lamb tartare, cognac, puff pastry and lamb jus from Da Vittorio Saigon, an Italian restaurant in Ho Chi Minh. “In Italy, it is traditional to pair white truffle with beef, but I chose lamb to create a unique combination,” says executive chef, Matteo Fontana. The pairing of the two he says creates a flavour combination that gives a “unique umami sensorial experience”.

Chef’s Table Bangkok’s artichoke à la barigoule with comte cheese and the all-important Alba white truffle. Photo: Handout

Presenting a warm vegetarian appetiser of artichoke à la barigoule, Comté cheese and Alba white truffle is Vincent Thierry, chef de cuisine of Bangkok’s two-Michelin-starred Chef’s Table. “Every season I try to pair different ingredients together with white truffle – as soon as you shave it on top of this dish, it becomes a really different plate. In my cuisine I always try to use it as a full-part ingredient, but you must also know the power that it will bring to the recipe,” he says.