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It has been the best year for European truffles, both black and white, since the late 1980s thanks to a unusual combination of sun and rain in the most effective proportions so the timing of former restaurateur Dick Pyle's foray into the truffle business certainly looks propitious.
After selling Hilaire, London SW7, Pyle moved to Le Gers, south-west France where he is now extending the scheme used in the wine trade whereby investors can 'adopt' or 'rent' a row of vines or truffle bearing oak trees. For a fee of £150 for the first year (£125 until 31 March) and then £35 thereafter, investors can buy a tree and then sometime in the future when and if the truffles appear choose to pool the truffles for sale or have them sent for personal consumption. Definitely risky, potentially fun. Contact Dickpyle2@aol.com (tel +33 5 62 64 15 23)
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London Park honey may not have the romantic, fresh appeal of that gathered in the wilds of the Pyrenees, Mexico or the fabulous Manuka honey from New Zealand but it certainly does live up its slogan of 'nectar for urban workers'.
It is the produce of the London Honey Company whose website www.beesplease.co.uk graphically shows its enthusiastic founder, Steve Benbow, going about collecting the pollen from hives situated in London's many verdant parks. After he and his team have done the hard work the honey is available at £6.50 for a 300gr jam only from La Fromagerie and occasionally at Pimlico and Borough Markets. When supplies grow in the summer it will become even more widely available.
At the restaurant table
For years Nani's at 10 Wigmore Street, London W1, has served coffee and pasta to the many working nearby in Cavendish Square or those pre or post a medical or dental appointment on Harley Street just round the corner.
Nani's has now moved across the road whilst its corner site has been transformed by the same friendly owners into the much sleeker Eddalino, a fitting home for its talented young chef Francesco Pesce.
His menu quickly dispels any notion that this is yet another Italian restaurant with first courses such as Ancona salted cod with chilli vegetable stew, marinated red mullet with sweet and sour vegetables and a frittata with black truffles, each excitingly presented and preceded by a small demi-tasse of broccoli soup with cockles, complete with a lid to keep it hot on its journey from the basement kitchem.
Pastas and gnocchi are made on the premises, as are all the ice creams and sorbets. Main courses range from delicate monkfish and scallops with rosti to a more hefty saddle of rabbit with cheese ravioli and pork fillet wrapped in pancetta. Unmissable, and not just because it is by the door, is a trolley laden with a dozen different Italian cheeses served with a truffle infused honey.
The clean, bright decor with a reasonable amount of space between tables is just what its lunchtime customers demand, but it is obvious that this is less suitable for a more intimate dinner. Except, that is, for the growing number of enthusiastic amateurs of top Italian wine on offer here at very keen prices. Eddalino's owner works directly with an Italian wine broker and their combined passion and expertise are obvious in an exceptional nine-page list.
Eddalino tel 020 7637 0789
£22 two courses; £27 three courses; £32 four courses.
Closed Saturday lunch and Sunday.
