Last Saturday, while in Montreal, I went to Toqué with Lindsay. I was excited to do a proper tasting menu again after a bit of a hiatus, and at the #2-rated restaurant in Canada no less. I’ve posted a scan of the menu, but suffice it to say it was one of the best tasting menus I’ve ever experienced. Impeccable from start to finish, and the drink pairings were inspired.

A few notes on the below:

• We led off with oysters, and two glasses of Champagne each: a blanc de blancs and a blanc de noirs. Lovely both, though I (not surprisingly) favoured the blanc de blancs. One (I can’t remember which) was by Benoit Lahaye; I don’t remember the other.
• The wine pairing for the fish course (Lindsay had the foie gras and, therefore, the Xeres) was an adventure:
  • The wine with the halibut was not the Lighthall Chardonnay as shown below, but in fact a Bachelder Wismer Vineyard chard.
  • However, since the Sommelier and I were bonding over the evening’s wine, he brought out a blind taster for us to try. We didn’t have the printed menu yet, so I didn’t know it was the Lighthall. The crispness and lack of oak made me think of Chablis, but it had an unmistakable Ontario character. I just couldn’t get my mind to it though, and when he produced the bottle I sighed, “Oh, Glenn made that!”
  • Finally: because we were chatting so much about Lindsay’s Xeres he accidentally poured me a glass as well. Sweet.
• Every course was stunning, but the venison, halibut, cheese, and dessert were really special, and Lindsay’s foie knocked her out.
• The drink pairings were so fun and out there — the somm actually sounded apologetic when he explained that they went with a straightforward pairing for the venison — with a French table beer, a Portuguese wine made up of just about every grape there is, and what was essentially a German pet-nat made from Müller-Thurgau. Stop it. Just stop.
• A few key translations: bar = bass; l’oursin = sea urchin; flétan = halibut (from Nova Scotia no less!); cerf = deer; and L’Adoray is a local cheese.

Anyway, here’s the menu of the year so far: