October 2018

Dining Review: Enoclub – Alba, Italy

After a lovely day discovering Barolol wine, it was time for dinner! Enoclub is a restaurant in a cave and hoping for a similar experience as in Siena, we were excited to try it.

The restaurant is below another popular spot, Caffe Umberto, and once descended down the stairs the cave is revealed- exposed rock and dim lighting.

After we ordered, a pre-appetizer arrived to the table. A small tasting portion of what we believe to be salumi, pistachio, marjoram, and yogurt. A nice treat to start the meal.

Having had our fill of Barolo for the day, we decided to go with a 2015 Langhe Nebbiolo and we were excited to see a producer we visited on the list- Giovanni Rosso! This felt like a great way to wrap up the wine day and it was certainly a great bottle that only improved with the meal.

Our truffle item for this evening was Carne crudo di Fassone con Tartufo Bianco d’Abla (Fassone veal steak tartae with white truffle).

We chose this as our appetizer to try the truffles in a new way and we love tartar. Once again mesmerized by the white truffle and the aroma, we watched the truffles fall from the shaver and delicately fall onto the tartar, which was completely covered by the end of the shaving. Another great white truffle value in our opinion! We were very happy with this dish.

For an entree, I ordered the Bottoni- homemade pasta filled with porcini mushrooms with mountain butter and marjoram. I was hoping for a mushroom dish on this trip and this certainly fit that- freshly made, round button like pasta pockets stuffed with mushrooms bathing in a sea of butter and marjoram. Each one popped with flavor in my mouth as I tried to pace myself eating each one at a time. I loved everything about this dish.

Kevin ordered the Piccione- low temperature cooking seared pigeon with beetroots, rhubarb, black cabbage, and “mole” sauce. It arrived to the table and it had us “ooo”-ing. A beautiful presentation, pieces of pigeon around the plate, a leg in the middle (claw included), and large cabbage pieces on top drizzled (ok drenched) in a au jus like sauce. The pigeon was cooked perfectly, leaving most rare, and very tender. The flavor of the meat was so delicious and we were happy to have steered away from pasta (this one time).

A picturesque table!

Never passing up dessert, the culinary feast continued with bunet al cioccolato for me and hazelnut dish for Kevin. For as chocolatey as my dish looked, it was actually pretty tasteless. I was not sure if this was the typical standard for bunet al cioccolato since everything else at Enoclub was fantastic. The english description lead me to believe it was a chocolate pudding so I thought I was going to get a dish similar to the awesomeness of the previous night. I still had no trouble finishing it though!