Truffle Farmer’s Dinner at The Toolshed | Noojee Truffle Festival VIC

Spend a winter evening around the fire with the people who grow truffle – a relaxed dinner with great food, and a working dog demonstration

Some of the best conversations happen around a fire. This one starts with truffle.

The Toolshed Bar & Bistro sits on the banks of the Latrobe River, among some of the tallest timber you’ll see anywhere. The building itself began life as a farmhouse, buried under blackberry bushes until someone looked hard enough to find it. It was pulled back together with timber from the property, materials from old clearing sales, and a lot of local help. The bar was once a toolshed and chookhouse. The bench you’ll lean on was milled from ninety-year-old pine trees that grew right here.

It’s that kind of place. And it’s the right backdrop for this kind of evening.

You’ll sit down with truffle farmers – the people who inoculate the trees, train the dogs, and wait years for the ground to deliver. The chef has been working with their truffle and has things to say about that too. Between the food and the fire and the dog working the room, the evening has a way of unfolding naturally.

The Evening

The night begins with a welcome truffle snack as you settle in. Then, weather allowing, step outside into the garden to watch the dog demonstrate what a trained nose can do – the moment the scent is caught, the scratch of the paw, the find. Back inside, the chef and farmer take to the kitchen together to prepare a wood-fired truffle pizza, and you’ll hear how that collaboration works from both sides. Dessert is an apple crumble with truffle custard, served by the fire.

Drinks are available at the bar throughout the evening.

What to expect

• Welcome truffle snack on arrival
• Working dog demonstration – indoors or in the garden, weather permitting
• Wood-fired truffle pizza, prepared by the chef and farmer together
• Farmer presentation on training truffle dogs and growing truffle
• Chef presentation on cooking with truffle – what they’ve learned, what surprised them
• Apple crumble with truffle custard by the fire
• Drinks available for purchase at the bar
• Opportunity to purchase truffle before you leave

Good to know

• Bring a coat – the garden is beautiful in winter and we’ll use it if we can
• Bring a camera – The Toolshed has an atmosphere worth keeping

Getting there The Toolshed is an hour and a half from Melbourne through some spectacular West Gippsland country, and 45 minutes from Mount Baw Baw. Noojee is a town with a story — twice rebuilt after bushfires in 1928 and 1939. The drive is worth it.