Where to eat Hong Kong’s most unique white truffle dishes

White truffle season is here, and with it the scent of luxury perfuming the dining room. Nearly every high-end Italian restaurant in town is shaving the heady delicacy over the exactly what you’d expect: mounds of fresh pasta, scrambled eggs, and slow-cooked, organic egg yolks. We’re certainly not dismissing these classic pairings, but we thought we’d seek out some of the more unique dishes in town to spark your taste buds. Besides, let’s face it, there’s never a wrong way to consume truffles (unless you’re this poor woman).

Warm lobster salad at 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana 

Hailed as the ‘King of Truffles,’ chef Umberto Bombana is playing with his favourite ingredient this year in new and unexpected ways on a six-item white truffle menu (which surprisingly only includes one pasta dish). The options have our mouths watering, with dishes such as confit organic egg with chanterelle mushroom, broccoli romanesco and truffle; veal tenderloin with confit salsify, mushroom, cheese and truffle; and white truffle gelato with chantilly, nougat and crisp chestnuts for dessert. For starters, it’s only fitting to match one luxurious ingredient with the next — lobster and mushroom complement each other perfectly in the warm lobster salad with sweet and tender chunks of lobster folded through wafer-thin sheets of truffle (HK$920).

White truffle menu available from now through 31 December 2016.

8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana, Shop 202, Landmark Alexandra, 18 Chater Road, Central, Hong Kong, +852 2537 8859, ottoemezzobombana.com

Pumpkin risotto at The Drawing Room

The Drawing Room at PMQ celebrates the ingredient of the season with a carb- and cheese-laden white truffle menu, available as a four-course (HK$848) or five-course option (HK$998). Chef de cuisine Gabriele Milani underscores the earthy aroma of white truffle with a menu that draws on other autumnal ingredients, including pumpkin, beetroot and hazelnuts. While the egg yolk raviolo with fontina cheese fondue and white truffle is a guaranteed knockout, we’re most excited to try the pumpkin risotto — given the other exceptional risottos we’ve had at The Drawing Room — which is plumped up with seared foie gras, grape must and white truffle shavings.

White truffle menu available from now through 31 December 2016.

The Drawing Room, 7/F, Block B, PMQ, 33 Aberdeen Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, +852 2156 0888, tdr.com.hk

Pumpkin cream with 63-degree egg at Angelini

Decorated Italian kitchen Angelini puts its own unique spin on the fresh delicacy from Alba with a varied a la carte menu spanning the gamut from Rossini-style beef tenderloin to tagliolini pasta to vanilla ice cream with English cream, all married with the delicate fragrance of white truffle. The most creative dish, however, has to be the pumpkin cream with 63-degree egg, sweetbread, chestnuts and white truffle — a melange of fall-inspired ingredients that puts us right in the mood to curl up fireside with a mug of apple cider and a good book.

White truffle menu available from now through 5 December 2016.

Angelini, Kowloon Shangri-La, 64 Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong, +852 2733 8750, shangri-la.com/hongkong/kowloonshangrila

Smoked duck eggs at Above & Beyond

Not to be outdone by their Western counterparts, Chinese chefs are jumping on the earthy tuber as well, using white truffle to perfume everything from bird’s nest soup to stir-fried glutinous rice. At Above & Beyond, chef Paul Tsui presents a six-course white truffle tasting menu (HK$1,980), with dishes including braised bird’s nest soup with crab meat and white truffle, and wok-fried lobster with egg white and white truffle. Taking inspiration from the classic egg and truffle pairing, the amuse-bouche is a one-bite delight of smoked duck eggs with oolong tea leaves, topped with no less than three grams of shaved truffle.

White truffle menu available from now through 30 November 2016.

Above & Beyond, 28/F, Hotel Icon, 17 Science Museum Road, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Hong Kong, +852 3400 1318, hotel-icon.com

White truffle ice cream at Gradini

After a savoury degustation of white truffle dishes (think filo pastry tart with white truffle and white truffle carnaroli risotto), it’s only fitting to end dessert on the same note. Given the delicate nature of the mushroom, a truffle dessert should be simple and elegant, letting the aromatic notes shine through. Enter Gradini’s white truffle ice cream (HK$268) topped with truffle shavings. The distinct, yet not overpowering white truffle flavour in the ice cream is accented by the raw shavings, making for a two-tone texture and palate-cleansing dessert that ends the truffle-filled meal on a high note.

White truffle menu available from now through 23 December 2016.

Gradini, Lobby Level, The Pottinger, 74 Queen’s Road Central, Central, Hong Kong, +852 2308 3088, thepottinger.com