King Street Sauces - The Golden Toadstool product reviews

Honestly, I was worried when I realised I had agreed to review this. It has truffle in it, actual truffle... and truffle is part of the fungi family, which is a family that has been a'feudin' with my guts since the day I was born. But... I know that if I try just a little bit, I'll get warnings but it won't hurt me... so I tried a bit on a cracker with some semi-fancy cheddar. A day later, no rumbles from the tumbles, so I tried a little more. Suffice it to say, I spent a week slowly dosing myself to make sure I could, in fact, enjoy a decent amount of the sauce without "repercussions". I could! Yay!

So, time to get serious. Obviously, this is a spicy sauce. On its own, it has a mild, almost sweet, start and the chilli warmth starts to creep in quietly after a few seconds. However, it never really reaches 'hot', instead hovering around medium-sweet with a quiet glow. You definitely get the red pepper - aka Capsicum - as well as a bit of heat from the added habanero chillis - but the lads have managed to keep it perfectly balanced.

The truffle oil can be found if you know what you are searching for, but you know you hit truffle when you get some of the shavings of genuine truffle in your mouth. There's a flavour burst that makes it very clear... and as a non-fungi-guy I have to say, I was impressed by how enjoyable I found it. On its own, I find the flavour too musty and earthy, but when combined with the vinegar, capsicum and onion it becomes something quite amazing and unexpected. The claim that this recipe was a year in the making is easy to accept when you can appreciate the delicate dance these flavours do.

After having it 'free from additives' I wanted to try it in a different way... so, since I was going to be having steamed veges with a cheese sauce, into which I usually add either mustard or chilli for extra oomph, I thought I would try using this instead. It was, if I do say so myself, an inspired choice. The resulting sauce was the best I have made, and my only regret is that I didn't invent it. The sauce not only added a lovely warm glow to the colour, it added a new dimension of flavour, with layers slowly revealing themselves as the meal progressed. It may seem like a waste, but it wasn't at all - nothing that adds incredible new layers of flavour could be considered 'wasted'.

One last test, and it was one of my 'benchmark' recipes - so simple that if there's even the slightest imbalance in the resulting flavours, I know it. Steamed Basmati rice, plain tuna, sauce. That's it... half a cup of freshly-steamed Basmati rice, an 85g can of drained tuna in spring water, with some of the sauce dashed over the top. Leave for about 2 minutes so the rice can cool and the sauce can travel, mix then eat. Yes... it worked very, very well. I usually have this recipe with a can of Laksa or Tom Yum-flavoured tuna, but this sauce was the better of them, hands down.

Overall, it's not cheap, but also not expensive. "Cheap" is low-quality at a low price. This is great quality at a good price. You get what you pay for, and if you like spicy and truffle, you'll see this as an equitable price point for a quality, hand-crafted product of exceptional taste. Get it while you can, because the price of truffles is only going up.