Spring Menu with Wild Garlic and Morels at "Tilda"

At small restaurant Tilda, where chef Alexander Rusakov runs the kitchen, a short spring menu has arrived, built on two main seasonal ingredients — wild garlic and morels. These forest gifts became the foundation for three dishes, available throughout May. Each was made with attention to detail, with an emphasis on the balance of flavors and textures. All ingredients are fresh, and the wild garlic and morel harvest depends on the weather, so the menu might stick around a bit longer than usual.

The pasta at Tilda is made by hand. The dough uses durum wheat flour, egg yolks, and carrot juice, which gives the noodles their rich yellow-orange color. It's served with fried morels, fresh wild garlic, and a mushroom sauce based on chicken broth, parmesan, and cream. On top, the chef grates pecorino — a sheep's-milk cheese with a dense, slightly sharp flavor. The dish came out rich and spring-like, with a light wild-garlic tartness and vivid mushroom notes.

The second dish is young potatoes, first baked, then pan-fried in ghee with garlic and herbs. Morels serve as the second main accent here, and the composition is finished with parmesan foam and dill-infused oil. The potatoes are served with wild garlic — not as a sauce, but in its natural form, just leaves, to preserve their fresh aroma.

The third offer in the seasonal menu is filet mignon. Tilda uses farm-raised tenderloin, given minimal heat treatment to preserve its juiciness. The meat comes with a demi-glace — a sauce based on meat stock reduced to a thick consistency, with morels and truffle oil added. This is the boldest-flavored dish of the trio, where mushrooms play the leading role, and wild garlic is left out here so as not to overpower the aroma of the meat and sauce.

The spring menu is already available at the restaurant and, according to the chef, will run at least through the end of the May holidays. If the weather allows, morels and wild garlic will keep being gathered until the end of the month, and the dishes will stay on the menu longer. Updates and changes can be tracked through the restaurant's social media, where news about new deliveries and menu changes is usually posted.