Manda O

A truffle-tastic dinner in Spoleto at Il Tartufo

The Solo Scale:

It’s a bit more awkward to do sit-down dining in some of the Italian restaurants, but not impossible. If you know some of the language, it will be easier, but sometimes the food is absolutely worth the discomfort. Il Tartufo absolutely is worth it, but I did have some new friends with me (that I had met recently and tagged along to dinner with).

In Spoleto, the city of escalators, you’ll have many dining options as you ascend the escalators to the higher reaches of the city. However, that doesn’t mean you should ignore the amazing choices at the base of the city. In the lower area of the city near the town walls, you’ll find a wealth of fantastic restaurants.

One of them is Il Tartufo.

As with other restaurants in Italy, if you go any earlier than 8PM, you might not see it open. Even at these early hours, you might get the restaurant to yourself as dining begins quite late. My party arrived to another table there, but not a very big crowd. However, it was also during August when many of the locals are taking holidays.

The meal began with the house wine, which is fantastic throughout Italy. You don’t ever have to worry about the wine not being great quality. Even for a couple of Euros, you can get incredible high-quality wine.

Immediately, Il Tartufo proves that it’s a cut-above by bringing out a surprise antipasto. It’s house-made smoked salmon in sardine cans, a unique and fun presentation. This is served with focaccia (the table bread). In Tuscany, they often make their bread without salt, which might not be to a person’s preference, but the focaccia was flavourful and had plenty of seasoning.

To begin the meal, we were given complimentary smoked salmon. The presentation with a sardine can elevates it beyond a light bite. This was smoky and delicious, not too fishy, and very light. It was a fantastic start and a real surprise and delight considering we didn’t expect it at all.

The table shared a salumi platter as another antipasti. For my main course, I ordered the strongezze with truffles. After all, when you’re in Tuscany, it feels wrong to not have truffles on your dinner. These were high quality as well, slightly better than others I had tried within that day (during a truffle excursion in the nearby countryside).

The strongezze with truffles. It was rich and sumptuous but the truffles didn’t overpower the dish. They worked well together and the portion size wasn’t overwhelming.

To finish the meal, the table shared desserts — and we each had one of the desserts, with the millefeuille being the clear winner. Throughout the dinner, the service was excellent. It’s not quite in the tourist centre of town, but they were able to communicate in English to the people in my party who spoke no Italian, without any issue. It wasn’t a crowded restaurant (mid-week) and we were able to get a table quickly just after 8PM. Every course was delicious with a well-paired wine!

The profiteroles — one of the desserts ordered, but while these were delicious, the millefeuille was by far the dessert star.

If you’re sold and want to try a fantastic restaurant, you can visit Il Tartufo’s website here to read the latest menu and get more information! Want to learn a little more about Spoleto? Check out the post here about this hidden gem.

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