Must-Try: the award-winning black truffle and matsutake mushroom salad from Splendido

Must-Try: the award-winning black truffle and matsutake mushroom salad from Splendido

(Image: Nikki Leigh McKean)

At this year’s city-wide Gold Medal Plates competition—the culinary equivalent of the Olympics for Toronto chefs—Splendido chef Victor Barry scored an impressive bronze finish by combining two of the world’s rarest and most expensive fungi. At Splendido, the salad comes strewn across a wooden platter, like an edible forest floor. Raw and butter-roasted matsutakes, tangy pickled ramps and grassy watercress tendrils are propped on a bed of smooth Jerusalem artichoke purée and topped with crunchy artichoke chips. Skunky Perigord truffles are the crowning glory: first, whipped into a creamy emulsion; then, shaved over everything like snow. Available through December 28. $22.

Splendido, 88 Harbord St., 416-929-7788, splendido.ca