Berserkers,
The Toronto Wine Elitist ™ made its return to the prestigious Langdon Hall in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. Our last visit was in Spring 2024 and we arrived just as they switched over to the Summer 2024 menu. As is our custom, we started out here in the Bar.
There has been a major upgrade to Langdon Hall as its sister bar Wilk’s Bar now boasts a 31 item Garden Lunch and Garden Dinner menu as well as indoor and outdoor table seating. It’s essentially an upscale version of bar tapas. But we’ll save that experience for another fine day. 
Jay had the Inclement Weather which is a blend of Mezcal, rum, calamansi, pineapple and coconut for an upscale take on the classic Pina Colada cocktail.
Michael Wright had the Helvetica which blends Gin, dry white Vermouth, gentian, saline tincture and drops of lemon oil.
I had the hard to pronounce Motxo, a non-alcoholic blend of Chinotto soda (i.e. Italian cola), cherry juice, maple water, cinchona, cinnamon, star anise, vanilla, clove and nutmeg and acid phosphate. This is their upscale version of the classic (some would say cheap) cocktail of red wine and cola. Essentially, they subbed the wine for cherry juice and added some Chai tea flavors. This was easily the best non-alcoholic cocktail I’ve ever had. Bursting with flavor. Add a little Mezcal and you would have had a great alcoholic version.
Cédric Bouchard 2019 Roses de Jeanne VV-Côte de Val Vilaine Brut – And we start the wines by ordering off of the list. 100% Pinot Noir from the Aube sub-region of Champagne. Bouchard his Champagnes using his "one-vineyard, one-grape, one-vintage, and zero-dosage credo and method. The result here is fascinating, a Champagne that perform as a modern Lean style in texture but a classic Riche style in flavor. This starts out with heavy dry brioche and chalk on the palate and then traistions as the green apple and underripe pineapple fruit comes forward with a both high crisp acidity and a slight phenolic touch on the finish. Great transformation in the glass.
We started the meal off with the bread course which consisted of a homemade rosemary bread and a homemade sourdough bread along with some local artisanal butter.
This was followed by a pair of amuse-bouches. The first was a piece of compressed melon topped with lime jelly. The second was a silhouette leaf stuffed with a chopped liver parfait. As Jay follows an Indian diet, his leaf was substituted with a heritage deviled egg.
This is where things get interesting. I tried to convince the other TWEC ™ members to join me in the 8 course tasting menu. They preferred to order a la carte. Hmph. No gastronomical or intestinal fortitude. 
So I convinced our waiter Isfan to let me go it alone and the other three shmucks could starve in between my courses. The kitchen obliged us and timed everything perfectly so that the others weren’t waiting at all between my courses without food at any given point. That is impeccable service.
So for their appetizers, the other three losers got as follows. Michael Grammer had the Foie Gras Parfait. Foie gras is served atop a toasted brioche disc and dressed with local in season Ontario strawberries, strawberry jel and icewine jelly.
Michael Wright had the Dressed Crab. Crab is served on compressed cucumber and dressed with Green Goddess dressing and an herb jelly.
Jay had the Asparagus, which was dressed with a crab and creme fraiche sauce, sourdough croutons and fresh herbs from the garden.
As part of my tasting menu, I received tasting sized portions of both the Dressed Crab and the Fois Gras Parfait myself. This was followed by the Warm Lobster, which sat in a beurre blanc foam topped tomato water and was dressed with sturgeon caviar and peeled tomatoes.
Prager 2016 Gruner Vetliner – Michael Grammer brought this to share. This was just perfect. It just started to have that sweet cream corn flavor I associate with aged Gruner Vetliner but still young and fresh enough to have lemon drop notes come out as it warmed up in the glass. I thought this would match up well with the Foie Gras due to similar creamy umami elements but they actually cancelled each other out and it was a horrible food match. Went superbly with the Dressed Crab, though.
Next up, Michael Grammer had the seasonal Gazpacho. A traditional savory Gazpacho is made much more interesting with the additional of the aforementioned in season local Ontario strawberries.
My next course with the Ricotta Gnudi, a Ricotta dough pasta topped with summer truffle slices, glazed Paris mushrooms and a Champagne foam.
** Lopez de Heredia Vina Tondonia 2010 Rioja Rose** – This was Jay’s contribution and we had this decanted right away. This was intensely aromatic and was bursting with sharp and intense aromas and dry flavors of rhubarb, cranberry, strawberries and watermelons. This was a particularly fantastic match with the foie gras and the beef.
Next up were the mains and the rest of my menu. Michael Wright had the Butter Poached Halibut which was served with braised shallotte, courgette squash, red pepper jus and Parmesan cream sauce.
I got the Smoked Marinated Beef which was served with foraged mushrooms, spinach purée, and a piece of green asparagus sitting on top of a crispy potato ratatouille. All this was sitting in a pool of jus and a dollop of béarnaise mousseline.
Jay and Michael Grammer both had the “Stuffed Pasta.” Note the quotation marks. I was expecting the guys to get some kind of upscale version of a stuffed pasta like ravioli or tortellini or perhaps even a giant Canneloni tube or Conchiglie shell. Instead, they received a giant single noodle wrapped around ricotta, a medley of garden vegetables and dressed with a Parmesan cream foam. I like that it was a clever and fun play on the idea of a stuffed pasta and still totally upscale.
As the guys got their coffee courses to My last savory course was a palate cleanser of Garden Sorbet, a sorbet made from a mixed vegetable juice crafted from the ones grown in their own gardens and topped with with fresh herbs and edible flowers.
We were now all timed perfectly for desserts. My tasting menu dessert was the Chocolate Mille Feuille. Whole fruit chocolate crémeux was sandwiched in between caramelized pastry leaves and served with London Fog tea ice cream on the side.
Michael Grammer had the Lime Cheesecake. Lime curd and Chantilly was sandwiched in between two graham sable cookies and topped with lime sorbet.
The last dessert was the Strawberries and Cream. Angel food cake, crispy strawberry meringue sat in a pool of strawberry coulis with vanilla cream on the side.
Kracher 2019 Grand Cuvee TBA #5 Nouvelle Vague – And with dessert came my contribution. This was pretty much wine infanticide with it being so young, but boy was this pretty great. Plenty of botrytis tingle and very sweet flavors of quince and dragonfruit thanks to the blend of 60% botrytised Welschriesling vinified in Slavonian oak vats of 1,000 and 1,500 liters and 40% botrytised Chardonnay aged in barriques. There’s a sweet toasted vanilla on the backbone and even a slight touch of salinity in here as well. This was flavorful and beautifully balanced for a sweet wine. Keep in mind it’s still a stickie and is quite intensely sweet at #5 on the infamous Kracher scale. But this easily matches and surpasses some of the finest Sauternes and Tokajis you’ve ever had. A worthy indulgence and I was quite happy to share my only bottle as it deserved to be consumed with worthy friends in an equally worthy setting.
Lastly, we finished with some petits fours or Rosemary Cookies and Apricot Jellies.
TWEC ™ would like to thank the floor and kitchen staff of Langdon Hall as well as Executive Jason Bangerter who dropped by to say hello and the evening’s pianist Jennifer as well. We shared some of the Kracher with her and I said hello and discovered that it was her first ever time playing at Langdon Hall and that it had been a long time since she played an engagement. We look forward to returning for the both the 10th Anniversary Tasting Menu done in honor of chef Bangerter’s 10 years with Langdon Hall as well as trying the new Wilks’ Bar tapas menu.
