Il Tartufo, Bangkok

Il Tartufo, a three-time fave of Thailand Tatler, and my personal fave too :)  

One of the most memorable food tripping Cy and I had in Bangkok was the one in Il Tartufo. I am just totally in love with this place!

Before our trip, Cy was already planning to take me to a nice dinner in one of the top-rated restos in Bangkok--he asked me to pick if I wanted French or Italian so I went w/ Italian. All plans have already been coordinated however, at the last minute, one of Cy's bosses, Chef Vicky Pacheco highly recommended another Italian restaurant called Il Tartufo and how can you go wrong w/ Chef Vicky recommending that place right? So Cy canceled the other reservations and emailed Il Tartufo's Chef Flavio Manzoni. Cy was immediately impressed with their service. They emailed Cy to confirm the reservations and even sent him pictures of where we will be seated and their recommended dishes.

Located in an area called Sukhumvit where all other great restaurants are tucked unassumingly, our first impression of the garden/al fresco area was that this is gonna be a great night.

We were personally greeted by the restaurant manager, a friendly Italian guy named Roberto and said that fresh truffles are already being prepared for our table and he will be with us shortly.

 

After a couple of minutes, Roberto came to our table to show us the fresh truffles that are going to be served in our dishes and had us smell it. He recommended us a whole slew of wonderful dishes all with truffles in it haha but I didn't mind since as I've said, I really do love truffles!

After taking our orders, we made a quick tour of the area as it was also very nice to discover its little nooks, and as we were exploring the place we saw some stickers from Thailand Tatler, signifying that it's been the magazine's favorite restaurant from 2006, 2007, and 2008--and I definitely know why. 

 

 

 We then started our amazing meal with an amuse bouche, and three appetizers which included, the Imported Organic Egg w/ Black Truffle, Grilled Cuttle Fish Salad in Greens, and Baked Smoked Cheese

We all really loved it! Everything was just very inventive but it really worked so well, for instance, this was the first time that we had cuttle fish as a cold salad and we weren't sure if it was gonna be good but it was just really yummy! After being served our Lemon Sherbet to cleanse our palette, we had our main courses which included the Black Linguine w/ Giant Scallops and the White Truffle w/ Porchini Mushroom Pizza, and again everything was just perfect.

 

 

 

  I've read a couple of blogs and reviews after we've dined in Il Tartufo and some have called it the "gastro palace" and it really is. Not only does it surprise you with inventive and delicious dishes, the service is just out of this world. Where else can you find a restaurant manager who would reciprocate your appreciation of their food a thousand folds by preparing an extra dessert for you, will give you a round of their signature drinks, and would even go so far as hailing a cab in the street for you???

form L-R: Restaurant Manager Roberto, preparing a dessert just for us, Ken & PB enjoying dinner w/ me and Cy :) 

When in Bangkok, the default place to eat would be in the streets or sample the Thai restaurants--and that's fine. But if there's one thing Cy and I learned is that there are a lot of other restaurants to be appreciated in Bangkok. Our friends Ken and PB have been expats in this place for about 2-3 years and this was their first time in Il Tartufo, and really, you gotta try this place when you are in town. In 2009, Cy and I tried a whole slew of new restos and none have really impressed me except for Chef Bruce's Chef Table...now I have Il Tartufo to rave about too! 

XOXO,

Kai :)