At the height of the truffle season, British restaurants are serving carpaccios, risotto and even ice-cream with truffles. London based Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky, as well as Chelsea SC owner Roman Abramovich, are said to be very fond of them, according to British media reports.An England restaurant is serving probably the country’s most expensive ice-cream — at 25 pound a scoop. For lovers of white truffles, who go to great lengths to seek out their favorite delicacy, it is probably also the ultimate luxury. The ice-cream is the piece de resistance at Luciano in St James’s, the restaurant launched a year ago by truffle lover Marco Pierre White with Rocco Forte.

Restaurants all over London are taking advantage of the truffle season, which lasts from this month to December, to offer such dishes as truffle risotto. But it is Luciano — under the inspiration of chef Marco Corsica — that is going the extra mile and offering truffles for pudding as well as starters and main courses.

The dish was created for the London based Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky, a regular at Luciano and a man whose love of truffles knows no bounds. Maitre d’ George Perendes said: “When he is having truffle risotto and I get to his table it’s ’come on, George, keep shaving — don’t worry about the price’.” That price, incidentally, is 1,700 pounds a kilogram when the truffles come from Piedmont in Italy.

To make the pudding, Corsica first of all stores his eggs with the truffles inside a sealed box to infuse them with the flavour. The eggs are then used to make the ice-cream, which is served on a bed of truffle shavings with some more on top. No one can really complain they are getting short changed on the truffle front. The ice cream comes with a poached pear in aged balsamic vinegar — an essential ingredient, says Corsica, because without it the truffle would be overpowering. It is a conclusion with which this critic would have to concur.

Boris Berezovsky is not the only member of the super-rich club to have a taste for truffles. Roman Abramovich is also said to be fond of them, as is Madonna. “She comes here quite a lot and loves truffles,” said Perendes.

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