2023-06-28 23:30:00
A new 31-year-old chef has just taken charge of the Château Frontenac’s flagship restaurant, Le Champlain, and offers a daring gastronomic menu where the modern meets ancestral traditions.
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It’s a homecoming for Quebec native Gabriel Molleur-Langevin, who has spent the past five years as executive chef at Mousso in Montreal.
Photo provided by André-Olivier Lyra
His track record is impressive and includes several work experiences abroad: at Restaurant Marcon (a three Michelin star in France), at Noma (in Copenhagen) – several times crowned best restaurant in the world – and at the renowned Fäviken, in Sweden.
These stays overseas, in addition to many other trips, have enabled him to realize the importance of immersing himself in the surrounding nature for cooking.
Since his arrival at the Château Frontenac two months ago, the chef has forged ties with producers from Quebec, Île d’Orléans, Charlevoix and even Kamouraska.
Its new menu, launched last week, relies on local seasonal ingredients: rhubarb, asparagus, morels, lamb and halibut, among others.
Pleasure above all
The chef wants to have fun, and you can taste it in this discovery menu available in five or eight courses, also offered in a vegetarian version – a first for Le Champlain.
The first appetizer, a foie gras candy with a blackcurrant glaze from Mona et filles, is breathtaking.
Foie gras bonbon with blackcurrant glaze Photo Marianne White
“I am happy to achieve such a result. It’s visually perfect, and it’s a bite or two of indulgence,” the chef tells me, comfortably seated near a fireplace in the magnificent restaurant decorated with woodwork, gilding and tapestries.
The thirty-year-old stands out in this environment, with his ponytail and his youthful airs. But he feels like a fish in water, taking pleasure in playing the alchemist to develop his recipes.
His cuisine is both intuitive and very thoughtful. “There is a spontaneous side, with flashes that come from my experiences and that I collect, he explains. I have elements, I see where I want to go in my flavor and I put together instinctively. I put a little bit, I add more, I play with the elements until I find a nice balance.
From the cedar hedge!
Take, for example, the case of halibut, which is offered on the fourth course. It’s not even the fish that inspired the original idea. “I started with celeriac. I wanted to bring some bitterness further down the menu,” he says. He married the halibut, which is in season, and concocted a lemon thyme butter and a sunflower and dill oil sauce. The result is “insane“, he swears. And I give him reason, it’s a successful agreement!
Halibut with sunflower sauce Photo Marianne White
In the sixth course, he disconcerts us with a sour cherry kombucha served in the form of ice cream and placed on a thuya cream. The latter was made, believe it or not, from scraps of cedar hedge freshly cut by a member of his brigade.
Sour Cherry Kombucha Photo Marianne White
The chef wanted to upgrade it and infused and turbinated it to enhance the flavors. “We can have fun, we are almost limitless, he says. I like simple things, which contain surprises.” It’s surprising as you wish, but it goes very well with the rest!
Another singularity, the chef winks at his Scandinavian experiences with a cracker created from split flours from the baker François Borderon. Its revisited version of an ancestral classic is served at the center of the table with a delicate mushroom mousse.
Gastronomic capital
Back in Quebec after a 10-year hiatus, chef Gabriel wants to help make the capital a gastronomic destination.
“I come back with a baggage, a vision. For me, I am in a new city. They are no longer the same shops, the same restaurants. It has evolved, he says. I think we are at a certain peak of gastronomy in Quebec. I want to be part of this effervescence!”
Here is the 8-course discovery menu of chef Gabriel Molleur-Langevin
Foie gras bonbon with blackcurrant glaze Raw scallop, glazed with Massawipi miso
Miso glazed scallop Photo Marianne White
Chaga Beef Consommé, Burnt Hay Oil and Beef Tongue
Beef Consommé Photo Marianne White
Halibut with sunflower sauce, celeriac, asparagus, morels and nasturtiums Lamb with brown butter sauce, oyster mushrooms
Lamb with brown butter Photo Marianne White
Morello cherry kombucha, thuya creamy candied rhubarb, Anicet honey ganache, chamomile
Candied rhubarb and honey ganache Photo Marianne White
Sweets Photo Marianne White
The eight-course menu is $189 and the five-course version is $119. It takes $159 or $105 respectively for the wine pairing.
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