After Gloria
Founded in 2021 by Muna Mustafa and Mehreen Omar, SupperClub Middle East has expanded its international footprint this year through a partnership with Visa. A Premium Dining Edition for Visa Infinite, Visa Infinite Privilege and Visa Private cardholders has been launched across 13 markets. The rollout includes the UK, France, Italy, Singapore and much of the Middle East with at least 20 restaurants per country. SupperClub now works with over 1,000 restaurants serving more than 50,000 subscribers. Its affiliations in Paris include Filipino, French-Mexican, Italian, Palestinian, Singaporean and Southeast Asian restaurants. And one specialising in truffles.
Lady Diana Mosley, yes that Mitford sister, may have had dubious taste in partners and politics but she got it right on Paris: “I love Paris,” she once quipped, “Paris has kept its beauty.” Her writer sister Nancy Mitford lived on Rue Monsieur in the 7th Arrondisement. Everything sounds better in la belle Français. Braquage: bank robbery. Les beaux mercs: good looking guys. Chatière: cat flap. Ébénisterie: cabinetmakers. Menuiserie: carpentry. Rive Gauche: left bank. Truffes Folies: truffle madness.
There are the palatial grand dames of Parisian hospitality: Athénée, Le Bristol, George V and Le Meurice. And their little sisters: Chateaubriand, Elysées Céramic, Le Littré and George Washington. Casually sophisticated restaurants: CoCo, Dominique Bouchet, Eels and Passionné. And sophisticatedly casual bars and brasseries: ADN, Le Brébant, Le Delly’s and Le Louis Vins. Living slightly askew of expectation, there’s a Truffes Folies restaurant either side of the River Seine.
The Rive Gauche branch is to the northwest of Hôtel des Invalides on the quiet Rue Malar close to where it meets the busy Rue St Dominique. This is the classy 7th Arrondissement under the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. Shops, bars, restaurants, estate agents and La Charrette à Crêpes fill the ground floors of the gleaming buildings lining Rue St Dominque. The upper floors are lined with rows of shuttered windows and balconies. Paris continues to keep its beauty.
Founding Chef Cyril Bocciarelli opened the 7th Arrondisement branch in 2008 where he was joined four years later by Chef Nicholas Orlando. Their 8th Arrondisement branch opened a decade later. Truffes Folies on Rue Malar is petite: 22 covers across a four seater round table, a row of eight square tables for two, and a couple of seats at the bar. There’s an overflow terrace on the opposite side of the street.
The menu is bistronomique cuisine focused around the black diamond. Cyril says, “The truffle is an eternal product, a real treasure around which true rituals have been concentrated. But its very presence becomes a feast for the pleasure of the taste’s soul. The Precious Black Truffle (tuber melanosporum) known as Périgord is harvested a few centimetres deed from mid November to mid March. The coffee coloured Burgundy Truffle (tube uncinatum) is harvested almost on the surface of the ground from 1 October 1o 31 December. The White Truffle (tuber magnatum pico) known as Alba is harvested up to a depth of 80 centimetres from 1 October to 31 December. The Summer Truffle (tuber aestivum) is harvested almost on the surface of the ground from 1 May to 31 October.”
Main course is pan seared king scallops with truffle infused Vitelotte potato purée. Pudding is French toast brioche, salted butter caramel and truffle ice cream served with an obligatory volute of Pommery Champagne. It would be rude not to order a truffle cocktail. Earthy and aromatic, lunch is a truffle hunter’s delight. Lots of products can be bought to take home such as black truffle peel, summer truffle polenta, white truffle cream and white truffle olive oil. Truffes Folies is rather special. A SupperClub Middle East treat. Lady Diana Mosley would love it.
