There are those times (yes, even during a short, intense food-focused trip) when you just want a simple, healthy, and (preferably still) delicious meal. Perhaps the kids are jetlagged, or perhaps dinner will be a huge multi-hour affair. Or maybe lunch was huge, and you're just not THAT hungry.

For us, this happened a couple times during the trip. Each time, Gusto Madre Flatbread right in Alba's city center came to the rescue.

I love this place. It's part bakery, part coffee shop, part casual restaurant at night. They make delicious breads, and they make flatbreads (kind like pizzas) with their house baked breads.

The Bread is the Star

The breads are delicious, with different ones having different textures and unique grains.

CRUST TYPE: La Friable is a reimagined "traditional Roman stuffed focaccia". We tried Il Crudo, which came with burrata, raw prosciutto di Parma DOP reserve Gallo (24 months). 15 EUROS

I loved the crust so much that, the next time I came, I ordered La Vegana. Using the same crust, this version includes vegetable cream, seasonable vegetables, sunflower seeds, flax, sesame adn oats, caramelized onions, and taina. 14 EUROS

La Soffice is a tall and fluffy dough made with some added whole rye flour. This Il Gambero came topped with yellow cherry puree, burrata, red shrimp from Porto Santo Spirito, lemon mayonnaise, caper powder, and EVOO. 27 EUROS

Autentica crust is a mixture of 100% spelt flour using their ancient fermentation methods. La Bufala a Modo Nostro was delicious, with pelled tomato from Agro Nocerino Sarnese DOP, buffalo mozzarella from Piedmont, riviera olives, Pantelleria capers, oregano, basil, and EVOO. 16 EUROS

The ingredients in all the flatbreads are excellent (you can only imagine what types of cheese, salumi, and other spices/herbs they can access). And it's just a perfect no-fuss kind of restaurant.

The ambiance is pleasant. I actually ate there TWICE during this short trip (yes, I liked it that much).

Highly recommended!

Gusto Madre Flatbread Restaurant Alba

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I have nostalgic memories of Osteria dei Sognatori. During our first ever trip to Alba back in 2015, we didn't have a place booked for our first night. We wanted something local, something authentic. A place where the locals go.

At the time, the hotel suggested Osteria dei Sognatori.

"They do not take reservations, and you have to line up, but the food is very good. There are hardly any restaurants in this area that serve food this way anymore. There is no menu. You just show up, and they feed you what they are cooking that day."

It was a wild experience, and we loved it.

As soon as I stepped foot into the doors of this restaurant, 10 years later, all those memories came flooding back. The restaurant still looks pretty much the same, and serves food in the exact same format.

I love it!

This time, however, there was one huge difference.

We came bearing truffles. Freshly dug truffles.

Like, dug a few hours ago truffles. Mostly black truffles, with a few pink truffles. We'd found them on our truffle hunt with a truffle dog.

Our tour guide Evan had brought us here. He knew that the restaurant would be happy to help us make a dish to incorporate our truffles.

They took the truffles away. We decided just a simple tajarine (the local thin pasta) with a simple butter sauce would be sufficient. We really wanted to showcase the flavor of the truffles.

Antipasti

Soon, the Antipasti course arrived: "carne cruda", which rougly means raw meat, plus bread and grissini (breadsticks).

This also included sausage from the region of Bra and potatoes. (Yes, so much meat right at the beginning! I was already getting full . . . .)

Bra sausage can only be made in this area of Piedmont (Bra) by certain butchers. Historically, due to the Jewish community in the area, Bra sausages were Kosher (made without pork). These days, Bra sausages are still mostly beef, but do incorporate some pork.

Here's a simple hand-written menu (!). Look at those prices, so reasonable!

Black and Pink Alba Truffles

All of a sudden, our truffles re-appeared, beautifully cleaned!

Wow! Now you can really see the difference between the black truffles and the pink truffles!

Can't wait!!!

But First, Salad and Eggs!

This is really a generous "antipasti" first course! We enjoyed a lovely fresh salad together with the Piemontese version of an omelet. Everything was fresh and delicious, but I was really starting to get full!

