Quebec City – ohdenny

Baguette & Cie – Quebec City Series

September 26, 2014 Posted in Canadian, Food Reviews, French, Quebec City, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

We came across Baguette & Cie along our way back to the hotel on our last day in Quebec City. It was absolutely freezing that day, wind chill and even flurries. As we were a little bit famished we saw this cozy looking bakery, what actually attracted us to this place other than it being conveniently just minutes away from our hotel was that it sold hot soup. Soup on a blistering cold day is all you would ever want and is it ever so satisfying.

Their Clam Chowder is creamy and yet still smooth to the taste and has a lovely aroma to it. Flavour-wise it’s delicate balance of ingredients makes it the perfect winters meal. The only thing I guess I would have liked is if the bread was toasted/warmed just a tad.

If you’re looking for something a bit lighter, the Vegetable Soup also has amazing flavours. The chunky vegetables make it a pretty satisfying meal or snack (if you prefer).

Impressions

Baguette & Cie not only serve soup but of course bread as well and in addition they offer muffins and pastries, hot drinks, sandwiches and desserts plus their apparently renowned chilli! I’d definitely recommend stopping by.

Baguette & Cie
217 rue Saint-Paul
Quebec QC G1K9K9

Café Buade – Quebec City Series

August 29, 2014 Posted in American, European, Food Reviews, French, Italian, Quebec City, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Café Buade was our first meal in Quebec City, after arriving by train from Montreal. Already lunch time, the Old Quebec City was packed full of people and tourists (like me!), we finally found a restaurant that looked quaint and food that was reasonably priced.

Service here was great actually, and even though they do speak in French initially (of course), they do respond in English without much hesitation. Probably because it’s a tourist hotspot, but it puts us at ease nonetheless.

The food here has a mix of Italian, French and your burgers, steaks and grills.

We ordered one of their grills, which comes with coleslaw, fries and topped with a BBQ gravy and peas. The gravy was quite bland on first impressions, and it was in dire need of pepper. The fries were also a tad on the dry side of things, although super crispy as you can see. Overall, I found it to be a very average dish.

Their Salmon salad is quite fresh , with their salmon, capers and onions with a dressing. Not particularly my type of dish but it’s not bad if you like salmon and capers.

Their Hamburger steak, served with sautéed onions, vegetables and your choice of a side and sauce (I chose mash and gravy) was a decent meal. Hamburger patty moist but the mash potato was lacking in pepper, creaminess and smoothness you would often find in a good mash. It doesn’t leave a lasting impression but it does fill you up.

Impressions

Overall, our dining experience at Café Buade can be summed up with just a few words. Very average. From our meals, I couldn’t think of any highlights or anything that stood out in anyway, other than that you’d get a decent feed here. If you’re here for a limited time, like we were, I’d probably suggest finding another restaurant to dine at.

Café Buade (Menu)
31 Rue Buade
Quebec City QC G1R

Bistro le Brigantin – Quebec City Series

September 20, 2013 Posted in European, Food Reviews, Italian, Quebec City, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

On our last night in Quebec City it was absolutely freezing so we dared not venture too far out at night. Luckily, right across from our hotel is Bistro Le Brigantin, a Italian restaurant on the corner block. We weren’t that hungry as we had soup and bread from Baguette & Cie in the arvo. It’s a lovely little restaurant that for some reason didn’t seem to be that popular. It might be because most of the visitors were in the city centre and not near the bayside.

We ordered a Tomato based Penne Pasta with parmesan cheese on top. The pasta was perfectly al dente, and the tomato flavour was so flavourful and yet not oily. Adding a bit of chilli flakes just makes it delicious. I was really quite surprised of this gem of a restaurant that seemingly was mostly empty at night. Top notch.

Their salmon baked pizza was also just divine. Crisp and crunchy bottom, with a very cheesy and fresh salmon on top with cooked onions and herbs. It isn’t like your typical pizzas with a crust and a thick bread bottom, this instead lets the toppings come alive. For something that may seem small, it packs full of flavour and is actually filling even though it was shared between three.

It might have also been because we ate a lot of the bread as a starter. You really can’t go wrong with bread and butter, their airy bread is light and fluffy inside but with a very crunchy crust. Love it.

Impressions

I loved this Italian restaurant, I never would have imagined Quebec City to have great Italian food. Colour me surprised and very glad to have dined here. Fantastic, flavourful food, with excellent service.

