Prepare your tastebuds—the Queanbeyan-Palerang region is the place to go this truffle season
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On the hunt for some truffle-themed winter experiences? Well, prepare your tastebuds and get ready to hit the road because the Queanbeyan-Palerang region is the place to go.
Right on the doorstep of Canberra, these experiences are more than easy to find and almost impossible to ignore. Why? Because from hands-on activities like truffle hunts and cooking classes to delicious degustation lunches with matched wines, there’s something for every kind of truffle lover.
Here’s your guide to what you can do (and where you can eat)—get ready, for all of July and August you’ll be trufflin’.
Get your hands dirty at a truffle hunt
Ready to get your hands dirty to dig up your own black gold? Head along to L’Air du Wombat Truffle Farm (located in Oallen and only an hour and a half from Canberra) to experience the best part of the illustrious black truffles—learning about their history, hunting for your own with the experienced truffle dogs and taking it home to cook your own creation. There are limited numbers per day (and there are plenty of snacks included) so you’ll need to book ahead for this one.
Looking for a hunt experience that has more of a focus on food? You can’t go past Turalla Truffles in Bungendore. Hosting a truffle hunt and degustation lunch, you’ll have the opportunity to hunt with their adorable Jack Russells and sit down to enjoy an extensive lunch featuring truffle cooked in a range of ways (just a little note: this event is currently booked out but if you keep an eye out for cancelations you might be lucky enough to score yourself a spot!).
Only a 30-minute drive away, it’s a decadent way to spend a day out of town.
Located a bit closer to home (just five km from the ACT border), at the Blue Frog Truffle Farm you can join a two-hour hunt that pulls out all the stops: a harvest with the dogs, industry information, tastings, washing truffles and even the opportunity to by fresh products to take home to enjoy. Conducting hunts until mid-August, they had us at ‘dogs and truffled brie’.
Get creative in a cooking class
Need some inspiration on how to use your terrific truffles at home? How about making truffle crème brulee and truffled madeleine?
This year, Le Tres Bon in Bungendore is extolling the virtues of the fragrant fungi with a very special cooking class, and it sounds delicious. Using black truffles sourced from his own truffiere, on Saturday 22 July Chef Christophe will teach you how to make these decadent desserts during a fun, hands-on and relaxed class. And that’s just the beginning.
You’ll also enjoy tea or coffee on arrival and a glass of champagne while cooking—because everyone cooks better with bubbles—before settling in to eat your way through a two-course truffle lunch with a glass of matching wine (or non-alcoholic beverage). Dessert, champagne and truffles? Sign us up.
Eat your way through some truffle-ific events
Not that we need an excuse to eat and drink our way through the Queanbeyan-Palerang region. Start with the George Bar and Dining’s annual truffle dinner on Thursday 20 July to indulge in some fine Eden Road wine and the flavour of Turalla Truffles in a bespoke seven-course degustation menu. Then once you’ve digested that, prepare yourself for the Truffle Hunt and Lunch at Contentious Character Winery on Saturday 29 July.
Here, you’ll have a demo amongst the vines of how truffle dogs sniff out the black gold and have any truffle-themed questions answered before retiring to the restaurant for a two-course lunch that has been specially curated for the occasion. And with limited spots available, it promises to be an intimate experience.
To end the truffle season, the Annual Truffle Gala Dinner at Contentious Character Winery on Saturday 5 August is the event to go to. Serving all things truffle (with a few surprises) as well as matched wines, the four-course menu from previous years included vodka and black truffle butter, Szechuan duck breast with truffle mash, and baked camembert with sliced black truffle…so yes, it’s worth it. It might just be the perfect (and most delicious) way to farewell winter.
Images supplied.
