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Image 1: To search for the best black truffle, we came all the way to Lorgues, a village about one hour drive from Nice.
Image 2: Surrounded by vineyards, this is the home of Chef Clément Bruno, the "King of Truffles".
Image 3: We had a high expectation for black truffles, one of the most highly priced delicacies in French cuisine.
Image 4: Who could have better black truffle if the "King of Truffles" couldn’t? The first thing you see here is the face of Chef Clément Bruno with a big black truffle!
Image 5: www.restaurantbruno.com
Tuber Melanosporum Menu: €165
Closed on Sunday and Monday, a few weeks in the summer and Christmas.
Image 6: Rustic decor with an elegant touch.
Image 7: "B" for Bruno!
Image 8: Even the plate is about truffle! This place is really all about truffle!
Image 9: So of course it started with a black truffle amuse bouche -- shavings of black truffle on baguette drizzled with black truffle oil. Don't let its simple look fool you. The intense seductive flavour of black truffle will make you want more and more. We could have eaten this all day long.
Image 10: There are various menus using different species of black truffle, but why come all the way here without treasuring the best? We ordered the tasting menu that uses the best black truffle, Tuber Melanosporum, considered to be the "black diamond" of the French kitchen!
Image 11: Accompanying our meal were freshly baked bread and Bruno's very own black truffle infused oil.
Image 12: The first course was a traditional egg dish with black truffle. Oh my god! We had countless fancy dishes in our life, but this warm creamy egg along with the exceptional truffle aroma was simply at a different level! Moreover, there were only four ingredients here: salt, olive oil, egg, and black truffle!
Image 13: It's mind-blowing such a simple dish could be that extraordinary! Egg and truffle, a classic combination highlighting the unique truffle flavour through simplicity of the dish. This first course alone is already enough to justify our trip!
Image 14: The second course is his signature dish featured on his website: black truffle pie. A WHOLE black truffle wrapped in puff pastry filled with foie gras and ham. SEE HERE! It was served on a Bordelaise Truffle Sauce made from red wine, bone marrow, demi-glace and of course, black truffle.
Image 15: The whole dish was simply WOW! The pastry was perfect, the sauce had a great depth of taste and the dominating truffle fragrance was stunning! It couldn't be better!
Image 16: The next course was a disappointment. Linguine with truffle cream sprinkled with shaved black truffle and parmesan. With the overpowering cheese presence, we could barely noticed any black truffle. It was a good cheese course as opposed to a good truffle course. What a waste of culinary treasure!
Image 17: Our server then came over and displayed two varieties of truffle to us. Both are Tuber Melanosporum but from two different regions. One had a stronger “woody, muddy, wet” type of smell than the other.
Image 18: He then shaved a few slices for us. CLICK HERE!
Image 19: He suggested us to have it together with the champagne granita with a touch of salt to truly experience the flavour!!!
Image 20: Time for our main course, a very generously portioned main course. In case this hugh piece of medium-rare beef tenderloin is not enough for some customers, they topped it with a seared foie gras...
Image 21: ... and crowned it with black truffle. All sitting on top of spinach, accompanied by bacon, onion, and gnocchi with black truffle sauce.
Image 22: Look at the beautiful veins of the black truffle!
Image 23: As expected for a traditional French meal, a rich and powerful main course. Heavy but delicious! As many of you already know by now, we are not small eaters but we had trouble finishing the meat and foie gras!
Image 24: We were completely full at this point. We took a short break wandering around in the garden before the dessert.
Image 25: There were lots of comtemporary statues in his front court.
Image 26: Back with a pre-dessert of mini lemon meringue tart. In order to save room for dessert (even though there wasn't much room left), we barely finished half of this.
Image 27: A traditional dessert: profiteroles. A puff with vanilla filing covered in dark chocolate sauce and garnished with almond flakes and hazelnut. It was good, really good! That's why we managed to finish it all!
Image 28: Finally, petits-fours for our tea but we couldn't consume anymore and had to leave it untouched. Overall, it was a marvellous meal with some memorable courses highlighting this rare fungus. We definitely had a good portion of black truffles to make our trip worthwhile!
Image 29: The manager did a quick tour of the behind-the-scene for us and there is a diorama of a kitchen in the kitchen!
Image 30: For those who fell in love with black truffle after the meal, they have various black truffle related ingredients for sale...
Image 31: ... and even "black truffle themed" souvenirs!