As regular readers will know, living in Ellenbrook means that I don’t get to Fremantle as often as I’d like, despite there being many restaurants in the area on my “must visit” list. One of them is Propeller in North Freo, so I was thrilled to be invited to last week’s “Truffle, Pig & Wine Discovery Degustation” dinner.
The evening was led by raconteur and wine expert Michael Tamburri, co-owner of legendary Mount Lawley liquor merchant La Vigna. Michael was also responsible for the wine pairings for the evening, which included some rather rare – and unusual – varieties.
Each dish was specially designed by Head Chef Kurt Sampson for the event, and half-a-kilo of Manjimup truffles were sacrificed for the meal.
It was a full-house, and with most of the dishes designed for sharing it was a great opportunity to get to know your fellow diners.
The service provided by the Propeller staff during the whole event was very attentive and friendly, without being fussy. Despite the “truffled” sophistication of the evening, the atmosphere was casual and – on our table at least – everyone had a good time.
The first course was Jerusalem artichoke, hazelnut & truffle soup. Artichoke isn’t a flavour I’m particularly familiar with, but this soup was deliciously rich without being overpowering. It was certainly a very welcome start to the meal on a rather cold night.
This course was paired with Nun Vinya del Taus 2008, a medium-bodied white wine from Xarello in Spain.
The second course featured three shared dishes, the first being this delicious truffle, mushroom, provolone & lardo pizza.
Joining the pizza was a house-made pork and truffle sausage with mustard…
…and cured pork loin with cauliflower & egg salad and black truffle.
This course was paired with a Knipser Kalkmergel Spatburgunder 2011, a rather intense red wine with a strong smoky flavour, from Pfalz in Germany.
Next course was this stunning pork belly with Perigueux sauce, which is made from madeira and truffles. Moist, tender and perfect crackling.
The pork was served with sprouts, black eyed beans and a decadently rich parsnip mash…
…and a shaving of fresh truffle, because there just wasn’t enough to be getting on with.
The wine for this course was Castro Ventosa ‘Valtuille’ Cepas Centenarias Menica 2012 from Bierzo, Spain.
Time for dessert. Part 1 was a truffle baked Le Conquerant camembert, served with pots of toast.
Watching the camemberts being quartered was a mouth-watering experience!
Spot the truffle.
The final act of the evening was this fantastic dessert of “hazelnut and honey set cream with pears”. This was a great combination of flavours and textures – especially when tasting every component together – and a perfect end to the meal.
A dessert wine was served with the final course, Itsas Mendi Txakoli, Hondarribi Zuri 2006, from Basque Country in Spain.
The biggest revelation of the evening for me was how subtle truffle can be in the right hands. At no point did I feel that I’d had too much truffle, which is something I’ve encountered at previous truffle-centric meals.
This is just the first “discovery degustation” being held by Propeller – the next will be an “adventurous dive into the delicious world of offal” on July 28th. If that appeals to you, keep an eye on Propeller’s Website, Instagram and Facebook pages.
I’d like to thank Naomi and the team at Propeller for my invitation to the dinner, and for being such great company on the night.
Propeller is closed on Monday and Tuesday over the winter months, but is open for coffee, breakfast, lunch, dinner and wine from 8am until late Wednesday to Sunday. You can see their menus on the Propeller website here, and you can expect to find food inspired by the Mediterranean, pizzas with a twist and great coffee.
Tonight’s dinner will be hard to beat, but I’m already looking forward to my return.
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