Bistro Le Brigantin

97 Rue Du Sault-Au-Matelot
Quebec QC G1K4A6

Le Lapin Saute – Quebec City Series

September 6, 2013 Posted in Canadian, Food Reviews, French, Quebec City, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Le Lapin Saute is this little cafe/restaurant/brunch eatery on rue du Petit-Champlain just on the outskirts of the inner walls of Old Quebec City. They seem to specialise in Rabbit cuisine which I’ve never really tried previously so it made it all the more tempting to try. We ate here for breakfast/almost lunch and it’s a very cute homely shop on this small but bustling street.

I ordered a rabbit dish (of course) that comes with scrambled eggs, rabbit rillette, crisp potato slices, cheese, mushrooms, bread, homemade jam and fruit. This was a large dish, probably best shared between two.

The rabbit has a light texture, and similar to a pate, it’s wonderfully soft and shredded very thinly. A delight to eat, and probably not very good for you. The scrambled eggs were also light and just cooked to perfection, buttery and simply how it should be. The hard cheese melts ever so slightly against the just cooked eggs, but still retains its shape, and eating those crunchy chips as well. Wonderful. My first experience trying rabbit and rilletes and it leaves a positive impression.

The mushroom soup here is also packed full of flavour (I think this was the soup of the day), creamy and fantastic on a nice cold winters day. Not too creamy though as some soups can be. Really tasty.

This cheesy little thing is their Casserole au Gratin with scrambled eggs, rabbit, bacon, onions confit, potatoes, hollandaise sauce, and of course cheese. I loved this, just out of the oven nice and warm. Perfect for winter, and absolutely satisfying.

Impressions

Le Lapin Saute is simply a gem in Old Quebec. I’d put this as a must visit during your stay there. Rabbit as its specialty but everything else is just wonderfully delicious as well. I can’t recommend it enough for a Canadian-French meal.

Le Lapin Saute (Breakfast Menu)

52 rue du Petit-Champlain
Québec QC G1K4H5

Le Chic Shack – Quebec City Series

August 16, 2013 Posted in Canadian, Food Reviews, French, Quebec City, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Le Chic Shack in Old Quebec is one of those trendy Burger joints aka gourmet fast food. In the old part of Quebec City, I found it pretty difficult to find a reasonable priced meal for dinner. That and it was too bloody freezing to take more than half an hour to look around at whats good. We eventually stumbled upon le Chic Shack and after checking out the menu it seemed like a decent place to dine in. Like a Fast Food eatery, you order at the register. Menu is painted on the walls, along with menus at the tables and at the register. We weren’t particular hungry so opted for smaller, lighter options.

As you can see they add stickers to their dishes, this particular burger at le Chic Shack is called the La Chic Poulette, which includes Grilled chicken breast, cheddar, arugula, red onion, tomato, pickles, remoulade and brioche bun. The bun here is a tad well done, but crunchy it is. The chicken is well cooked, not tough like some grilled chicken can be and the dressing is much needed otherwise it’d be a big too dry for my liking. Overall, it’s a great little burger but definitely on the pricier side of things at $11.

Pardon my memory but I believe this was the Le Shack aka Beef, Gruyère cheese, Red-ale braised beef, tomato, pickles, red onion and horseradish aioli with their brioche bun. The cheesy goodness on the beef is mouth watering. I love it. A typical burger but made to near perfection. $11

You can order chips as a side, $4 for small or $6 for large with a choice of normal or sweet potatoes. I’m not a big fan of sweet potato fries because they are commonly too soft and not crunchy enough for me to consider them chips, so it’s more than likely I’ll order normal potato fries. The fries here are salted well, not too much. Some places will over season chips with their salt and it’s a majorly off putting. The chips here are nice and crunchy, and just the right size. I love crispy chips and here they are done reasonably well.

Being Quebec, I couldn’t not order their poutine. What they call La Fumee is basically their thick cut chips mashed slightly (crispy still) accompanied by smoked meat, chic sauce, cheese curds, swiss cheese, pickled onions and fresh herbs. Their sauce is this kinda sweet, mayonnaise like sauce. I loved their chunky bit crispy chips and eating them with the smokey tender meat and stringy cheese it just works well together. Looking at it, you may think for $11 + tax, it isn’t worth it but I can say it is very satisfying because of all that starch, carbs and protein. Adding just a little bit of tabasco, as you do, is all that is needed to liven up what is already a great meal.

Impressions

I liked Le Chic Shack for what it is, serving burgers with interesting ingredients and some sourced locally and of course, great tasting! I do recommend it, probably more so for lunch. I prefer their poutines to their burgers but that’s just a personal preference because I love me some chips (Potato head)

Le Chic Shack
15 Rue Du Fort
Quebec QC G1R3Z8