• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Tiny Urban Kitchen
  • About Me
  • Travel
  • Recipes
  • Michelin
  • Subscribe
  • Taiwanese
menu icon
go to homepage
  • About Me
  • Travel
  • Recipes
  • Michelin
  • Subscribe
  • Taiwanese
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • About Me
    • Travel
    • Recipes
    • Michelin
    • Subscribe
    • Taiwanese
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Restaurant

    Menton - White Alba Truffle Tasting Menu

    Published: Jan 13, 2012 · Modified: Oct 28, 2014 by Jennifer Che


    I was born in November. November has always been sort of a dud month in general. I’ve always been jealous of Bryan, whose early October birthday coincides with glorious fall colors and perfect, crisp hiking weather here in New England.

    November is that weird month after all the leaves have fallen but before the magical snow of Christmas has blanketed the ground. For my birthday, I could never go on a leaf peeping hike, a lovely outdoor picnic, or a trip to the beach. Instead, for the last five years or so, we’ve bundled up indoors, enjoying a traditional Chinese hot pot for my birthday.
    Then I found out something awesome about November.

    Two words: white truffles

    Yep, November is when the white truffle season goes full bloom. I have been in love with white truffles ever since the moment I tried them. Their fragrant, earthy aroma is intoxicating, and I am drawn to anything that incorporates this mystical fungus.

    I even told Bryan I wanted to go to Alba, Italy for my birthday someday.

    Well, I didn’t get a chance to visit Alba this past November. However, Bryan did treat me to a White Alba Truffle Tasting Dinner at Menton.

    This meal was really like no other meal I had ever enjoyed. For the first time, we got to dine at the Chef’s Table at Menton.

    Now, before I go on, let me tell you something cool about the kitchen at Menton. If you’ve ever been to Per Se or the French Laundry, you can’t help but notice an uncanny resemblance of the Menton kitchen to those kitchens.

    As it turns out, Menton's kitchen was designed by the exact same people. According to a chef I met at Menton, the Menton kitchen is probably one of the nicest (if not THE nicest) restaurant kitchens in Boston. Once you cook there, you really become spoiled because no other kitchen is so well-designed, well-organized, spacious, and stocked with so much special and useful equipment.
    Anyway, back to the Chef’s Table. The Chef’s Table is actually inside the kitchen. You walk through the kitchen (a cool experience in and of itself) to enter the door to this small, exclusive room. The room has one long table (seats about 20), and has a HUGE window that looks into the kitchen.

    It’s seriously front-row seats to all that intense action going on in the kitchen.

    It’s fascinating to sit there and watch. There’s a mirror on the other side of the wall opposite the window, so people seated on all sides of the room can enjoy the spectacle.
    The manager of the restaurant, Alec Riveros, sat with us throughout the evening and taught us all about white truffles. The dinner was both educational, fun, and (of course), delicious. Because of the intimate nature of the room, you actually get to know the people at the dinner, which is kind of fun. 

    Before the meal began, the staff brought in the huge white truffle we would all be eating today. The aroma alone engulfed the room, making everyone just a little swoony from the luxurious smell. We passed around the huge white truffle, admiring this rare jewel. White truffles, unlike black truffles, cannot be cultivated. For some reason, no one has figured out a way to farm these precious nuggets. As a result, the only way to obtain white truffles is to go to the Alba region in Italy and hunt for them during their short season. The truffles are buried underground (about 6 inches?), so you can’t even see them if you go into the forest. This is why truffle hunters bring truffle dogs of truffle pigs, whose keen sense of spell can pick out white truffles that are buried underground. The price of white truffles varies wildly depending on availability.

    This year was a sparse year for truffles, which is why prices shot up as the season progressed and not a lot of truffles were harvested. Alec told us that the executive chef, Colin Lynch (no relation to Barbara Lynch), is quite picky about truffles and will spend quite a bit of time smelling the various truffles that the truffle vendor brings before picking one out. (Can you imagine being a truffle vendor? Walking around town with that box of truffles! I would so be afraid of getting mugged!)
    Butter Soup
    Nova Scotia Lobster, Royal White Sturgeon Caviar, Honey
    NV Ferrari Brut

    We started with a non-truffle dish, actually, the signature “Butter Soup” from Menton. This soup seriously  reminded me of melted butter, yet was more velvety, luxurious, and refined.  The addition of caviar and lobster just made the entire soup that much more decadent. Of course it was delicious, though I couldn’t help but feel just a tad guilty that I was literally drinking butter!!
    Bay Scallop Ceviche
    Chives, Honeycrisp apple, Celery
    2010 Cascina Roera Arneis "Ciapin"

    The next course was a simple dish of bay scallops topped with the first magical shaving of white truffles. The Bay scallops were fresh and very sweet, which was offset nicely with the crisp apple and celery components. The white truffle smelled incredible on the dish, and worked perfectly fine with the components. Part of me did wish I could taste the white truffle more. In this dish, there were many equally strong flavors going on in conjunction with the shaved white truffles.  Unlike simpler preparations where the white truffle is clearly the star, here it acted as an equal player in an orchestra of several flavors.
    Chestnut Agnolotti
    Fondutta, Braised Lettuce, Madeira
    2005 Cascina Roera Barbera d'Asti Superiore "Cardin"

    The chestnut agnolotti was one of my favorite courses of the evening. The fresh, homemade pasta had fantastic texture, and the fondutta sauce (a rich, creamy sauce made from fontina cheese, butter, milk, and egg yolks) bound everything together beautifully. Of course, the white truffles added a gorgeously sweet, earthy aroma that worked really well with the other components in this dish.

