London restaurateur donates truffle to BBC's Children in Need

London restaurateur Claudio Pulze has donated his truffle from last weekend's international charity auction to UK charity Children in Need as part of a dinner package.

The restaurateur, who bid £1,749 for his 234g Alba white truffle at the event, has offered it as part of a dinner package for eight to be held on a Saturday night at his Ristorante Fiore in St James, London.

If you would like to bid for the dinner package you can go to Children in Need's Great Big Bid Auction at www.bbc.co.uk/greatbigbid.

Launched on the 13 November, the auction will run up to this year's actual Children in Need event, which is being broadcast on Friday (18 November).

The international truffle auction held last weekend at Fiore raised £123,107 for charities, with money raised from London participants going to the Pelican Cancer Foundation.

The event was also broadcast to bidders at the Ritz Carlton, Hong Kong and the Grand Hyatt, Shanghai, China, and an anonymous bidder in Hong Kong smashed last year's record £22,877 for a single truffle by paying an £63,908 for a 1.2kg Alba.

By Chris Druce

Get your copy of Caterer and Hotelkeeper every week - click here to subscribe and save 25%.