Truffle hunting in Motovun, Croatia

We took a quick 1 hour drive from Rovinj for a day trip to Motovun.

Motovun is renowned for its truffles, and that is the main reason why we are exploring Motovun.

In fact, the world’s heaviest truffle is found right here in Motovun at 1.31 kg, discovered by Giancarlo Zigante in year 1999 together with his dog. It entered into the Guinness World Records as the largest white truffle ever found at the time.

Truffle hunting

We wandered into the forests of Motovun, along with our guide and his two dogs and our truffle hunting adventure begins.

Our local guide shared that truffle hunting is a tradition in Motovun, and the dogs are trained from a young age to hunt for truffles.

I have curated a video at the end of the blog that captures more footage of our truffle hunting experience

Overall, it was a great experience and highly recommended.

Food

After half a day of running around truffle hunting, we were beyond ready to eat.

On top of the hill of Motovun, sits a truffle speciality restaurant, where Anthony Bourdain visited and highly approved.

The NY Times called Konoba Mondo “what eating in the Old World should feel like”. Indeed so, the restaurant has a rustic ambience, with stone walls almost like you are in a cave, and of course the highlight is the top tier food.

Every dish is executed well – the scrambled eggs done to the perfect readiness, the fuzi pasta with fresh truffle shavings that melts in your mouth, and the meat with potatoes.

This is one of our favourite meals in Croatia, and it was a meal that stays with us long after we leave.