    Braised Beef Cheeks
    Ris de Veau, Parsnip, Sauce Perigueux
    2007 Bianco Aldo Barbaresco
    2006 Oddero Barolo

    Our last savory course was braised beef cheeks and ris de veau (sweetbreads) in a Périgueux sauce (a rich, brown sauce made from Madeira wine and black truffles!). They came with these peculiar looking seashell shaped root vegetables that none of us had ever seen before. They sort of tasted like a cross between water chestnuts and potatoes, and were actually quite good. The braised beef cheeks went very well with the deep, rich Périgueux sauce. The white truffles were a nice balance to the intense flavors in the meal, though (again), part of me wished I could taste the white truffle more.
    The meal included wine pairings, which was pretty unlimited. In other words, if you were a fast drinker and finished your wine before the course was over, they would just pour you some more. Of course, I had the opposite problem. I had trouble finishing so many glasses! This is why so many red wine glasses started "piling up" in front of my plate!

    We moved onto a simple cheese course. I regret to say that I cannot remember the name of this cheese. I can say that it was nutty, creamy, had nice depth, and was lovely with the accompanying toasts, Marcona almonds, and fruit jam.

    Chocolate Mousse
    Cardamon, Milk Chocolate Crumble, Grand Marnier Glace
    2010 Marenco Brachetto d'Acqui "Pineto"

    Though we were all crazy full by the end, we ended with a few more sweet bites! The decadent chocolate mousse was nice - rich and chocolatey yet not too sweet.

    Before we left, the last thing we enjoyed were these baby mini-macarons! This was not the first time I had seen these, but they were still just as fun to eat! Each color is a different flavor. I think we had espresso, mint, raspberry, and orange (though I am not positive!).

    All in all, these special Chef’s Table dinners are really an interesting and different way to enjoy dinner on a Sunday evening. Instead of paying the crazy $2000 minimum to reserve the Chef’s Table for yourself, you can just pay the price of a dinner.

    The white truffle dinner was significantly more expensive than most largely due the the cost of the ingredients. However, they often have other, more “normally” (normal for Menton, that is) priced set tastings (usually in the $100 to $150 range) that are probably fun, informative, and (of course), delicious. 

    Thanks Bryan for a such a fun, unique "visit" to Alba. Maybe next year we can go for real. 🙂

    Menton
    354 Congress St.
    Boston, MA 02210
    Menton on Urbanspoon

    ©2009-2014 Tiny Urban Kitchen
    All Rights Reserved

    More Restaurant

    • chocolate
      La Dame de Pic - Paris France
    • Mono HK
      Mono Hong Kong
    • Five Guys Hong  Kong
      Nostalgic Reminders of Home: Five Guys Hong Kong
    • Divino Restaurant
      Divino Patio Hong Kong

    Recent Posts

    • Wing Restaurant by Vicky Cheng May 22, 2023
    • A Weekend in Bergamo Italy - Trip Report May 17, 2023
    • Bryan's Birthday at 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana May 10, 2023
    • Godenya Hong Kong May 8, 2023
    • Chung Kee - Lockhart Cooked Food Centre Wan Chai May 6, 2023
    • Fiata Pizza Hong Kong May 3, 2023
    • 48 Hours in Warsaw Poland - Trip Report May 1, 2023
    • A Month in Boston: our first post-Covid Trip April 28, 2023

    Reader Interactions

    Trackbacks

    1. Alba White Truffle Fair says:
      February 5, 2016 at 9:54 am

      […] truffle. I take full advantage of the fact that my November birthday allows me to occasionally indulge in this luxurious treat as a way to celebrate. So yes, I’ve had white truffles here and there, but I always wondered […]

      Log in to Reply
    2. Bar Mezzana - Tiny Urban Kitchen says:
      September 28, 2016 at 1:18 am

      […] cuisine at No. 9 Park before becoming executive chef of the Gruppo and helping to open Sportello, Menton, and […]

      Log in to Reply

    Primary Sidebar

    Jennifer Che Tiny Urban Kitchen
    Jennifer Che Tiny Urban Kitchen

    Hi, my name's Jen and welcome to my cooking, eating, and travel site! I am an expat who moved from Boston to Hong Kong 5 years ago. Born and raised in Ohio to Taiwanese immigrant parents, I am a chemistry nerd, patent attorney by day, blogger by night, church musician on weekends, and food enthusiast always. Feel free to explore away, maybe starting with the Recipe Index or one of the travel pages! I hope you enjoy this site!

    More about me →

    Explore

    • Recipe
    • Restaurant
    • US Travel
    • World Travel

    Popular Posts

    • Wing Restaurant Hong Kong
      Wing Restaurant by Vicky Cheng
    • Hotel Excelsior San Marco Roof Garden Restaurant Bergamo
      A Weekend in Bergamo Italy - Trip Report
    • Otto e Mezzo Bombana
      Bryan's Birthday at 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana
    • Godenya Hong Kong
      Godenya Hong Kong

    Recipes

    • Appetizer
    • Snacks
    • Meat
    • Vegetables
    • Soup
    • Salad
    • Seafood
    • Noodles

    Recently Traveled

    • Hong Kong
    • France
    • Belgium
    • Boston
    • California
    • United Kingdom
    • Germany
    • Spain

    Support Us

    Recognition


    Featured on the front page
    of the FOOD Section: 2015

    Best Food Blog Awards:
    Restaurant & Dining 2012

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • About Me
    • My Equipment
    • In the Press
    • Project Food Blog
    • Privacy Policy

    Eating Guides!

    Eating & Travel Guides
    Trip Reports
    "Kawaii" (Cute Foods)
    Around the World

    • Pinterest
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Twitter
    • LinkedIn
    • YouTube
    • Mail
    • RSS Feed

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Shop at Amazon

    Copyright © 2022 Tiny Urban Kitchen