We're walking through the hazel bushes and oak trees, following Tawdiffu the Lagotto as she chases a scent on the breeze, tail wagging. There's a distant, insistent mooing echoing off the small hills behind us, and then, Tawdiffu freezes nose pointed down to the base of a hazelnut bush.
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"Truffle?" asks Barbara Hill, Tawdiffu's owner. Then the operation begins. David Learmonth, the executive chef from the kitchens at Parliament House, is handed a spoon. He's down on his knees, delicately moving the dusty dirt from the hidden gem, before a dark lump emerges from the ground.
This is truffle hunting. We're at Barbara and Richard Hill's Macenmist farm, just outside Bredbo. There's a chill wind coming off the Snowy Mountains but everyone is concentrating on the hunt.
The actual removal of the truffle from its dark home is the tricky part, you mustn't damage it, hence the spoon.
"Think of the truffle as an iceberg, you don't know how big it is," says Hill, cautiously eyeing Learmonth's handy work.
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Once the truffles are removed we all stand back and admire this gem from the underground, growing off roots and matured by frost, it's about as big as the palm of your hand.
Tawdiffu is quickly handed a treat for her hard work. She takes her job seriously, so does Hill, who recently adopted another truffle dog SongLu who she's training. It takes about six months to train a truffle dog.
After a bag of truffles have been collected we head back to the shed to clean them, about six large truffles, which Learmonth will use for a truffle degustation.
His inspiration and thinking for the event is simplicity - although it doesn't sound simple to the at-home chef.
"I always focus on wanting to do something that is fun, and trying to do the simple things very well," Learmonth says. "Something like truffle that can be very pungent, I sort of infuse it into the basic ingredients."
After years of working abroad on super yachts and in Michelin star restaurants, his feet are firmly on the ground now in Canberra, at Parliament House.
He's using the event as an opportunity to show off what Canberra has to offer. He plans to use the truffles across the six courses. From an amuse of potato tortellini, filled with truffle-infused mash; to an entree of WA marron eclair with a truffle mayonnaise. Main course is a beef rossini, with Wagyu and celeriac fondant; dessert a banana chocolate pudding with a Black Forest garnish. Throw in a cheese course with truffle honey and petit fours touched by truffle.
It's fascinating to watch how something from the cold, frost-bitten ground makes it to the plate.
- The Truffle Degustation, August 5, $159pp, with wine pairings $209. Tickets via aph.gov.au
