We were so enamored of the fall colours on our Ottawa trip a few weeks ago that we decided another weekend in the Ottawa countryside was in order. And so it was that we booked a couple nights at Langdon Hall, just outside Cambridge. I’d been there a few times for work functions, but never as a regular guest. Lindsay had never been there at all. So Friday afternoon we packed up the car and drove there.

Friday

After quite an easy drive, we checked in. Our room had a fireplace, which we were pretty excited about, cause fall had definitely arrived outside. Unfortunately the wood in the fireplace had been there a while, with the flue open, so we couldn’t get it to light properly. We gave up, as we had to be downstairs for an early dinner.

We started early because we’d booked something called the Grand Tasting Menu, a 9-course “specially curated selection of dishes you won’t find on [their] à la carte menu. In honour of his 10th anniversary at Langdon Hall, The Grand Tasting Menu is Executive Chef Jason Bangerter’s most elevated and exciting menu.” Elevated is a word we heard a lot that night; the server used it at least three times per course.

Overall, I’d say it was an exceptional meal. Maybe not the most innovative tasting menu we’d ever had, but remarkable in its precision, presentation, and local flavours. The lobster dish and pasta course were exceptional, and foie gras amuse-bouche was one of the best things I’ve eaten all year.

• Cocktails
  • Hauntwood (wild apples from the Langdon Hall property, quince, Boulard Calvados, Island Diaz spiced rum, Astoria)
  • Closing Remarks (flavors and aromas of the surrounding forest, Reid’s Gin, Vermouth de Forcalquier, Luxardo Del Santo, lime)
• Grand Tasting Menu
  • snacks: sunchoke and winter truffle; foie gras & grapes
  • greenhouse citrus: buttermilk panna cotta, all the LH citrus plants
  • caviar + onion: blanc de blanc bubbles, onion crème fraîche
  • taste the ocean: golden king crab, scallop, urchin
  • juniper smoked trout: crispy skin, rillettes, cured roe
  • lobster: sweet corn, LH fungi, crustacean velouté
  • Stracciatella Casoncelli: winter truffle, madeira beurre blanc
  • Waygu beef: celery root, brussels, chardonnay vinegar
  • raspberry + rose: heritage rose jelly, berry crémeux
  • pear + hazelnut: poached pear, ginger leaf nage
  • petit fours
    • wine pairings (I did not, unfortunately, write them down)

It’s a good thing we started at 6:00, because we didn’t wrap up until after 10:00, which meant I barely made it back to the room in time to see the Jays lose game six, and then we crashed.

Saturday

Okay, so it’s possible we overindulged the night before. Oy vey.

We got ourselves downstairs for breakfast, ate a lot of it, and then took advantage of their walking trails. We covered pretty much the entire grounds, soaking in the quiet, the scenery, the bird-watching, and the dogs out on the trail. As much as the rest of the grounds are probably better in the summer, I think the trails are perfect in the fall.

On the way back we made a quick stop at their wine shoppe, picking up three bottles to bring home, then went back to the room and ordered room service. While Lindsay showered I figured out a fire strategy and, by the time she emerged, I had it crackling away.

That afternoon we’d booked one activity: a wine tasting. There were supposed to be ten of us; two people showed up, but one person did who wasn’t meant to, so nine it was. It wasn’t exactly a somm exam, so all three wines were pretty easy to guess (Cava, Riesling, Cab Franc), but it’s always fun to taste with nice people. We ended up figuring out that the couple next to us (a) live quite close to us in Toronto, and (b) know some people I worked with at Arterra — in fact, someone that used to work for me now works for her. And there was another guy in the tasting who looked very much like him! Weird, weird coincidence.

We made our way from there another early dinner — this time in the bar instead of the restaurant. We got a simpler meal, but splashed out a bit on the wine. (A small aside: the server sent the somm to talk to us, but she looked at the couple next to us and decided that surely they were the ones looking for a sommelier’s expertise, not us two ruffians. By the time our server tracked the somm back down and sent her round to find us, our apps had arrived. By the time she came back with our bottle, the apps were gone.) Anyway, here’s what we ate:

• Cocktails
  • Rabbit Season (carrot, macadamia, pecan, cardamom, nutmeg, Redbreast 12 year, Carpano Antica, González Byass, Angostura)
  • Amoxicillin (citrus, honey, lapsang souchong, Espolòn Añejo tequila, Cointreau)
• Appetizers
  • dressed beets w/ crème fraîche, shallot pickle, greenhouse herbs
  • baby gem leaves w/ creamy garlic dressing, nutritional yeast, toasted sourdough crumb
• Mains
  • beer battered cod w/ egg gribiche, chubby chips, watercress
  • red wine marinated chicken w/ creamy polenta, sauce coq au vin
    • bottle of 2011 Pommard, 1er Cru, Clos Orgelot, Clos du Moulin aux Moines
• Dessert
  • sticky toffee date pudding w/ soft caramel, rum raisin ice cream
  • gourmand cookie w/ all the chocolate, fudgy ganache center (which we took to the room)

This time we got back to the room plenty early enough to build another beauty fire and watch nearly all of game seven, which of course ended up in a heart-breaking loss for the Jays. I’ll have more to say about that later, once the sadness wears off.

Sunday

We woke feeling a little extra-refreshed, which I realized later was because of daylight savings time. (The good one.) We grabbed a lighter breakfast, packed up, and drove home.

Pretty sweet country weekend getaway, all in all.