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.

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Your guide to Rutherglen and King Valley wineries

Disclaimer: while this is in no way a paid advertisement, it will sound like one. These wine regions are special!

Boyfriend and I have a knack for cramming a lot into our holidays, and our Easter trip to the Beechworth region was no exception. Apart from dining our way through the region, enjoying a few beers, going on an epic drive and fitting in a few walks and a ghost tour (see here for a comprehensive overview), there was one thing we were really there for: the wine.

We got to know about these regions’ wines thanks to the Taste of Two Regions Festival in 2013, where Rutherglen and King Valley wineries came to Canberra (yay) to show off their hard work. It sparked an ongoing love affair to the point that we planned a whole trip around visiting the region. Fortunately, the Taste of Two Regions Festival is back in 2014 on 6 July.

Delicious AfterDARK dinner and tour, Botanic Gardens

My parents are in town, so earlier this year we worked out a number of fun events to take them to throughout their week in Canberra. It wasn’t hard: with the Canberra long weekend there was plenty to choose from. Mum’s a big nature lover, and we all like food, so the Delicious AfterDARK dinner and tour at the Australian National Botanic Gardens seems like a winner.

Malamay Great West of China dinner

It’s Good Food Month in Australia, and Canberra hasn’t been spared from (a handful of) the events. The first event we book into is the Great West of China dinner at Malamay. We visited Malamay back in January, and, while I rated it worthwhile, we were a little underwhelmed with the experience. It didn’t leave us with the wow factor that we expect – and experience – at other Canberra restaurants of the same reputation (and price tag!). I’m more hopeful this time around: the chef from The Chairman restaruant in Hong Kong has teamed up with Malamay to bring this special dinner.