Truffle Time!

And FINALLY, it was time for the truffles!

The server helped us save some, but let us add some extra if we wanted to add our own.

Sooooo amazing to eat the truffles that we'd hunted just that morning!

The pasta was done perfectly, and we enjoyed the pasta very much. Perhaps there's something about the fact that these were our truffles that made the meal even more special.

It's very early in the season for black and pink truffles, so they are small. Objectively, they weren't as flavorful as the white truffles we'd been eating this trip.

But still, these were special truffles. And this was certainly a very special and memorable meal.

We were so full, we couldn't even order a Secondi (second course). We had filled up on Bra sausage, salumi, bread, salad, and pasta!

I highly recommend this place. If you want the full meal, come for dinner (you can see our full dinner here 10 years ago). Or come after a truffle hunt! Enjoy truffles + Barolo, the perfect combo.

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Osteria Dei Sognatori
Via Macrino, 8, 12051
Alba Italy

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Meet Hedwig.

Hedwig is a very, very special dog. Trained since birth to be attracted to the smell of white truffles (yes, they actually spike the mother's milk with truffle!), Hedwig goes out into the forest and her insanely trained nose can find truffles buried deep within the ground.

Luca and his two daughters are truffle hunters. The above photo comes from a cool exhibit at the Truffle Festival by photographer Steve McCurry, who decided to photograph a series on the area's truffle hunters.

Luca's family has 7 truffle dogs. You need a license to be a truffle hunter, and you can only go out with at most 2 dogs at a time. The rules are strict. You can only harvest from October to February. However, Luca says the truffles in November and December are the best.

The Truffle Hunt in Montà

We arrive at Montà on Sunday morning for our truffle hunt. Luca and Hedwig meet us at the parking lot and guide us to the top of the hill.

Hedwig is excited, and a bit impatient, wanting to go find some truffles.

We walk past a memorial at the top of the hill, dedicated to the men who died fighting the war in 1942-1943 in the campaign against Russia.

As we continue walking, we can't help but be awed by the views.

And we are on our way!

The path on which we hike is peaceful and serene. Nobody else is here except for us. Hedwig is energetic and often shoots ahead of everyone else when she smells something.

But Luca is a good leader. He yells out commands, and Hedwig listens.

Luca is like the dog whisperer.

He kneels alongside Hedwig, speaking to her, calming her down, while also helping her dig. This balance is not easy, and we are quite impressed.

Whenever Hedwig finds a truffle, Luca gently guides her to give the truffle to him. In almost every case, the truffles are perfectly intact, which is amazing given how energetic and physical the whole process is!

Luca explained that truffles like to latch onto the small micro-root structures under the trees.

During the course of our 1+ hour hike, Hedwig found a total of six black truffles and five biancetta (mini-white, or pink truffles).

Biancetta have a garlicky flavor and are more reminiscent of white truffles (compared to black ones).

The Dog Whisperer.

Watch this video to get an even better feel of what it was like to be on the hike.

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Santuario dei Piloni (the Sanctuary of Pillars)

For the last part of the hike, we walked along the Santuario dei Piloni (the Sanctuary of Pillars). This path includes a church as well as a number of chapels along a path, each of which includes a scene (made with plaster) from the life of Jesus.

There are 13 chapels in all along the path showing the scenes in chronological order.

Here's Jesus at the Garden of Gethsemane. You can see the disciples sleeping in the background.

From the Top of the Hill

The final part of the hike leads to these amazing vistas of the surrounding area.

Coming from crowded Hong Kong, I find this expansive nature to be SO NOURISHING for the soul.

What an incredible way to end the hike!

Thank you Luca and Hedwig so much for the truffle hunt. Thank you Evan from Piemonte Mio for arranging this tour! We paid 35 Euros per person to go on this hunt, and we got to keep all the truffles!

Next up: how we brought these truffles to a restaurant and how they prepared it!

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Hello white truffle!

We were back. Finally back in Alba after ten (!) years.

Had it really been a decade since I last set foot in this magical place?

