Frugii Dessert Laboratory

This is not a paid post but this is a post with an inherent bias. It’s because I simply love Frugii. I’ve been a Frugii fanatic for a long while – enjoying a breakfast ice cream cone on Saturday mornings at the EPIC Farmers Markets or an afternoon ice cream cup at the Old Bus Depot Markets. There’s nothing that Mr Frugii aka John can do wrong. Tomato sorbet? You got it. Pavlova ice cream? Yep. Wheat beer ice cream? Easy done.

Gingerbread? Sour cream? Licorice? Musk? Christmas pudding? Gin and tonic? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes and YES. (I’ve tried them all.) And John was doing all of these flavours well before he opened the Frugii Dessert Laboratory in the Ori building on Lonsdale Street earlier this year.

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Truffle Festival: Majura Valley Experience

* I enjoyed the Majura Valley Experience as a guest

My relationship with truffles has been fraught. I’ve had dishes where I can really taste what is supposed to be a flavoursome delicacy, and dishes where I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t notice if it had been added or not. It’s been cheese with truffles and Frugii’s divine truffle ice cream which has really helped me understand the flavour and what I should be looking for, but I’ve still come away confused about whether my palate just isn’t truffle friendly. The Majura Valley Experience – a day of three different truffle experiences – promises to change all that.

We arrive at French Black Truffles off the new Majura Road at 10am for a truffle hunt. The sun is shining brightly but, as every Canberran knows, clear skies just means it’s going to be stupidly cold. In the shade of Canberra’s tallest mountain, Mt Majura, the cold is biting. As the last of the cars arrives, we head into a small shed where the magic happens.

Truffle Degustation at The Boathouse by the Lake

It’s no secret that The Boathouse by the Lake is a favourite restaurant of mine – as it is now for many of my friends. So, if I trust a restaurant to do truffles right, it’s going to be The Boathouse. Thanks to fellow blogger Rachi’s organisation skills, a number of us secure seating together on one of the two long tables for the night.

Truffle Degustation at Benchmark Wine Bar

It’s a typical cool cold Canberra evening in the middle of truffle season when my friends and I descend onto classy Benchmark Wine Bar (near the Novotel and bus station on Northbourne). Benchmark Wine Bar has had truffle degustations each Tuesday of the past few weeks, but the menu’s changed each time; we’ve no idea what to expect from our four courses.