(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-12-22 09:10

For food fans with a sophisticated palate and cash to splash, Cepe Italian restaurant is well worth a visit.

This elegant eatery, housed in the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, serves up dishes made from Italian White Alba truffle considered the most luxury truffle in the world.

The valuable fungus can only be found between the months of November and February, at a scattering of spots in France and Italy. Truffle is usually found growing in soil near oak trees. Trained hunting dogs, and sometimes pigs, are used to sniff out the strong smelling eats. White Alba truffle is renowned for its pungent mushroom flavour, white, marble-like appearance and its rarity a single kilogram costs around 60,000 yuan in Beijing.

On November 12 a Hong Kong bidder paid an unprecedented 125,000 euro during the Eighth Worldwide Alba White Truffle auction for a truffle that weighed 1.5 kilos, which he then shared with 40 friends at a charity dinner.

White Alba truffle is never heated during cooking, to ensure that the aroma is preserved. At Cepe, White Alba is put into mushroom and chestnut soup, egg tagliolini with a smoked butter sauce, grana cheese , and gianduia chocolate souffle with chocolate and cherry mousse, and ice cream.

Cepe has a range of mushroom dishes, including black Perigord truffles, Caesar's mushroom, boletus, morel, and button mushrooms. Cherry wood is used in the design of this classical Italian restaurant, which is a modern and relaxing place. The owners have gone for a blue theme, which is reflected in the blue water cups and wine bottle containers.

Average cost is 500-600 yuan per person.
Opening hours: 11:30am-3pm, 6-11pm.
Address: 1/F The Ritz-Carlton Beijing, Financial Street, 1 East Financial Street, Xicheng District.
Tel: 010-6601-6666 ext 6288.