Ristorante del Cambio – Introduction

Ristorante del Cambio is an elegant, gracious mansion in the centre of Torino housing one of the best restaurants in the region. It serves fine, authentic Piedmontese food.

We were a bit concerned about eating at Restaurant del Cambio. It certainly was highly recommended. But we thought it probably sounded like it might be one of those stuffy places that survive on their reputation rather than on their food.

Well, we were wrong!

Our meal at del Cambio turned out to be a satisfying and thoroughly enjoyable survey of the food and wines of the Piedmontese region, made all the better by excellent and thoughtful service.

We booked for the evening service and enjoyed the passeggiata prior to heading to Cambio at the designated time. The passeggiata is the envening “stroll” where everyone dresses up and heads out at the same time and “unexpectedly” meets up with their friends who are also strolling at the same time.

We were there at the height of the white truffle season (Piedmont rightly claims to have the best white truffles on the planet) so we were almost overwhelmed when the door to del Cambio opened and we were greeted with the powerful aroma of truffle wafting down the corridor.

We were also very keen to try the local dish called finanziera – that wonderful dish of the ‘inside’ bits of chicken. (The name on the menu was “La finanziera del Cambio”.) At del Cambio it was presented very simply in a flat, round white bowl with no colour to distract the eye. Around the outside of the dish was the required “combs” which had been cleaned perfectly (which is not easy given the tough outer skins).

We understand that this dish is available at the bar which they have opened upstairs since we dined here.

Cocottina alla crema di tartufo was served in a small bowl along with instructions to stir the almost raw egg yolk into the cream. The heavy smell of white truffles exploded into the air. This dish was rich but delightful. It is difficult to imagine eating black truffles again after this experience.

The Agnolotti tradizione del Cambio al sugo d’arrosto came next. The slightly dry filling was offset against a thin but strongly flavoured sauce. The other second dish was an excellent, fresh and lively mushroom soup.

Cosciotto di agnello saw the lamb being cooked to medium. The lamb was very sweet and was accompanied by stewed onions and some fairly ordinary piped potato.

The dish that we had been searching for however, was the brasato – in fact, brasato della vena al vino Barolo con polenta (beef braised in red wine and served with polenta). We imagined that it might be ‘tricked up’ in such an establishment but it was uncompromisingly authentic! The meat had been cooked for so long that even the sinews were perfectly edible. The deep fried polenta served as a perfect foil to the richness of the dish as did the fabulous Barolo Riserve Speciale from Ettore e Livia Fontana.

We finished a great meal with pears poached in wine and nine petit-fours!

This was one of the best meals we have eaten in Italy. The restaurant is grand without being overwhelming, the food is excellent and the service faultless and friendly.

You can find out more and check current opening times on the English version of their Web site here.

Yolu will see that we have included this venue in our story on places we have visited that were worth a journey here.