Restaurant Review: Truffle Menu @ Refettorio

Tis the season to be jolly, especially for lovers of pig-found pleasures as Giorgio Locatelli's Refettorio launches its white truffle promotion. Refettorio have sensibly decided to offer the truffle dishes as specials so that those who just want to dip their beak can choose to do so as one or more of their courses. If you go for all three courses, you can look forward to 8g of truffles, half of which is cooked into the dish and half shaved on top.The shaving element is an amusing piece of pure theatre: for each dish, our waitress sets up a small table alongside yours, she places electronic scales on the table, dons white gloves, picks up the precious truffle and proceeds to shave onto the scales the correct amount before applying it to the dish. Its not Benihana but you have to admire the presence of ritual, something usually lacking from Italian restaurants beyond the usual pepper-grating and parmesan-ladling.For your benefit, we went all out on the truffle dishes starting with "uova strapazatte", which sounds a lot more exotic than what it really is (scrambled eggs), served with toasted ciabatta bread and white truffle. The truffle cooked into the dish added more flavour than its shaved counterpart but you couldn't fault its quality or the flavour. The same goes for the white truffle risotto which you will want to eat with a teaspoon so as to savour each and every grain. The pièce de résistance is the meat course - beef fillet with a layer of melted cheese aloft served alongside some lovely truffley mashed potatoes - which is a success of substance and style that we could eat over and over until heart disease claimed us.Pale and frothy with truffle shavings, the dessert option of warm zabayon with savoiardi biscuits and white truffle has had its traditional alcohol and sugar kicks reined in to allow the truffle flavour some room.  Sweet-tooths can accompany this with one of the restaurant's dessert wines, for example the Torcolato Maculan at £10.50 or go for something a tad more traditional (single espresso, no sugar and/or a shot of grappa).Giorgio Locatelli will be hosting a truffle luncheon in the restaurant to celebrate the promotion on Thursday November 25. Please contact Refettorio for more information on this.The four-course meal, including coffee and amaretti biscuits costs £125 per person including a glass of prosecco but dishes can be bought a la carte. A special Chef’s Table set in Refettorio’s kitchen is available too for groups of up to six and is priced at £200 per person.