Top Chefs & White Truffles
Print Edition
WHITE truffle season is upon us, inspiring a trio of Michelin-starred top chefs to produce an exquisite menu showcasing “the diamonds of the kitchen” — the Alba white truffle.
Riccardo La Perna, executive chef of 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana Shanghai (recently awarded two Michelin stars in the inaugural Shanghai Michelin Guide) joined hands with two world-renowned three-star Michelin chefs: Heinz Beck from La Pergola Rome, and Umberto Bombana to present two evenings of culinary art, celebrating one of the world’s most exclusive seasonal ingredients.
Fall is the peak season for hunting and savoring the elusive white truffle from Alba, in Italy’s Piedmont region, considered a crowning gastronomic experience.
Chef Umberto Bombana cooks with the finest ingredients from around the world, white truffles, he says, are always at the top of his list. Considered the king of white truffles due to his mastery of the luxury ingredient, he was made Worldwide Ambassador of the White Truffle in 2006 by the Piedmontese Regional Enoteca Cavour in Italy.
Bombana invited his good friend, world-renowned chef Heinz Beck to bring both the irresistible fresh Alba white truffle and his mesmerizing modern Italian cooking, to Shanghai, delighting the gourmet palate with unique culinary creations.
Says Beck, who first visited Shanghai during the World Expo in 2010, “The dishes I brought this time are very much my personal style: those dishes that you could eat at LaPergola in Rome.”
A native of Germany, Beck is widely known throughout Italy and Europe as a notable master of modern gastronomy. His is a unique interpretation of the modern kitchen, which includes mindfully curating ingredients and implementing innovative techniques to transform simple ingredients into highly evocative dishes.
“I love the magical combination of ingredients, and the creative presentation of the dishes,” he said. “Sometimes a minor change of texture is enough to surprise. My appetizer, ‘The Sea,’ is an example: it’s a solid cube of vegetable stock, served in vegetable stock, but the two different forms fool people into thinking it’s two different flavors.”
Beck’s Amberjack Tartare was another highlight: coated in strawberry granite, almond mousse, and lime, the subtlety of flavor from the tartare still shone. The star of the show, of course, was the white truffle. A generous quantity of shaved white truffles graced the homemade tortellini filled with capon, mashed pumpkin, and grana padano cheese sauce — although the bold cheese sauce rather overwhelmed the delicate white truffle flavor.
White truffles are only available for a short period during October, November, and December. The two-day tasting menu brought by three renowned chefs marked the start of the white truffle season at 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana Shanghai.
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