The extraordinary aspect of any experience eating at Langdon hall, in the summertime or early fall, is that virtually everything on the plate is from their gardens or the immediate surrounding geographical area. All of the vegetables, flowers and herbs are freshly picked just before the dinner and just before the lunch services, bringing a unique flavour experience to each dish. Please keep this fact in mind when you read the constituents of each dish. For me, the colourful presentation and fresh bright flavours of the freshly picked and exceptionally varied ingredients, so well composed and harmonized, made this experience as great as that in any great restaurant in the world.
Lunch
The ingredients to which the beet borscht below, was added: pickled beets, whipped chevre, fennel fronds.
Beet borscht, created a la minute, for my lunch partner as a surprise. The soup was incredibly refreshing.
Pressed baby carrot terrine set in herb and carrot juice was accompanied by coconut milk, pickled ginger, coconut milk, ginger, yellow and orange carrot purees, mint oil, garden herbs, all dressed with a carrot vinaigrette. The carrot flavour of the terrine was intense!
The beginning of the spring onion soup. The soup (added below) was placed beside a dollop of very concentrated, jelly like, onion consomme, wild garlic mustard, baby leeks and crispy sour dough crumb.
The onion soup added to the dish above.
Jerusalem artichoke agnolotti with sweet peas, baby turnip, radish, nasturtium leaves and topped with shavings of mimolette cheese. The flavours of the dish were fabulous but the pasta could have been a touch more delicate.
Baked halibut with asparagus, hen of the woods mushrooms, chopped crispy chicken skin and champagne cream. I found the fish, a tad overcooked for my liking, but the texture was still pleasant.
The delicious clementine cake topped with a slice of candied clementine and sided with spiced yam sorbet (another huge hit!).
Hazelnut pot de creme was deliciously rich and flavoured with Frangelico and topped with a praline shard.
Dinner
Our "ameuse", I had a very small baby red carrot buried in the "dirt" and my partner, a very small baby turnip. This was uniquely chef Bangerter's inspiration and not an attempt to copy chef Rene Redzepi's idea. The "dirt" was very different in composition than chef Redzepi's, in fact, from my perspective and experience, more interesting in texture and flavours. The dirt was composed of kaniwa grains, vinegar and finely chopped blanched beets
Poached white asparagus accompanied by cured goose egg white and yolk, chive flowers and hazelnut gribiche.
Poached green asparagus with early garden sprouts and caviar and squid ink aioli. The flowers and herbs were lavender, Anise hyssop, wild hemp flower, marigold, rose petal and thyme. Brilliant flavours (you may hear me say this a lot!)
This glass "pitcher" is filled with chilled spring vegetable juice consisting of lavender, angelica, cucumber, wild leek and mint. The juice was pored into the glass below to be sipped through the freshly cut and fragrant angelica straw. It was to be enjoyed with the dish below.
The chilled angelica broth and angelica straw.
A "salad" of snap peas, radish pods, brassica, pureed celery root, puree of brassica flowers and peas, purple bean, pickled wild leek and mint
This plate was made with the image of the hands of the head gardener, Mario. The dish is called "terroir", consisting 27 ingredients from the garden, including foraged leaves, burnt shallot and wild berries. The "dirt" component consists of fine mix of black walnuts, brown sugar and roast onions. There was also a sorbet consisting of gooseberries, raspberries, currents and wild strawberries, incorporated in the dish. The whole dish was garnished with edible leaves, hemp, daisy, etc.
Spring salmon, a dish consisting of salmon just fished out of the water 2 days ago and cured, young vegetables such as tiny zucchini, runner beans, sweet sicily, coriander seeds and lemon "candy". Warm consomme was then added to the dish, made of garden vegetables and herbs, coriander seed "punch" and a touch of white balsamic vinegar. The flavour of the broth was intense and so well complemented the cured salmon.
"Jerusalem artichoke", consisting of pureed, creamed and roasted jerusalem artichoke with a pepper-honey glaze, smoked nut crumbs, pickled radish and baby turnip.
Halibut and spot prawn accompanied by chanterelles and sweet peas. The prawn was perfectly cooked (slightly under as it should be), but the fish, was a tad over. Still, the textures and sublime flavours, were fabulous. The cooked shrimp was finished with a shaved piece of berkshire pork lardon. The sauce was prepared from the bones of the halibut and the shells of the shrimp and made into a light beautifully flavoured bisque. The sun had gone down by the time this photo was taken.
Crab boudin en courgette with a warm saffron water vinaigrette. The water vinaigrette was made with basil, fennel and leeks. The zucchini flower was stuffed with a mousseline of crab.
"Heritage hen" from a local farmer, consisting of sliced breast and leg presse. The breast was a touch over brined so the texture was a bit dry but barely so. despite that, the flavour of the meat was wonderful. The leg meat presse was a terrine of perfect texture and very juicy. The dish was accompanied by fresh morels, baby leeks and garlic scape and surrounded by a sherry jus made from the bones, dripping and skin.
"Coconut ganache", coconut "paper", raspberries, Mario's flowers, pistachio cake crumble, cocoa cake crumble, a powder of violet leaves with lavender, sea salt and a rich chocolate ganache. Remarkable!
From left to right, honey crumb cookie, cherry brandy pate de fenouille and white chocolate macaroons.
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