For ten weeks each winter, the grounds of the Southern Forests and Margaret River deliver something that throws a welcome fungi-spanner in the works and Western Australian kitchens are not wasting what’s turning out to be a bumper season. “This is our tenth season, and the truffles coming out of the ground this year are the best we have produced,” says Kia Klepec of Below and Above Truffles. Set menus and one off dinners across the city are folding fresh black truffle into everything from beef tartare to fried rice. The best news is, you don’t need to go far to experience a truffle dinner this season. Here’s a few worth booking, with more being announced and added this month as they launch to market.
Avalon, Claremont
For six Thursdays this winter, Avalon is making a committed case for truffle season being Perth’s most delicious stretch of the calendar. The five course set menu moves with confidence: a creamy seafood chowder with poached slipper lobster and grated truffle, panko crumbed scallops with truffle infused celeriac foam, and braised beef cannelloni with cauliflower and black truffle sauce. Mains offer a choice between confit duck with creamy truffle polenta or O’Connor beef fillet with truffle Jerusalem artichoke espuma. Dessert is classic and fresh; a black truffle creation with pecan and almond praline in a dark chocolate shell, or a champagne truffle creation with black truffle panna cotta and champagne poached pear.
Five courses, $105 per person, Thursdays through winter. TICKETS
Cosy Del’s, Lathlain
Cosy Del’s annual truffle dinner returns, built around fresh black truffles from Coomer Truffles. The five course menu opens with O’Connor beef tartare, pizza bread and whipped truffle stracciatella, followed by WA marron with truffle bearnaise and watercress. Gnocchi alla tartufata with Scally flame mushrooms and pecorino leads into chicken cotoletta with truffle jus and celeriac remoulade, before a chocolate mousse with truffle to finish. The dinner has sold out in previous years, so it’s worth booking soonest.
Saturday 8th August from 5pm, $129 per person. TICKETS
Epicurean, Crown Perth
For one night only, the high end buffet on steroids West Australians have grown to be proud of, Epicurean, turns its all day dining hall over to premium truffles from Truffle Hill in Manjimup. This is probably one of the most unique and theatrical truffle event options this season, showcasing across a spread of dishes drawn from cuisines around the world. Diners can watch the open kitchen as chefs work truffle through everything from Asian to European and Western plates, including truffle focaccia, compressed truffle camembert, truffle oil glazed chilled lobster, truffle fried rice and truffle marinated roast turkey. Dessert continues the theme with truffle chocolate mousse, truffle creme brulee and a truffle and white chocolate panna cotta. Book a room and back it up with a fresh morning swim and breakfast right back at WA’s most fun breakfast buffet.
Thursday 23 July, $169 per person. TICKETS
Santini Bar and Grill, Perth
A now-staple on the WA truffle dinner calendar, Santini’s annual event with Leeuwin Estate and Truffle Hill returns, five courses matched wine by wine. Spuntini opens with a mushroom parfait of date, hazelnut and truffle, and a Mr Cannubi mortadella spiedo with truffle bearnaise and chives, poured against the 2024 Leeuwin Estate Brut. Antipasti brings an Esperance scallop with celeriac, kombu and truffle, matched to the 2025 Leeuwin Estate Art Series Sauvignon Blanc. For pasta, ricotta cavatelli with Jerusalem artichoke, roasted onion, aged cheddar and buckwheat sits alongside the 2023 Art Series Chardonnay. The principale is a New York sirloin of O’Connor pasture fed MB2 with beef fat potato, black garlic and truffle sauce, matched to the 2022 Art Series Cabernet Sauvignon. Dolci closes with a chocolate and olive oil cake, hazelnut gelato, orange and dark chocolate sauce and black truffle, poured against the 2023 Art Series Shiraz. The food promises to be excellent and the wines – well, if you’re a fan of Leeuwin Estate, this is not to be missed with a selection clearly chosen to impress with intent.
Thursday 30 July from 6pm. TICKETS
6HEAD, Perth
Head Chef Calum Mackechnie marks the Perth based Truffle Kerfuffle events with a five course dinner and truffle running through every course. Artisan bread will arrive with wagyu fat butter, shaved truffles and truffle oil, ahead of a raviolo al uovo of saffron pasta, egg yolk, truffle ricotta and pecorino. Quail will follow with truffled celeriac puree, mushroom duxelle and potato crisps, before Margaret River Wagyu picanha with truffle and bone marrow jus and roast Dutch carrot, served alongside truffle hash browns with parmesan and chives, black garlic mac and cheese with mozzarella, gruyere and shaved truffles, and a baby gem salad with green goddess dressing, fermented lemon oil, parmesan and herbs. Dessert is a salted caramel tart with short crust pastry, truffle and wildflower honey ice cream and flaked sea salt.
Wednesday 15 July, $240 per person. TICKETS
Sandalford Wines, Caversham
Executive Chef Alan Spagnolo leads a long lunch built around Truffle Hill’s Perigord black with live cooking stations and Sandalford wines from Margaret River and Swan Valley poured throughout. The menu runs through slow braised beef cheek, creamy polenta and paccheri pasta finished tableside with shaved truffle and a carnaroli risotto. Chef Spagnolo’s desserts have become something that’s talked about at water coolers on a Monday after and weekend visit, so his truffle dessert will be highly anticipated. Should we spoil the surprise? A preview perhaps – Valrhona chocolate and truffle infused honey.
Saturday 18 July, $195 per person including matched wines, 3210 West Swan Road. TICKETS
Pearla, North Fremantle
Owner and Executive Chef Scott Bridger pairs WA seafood with Manjimup truffle for Beneath the Surface: scallop kiev with truffle and roasted shallot butter, a fermented potato beignet with shiitake cream and cured egg yolk, chawanmushi with WA rock lobster and preserved yuzu, smoked swordfish and truffle sausage with caviar sauce, a Glacier 51 toothfish wellington with celeriac and truffle bearnaise, and Cambray petit fromage with smoked persimmon and tableside truffle. The combination of Glacier 51 toothfish with truffles is something that needs to be experienced to be properly understood; think the wagyu of the ocean with the gold of the soil; a compelling combination.
Saturday 18 July at 6pm, $135 per person, 25 Leighton Beach Boulevard. TICKETS
Hidden River Estate, Pemberton
Chef Yohan Wyld’s Truffle Experience pairs a guided hunt through the estate’s truffiere with a five course dinner by the fire, held over two sittings, Last year’s menu ran to truffle duck liver pate and Pemberton marron. This year’s menu is under wraps. Thirty guests per sitting.
Saturday 27 June and Saturday 25 July from 3.30pm., Hunt and dinner, $390 per person; dinner only, $315 per person, both including a Truffle Cellar hamper of truffle brie, butter, salt and avocado oil to take home, 156 Mullineaux Road. TICKETS