Truffle season lasts only a very short time around London, and every year many restaurants host a truffle special menu for this short time. We headed down to a D&D London restaurant, Cantina Del Ponto down by Tower Bridge to celebrate with their affordable menu.

This was actually attempt number two, after trying to book for the first day of their truffle menu only to receive a call in the afternoon telling us the truffle delivery had failed and that they weren’t able to offer us the menu that evening. I did appreciate the call to ensure we did waste a trip out there, but I found it strange they couldn’t get a delivery earlier than the day of the menu.

We rebooked for another Monday later in the month, and the restaurant was quite empty. Monday’s tend to be quieter than normal, and this area in particular tends to be very quiet, so the result was a pretty empty restaurant at 6pm. A few tables filled up later in the evening, but it largely remained empty.

They offered us the a la carte menu, but seeing as we were here for the truffle menu, we decided to go for the menu. The only disappointment on the menu was that the truffle dessert wasn’t present and they substituted their well-known chocolate cake.

We started with the bread basket, containing some foccacia, some plain bread and served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The first course on the menu, was a beef carpaccio, served with shavings of parmesan and truffle. I wasn’t quite sure about this dish, but as soon as I put one of the delicate slices of beef into my mouth, it exploded with a mouthful of flavour. Salt, umami, yumminess.

The next dish was a truffle tagliatelle. The pasta was thick, perfectly al dente and covered with a butter truffle sauce. I didn’t find the flavour as strong as the previous dish but it was still very fulfilling.

A little bit of parmesan helped too. We finished up with the chocolate pudding served with a scoop of ice cream. It wasn’t quite the chocolate fondant that many other restaurant serve, but it was good nevertheless.

Name: Cantina Del Ponto
Found at: 36c Shad Thames, London SE1 2YE
Website: http://www.cantinadelponte.co.uk/