October marks the beginning of white truffle season in Alba, Italy. My friends and I embarked on a wonderful weekend trip full of eating, drinking, truffle hunting and to attend the white truffle festival. The weather was sunny and warm for late October which was an added bonus.

Our adventure began by picking up a car from Turin airport. We opted to spend one night in Turin before continuing our journey to Alba, where we settled for another night. These locations served as good bases for our explorations.

Day 1 – Turin

We arrived to Turin in the evening and had dinner at Ristorante Larossa. We went for their “espressioni” tasting menu which was 6 courses for €125. Some of the dishes were nice but overall it was too creative where some of the combinations just did not work. It was slightly disappointing, as Cal and Claudia had already been in Alba previously and rated it highly.

Day 2 – Turin / Alba / Barbaresco

The next day we stopped by Caffe Platti for breakfast where I enjoyed a savoury croissant and hot chocolate. We went a quick walk around the centre to take in some sights of Turin. The short glimpse makes me want to come back to properly experience the city. However, given our primary objective for the weekend was to immerse ourselves in the world of truffles, we hopped back into the car and set off to Alba which was approximately 1.5 hours.

We had lunch at Voglia di Vino where we had an amazing 5 course white truffle tasting menu for €145. All the dishes were delicious, with my favourites being the uovo poche and the tajarin al burro.

We then headed to the Fiera Internazionale de Tartufo Bianco d’Alba where we did two wine tastings and checked out each stall with its various samples.

In the evening, we drove to a town just outside Alba called Barbaresco. We had a bottle of wine from a wine stop nearby and sat outside drinking, before heading to Campamac Osteria for dinner. The restaurant has a lovely interior and vibe and the food was mostly decent but unfortunately, the service wasn’t great and therefore we had a very mixed experience.

Day 3 – Alba / Cast / Asti

The next morning, we went out to learn about truffles and do a truffle hunt in the forest. We were accompanied by Katy, our trusty dog companion, who was able to sniff out some precious truffles for us.

We made a quick pitstop at Nas Cetta and drank some Piedmont sparkling before heading for lunch at Wine Story in Castagnole. They had a white truffle menu and there was no pressure to do the entire menu (we could pick and choose), which I thought was great. We shared the prawns, fried egg with white truffle, tajarin with white truffle and the tajarin with ragu. Everything was so tasty! The barolo garetti that the waiter recommended for us was also the best red wine I had during the trip.

Our final stop was Asti, where we made a leisurely stop to explore the town and grab some gelato. Satisfied, we then made our way to the airport.

While the weekend trip was expensive, every cent was undeniably well spent. The amazing culinary experiences we indulged in, accompanied by excellent wines of the region made this weekend a gastronomical delight. I won’t deny that I won’t forget the decadent taste of white truffles and I can’t wait to savour them soon!