Last time I was in Piedmont, it was part of a bigger Around the World Extravaganza Birthday Trip, where we visited Alba (to line up with the truffle festival), Bordeaux (to meet up with wine loving friends), Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong!

I had no idea I would move to Hong Kong at that point in time . . . .

This time, we went with our close friends from the US. It was a whirlwind 6 days between Milan, Modena, and Alba (including surrounding wine regions!).

The Alba White Truffle Festival

The festival only opens for a couple months each year, during the fall white truffle season, and only on weekends.

We decided to go on a Sunday afternoon after having spent all Saturday visiting different wineries in the Barolo region.

The smell of the white truffles is intoxicating, and THIS is truly where you can see some incredible prize-worthy white truffles. I mean, how massive are these white truffles? They are seriously the size of a large potato. I can see why it's so hard for the truffle hunting pigs / dogs to avoid just eating this!

Many Vendors Selling White Truffles

The festival is a serious market, and there are many vendors selling truffles.

Smelling is free, and they will often be happy to let you sniff at various truffles.

Giacomo Morra launched the first Alba White Truffle Fair back in 1929. His company Tartufi Morra states that they were the first company "dedicated to the marketing and processing of the Alba White Truffle."

"Truffle Adjacent" Foods

Aside from white truffles, the fair includes lots of other truffle-infused foods (which can be great gifts to bring back!). Truffle chips, cheese, salt, oil, cured meats, sauces, and much much more.

We even tried a truffle gin, which was surprisingly tasty! Bryan even bought a couple bottles to keep and give away as a gift.

This video gives you a much better feel of what it's like to go to the festival.

Enjoy!

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The post Alba White Truffle Festival 2025 appeared first on Tiny Urban Kitchen.

This post is part of a series about our weeklong trip to northern Piedmont region (Milan, Modena, and Alba)

After a satisfying truffle lunch at La Cantina, our guide Evan drove us to our second and final winery stop of the day: a much smaller and intimate woman-owned winery: Anna Maria Abbona, located in the high-altitude hills of Farigliano, just next to Dogliani.

Story of a Female Winemaker

Anna Maria’s story is really interesting, and she was certainly a female winemaker ahead of her time. In this part of Italy, vineyard land historically passed down to the first male child. Because Anna Maria was an only child, many in the area just assumed the family's winemaking lineage would end with her father.

In her early twenties, Anna Maria wasn't particularly interested in the wine business, and worked as a graphic designer instead. However, in 1989, following a tough economic period for local grape growers, her father told her he had made the decision to sell the family vineyards and move to the city.

Anna Maria felt quite torn about this. She couldn't bear to watch her family's deep roots be sold away. She made the decision to quit her designer job, return to the farm with her husband Franco, and convince her father to let them take over instead.

Starting out as a young woman winemaker in the late 1980s wasn't easy. She faced quite a bit of skepticism from men in the industry who believed that women couldn't make good wine. But Anna Maria soldiered on, working hard to make quality wine despite the naysayers.

Through a lot of hard work, Anna Maria flourished. Today, the winery makes many different wines. Anna Maria is a well respected winemaker. She also continues to use her graphic design talents, designing ALL of her own wine labels.

Tasting So Many Wines

One thing we really appreciated about Anna Maria is her willingness to experiment. She isn't afraid to try many different things, and as a result, she's made a large selection of different types of wines. While her estate is historic for its old-vine Dolcetto (the region’s signature grape), she has expanded into a wide array of varietals.

She makes everything from indigenous whites like Nascetta and Riesling, to classic regional reds like Barbera and Nebbiolo, and even high-end Barolo and sparkling Alta Langa wines.

After hearing her story and getting a tour of the winery, we sat down in a gorgeous room overlooking a stunning vista of vineyards. We tasted a number of wines, and enjoyed them so much we bought a case to ship home (yes, they ship to Hong Kong!).

The price point of her wines is generally a bit lower than Ceretto. Bryan though her wines would make great "everyday" wines.

Spending the late afternoon sipping various wines was a wonderful way to conclude our dedicated day exploring the wine region.

Anna Maria Abona Winery

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