Where to eat in Quebec City, QC [General]

2012 Jan 9
Headed out that way in a few weeks for the festival. I'd love to enjoy some good food. Can't say I know what to expect, haven't been there since I was a kid.

So foodies, what does Quebec City have to offer? Any microbreweries and such, or specialty must try foods?

Thanks in advance!

ps. Any sugguestions on what to do would be welcome. We're going for three days, All I've got on my list to-date is the festival, and a tour of the Ice Hotel.

2012 Jan 9
Poutine Ashton!

There are plenty of nice places to eat and drink along la Grande Allée and below the fort in the old city. La Grande Allée has a lot of lounge-type places where the young and sexy hang out, and there are more traditional European-style restaurants and cafés (and a few tourist traps) in the old city. It's all within walking distance of the ice sculptures (I take it you're going for Carnaval?), so just wander around and pick a place that looks interesting. If you wander down some of the side streets near Université Laval, you'll find some quirky little cafés, too. Café au temps perdu is my favourite; they do a pretty decent espresso and apparently they have some good beers, too (although I've never been in the evening so I can't confirm).

There's also Les Chocolats Favoris in Lévis; they have fantastic ice cream in the summer, but you'll miss that. :( Absolutely delicious chocolates, though, if you want to bring back a sweet souvenir.

My mother-in-law is also an excellent cook, but she might be surprised if you show up on her doorstep, so hopefully these suggestions will be enough to get you started ;)

2012 Jan 10
Hey Ravi - we went to QC two years ago and these are the two most memorable places we ate at (I am going to do two posts so I can add two photos).

1. Le Pape-Georges

Located in the old town at the bottom of the hill. Awesome little pub - VERY rustic inside, not many tables.

They have an awesome cheese and charcuterie plate that I had and my hubby got their stew that was served straight out of the crock pot as this place doesn't have a kitchen. Just a really cool little place!

And of course a couple of pints!

www.papegeorges.com

2012 Jan 10
The second place I recommend is:

2. La Barberie

This is a brew pub located in the St-Roch neighbourhood (about a 15 minute walk from the centre)

They also don't have a kitchen, but they do have a binder with the pamphlets of all the takeout places around so you can order your beer and then order in your food. Awesome concept in my opinion!

Fantastic atmosphere and great beers. They have 8 beers on the board and you can get a flight of all 8 beers - and they are FULL pints.

labarberie.com/

2012 Jan 10
@KSW, many thanks. The beer and delivery pub sounds mint! I love doing the samplers. Though these are all pints so I'll have to share a wee bit.

@Freshkate, chocolates are noted! I'm trying to stay away from tourist traps for sure. I'll pass on the MIL offer though, I had enough of my MIL this holidays. :) Don't need any quality time with someone elses. lol. Thanks for your help

2012 Jan 11
I liked Casse-Crepe Breton on rue Saint-Jean in the old town. Seemed like a locals/student type of place. Just some very good crepes with a beer (or a coffee if you go at breakfast)

2012 Jan 11
Came here to recommend Ashton, leaving satisfied.

www.chez-ashton.com/

Fantastic poutine. I hope they're using the earth-slaying styrofoam containers. It adds to the experience.

2012 Jan 11
I enjoyed pretty much every place I ate in QC! The one that stands out however is Cafe Sirocco.

www.cafesirocco.com/

2012 Jan 11
Crepes sound great, I'm definitely doing the poutine. Will take a look at Sirocco, many thanks guys.

Is there something special about QC food? Like some local specialty? Ottawa has it's beavertails etc.

2012 Jan 11
Maple products! If you were going later in the winter / early in the spring you could go to a cabane à sucre and stuff yourself with the traditional ham/sausage/beans/etc all soaked in maple syrup breakfast. You can usually find someone at Carnaval selling tire d'érable (boiled maple sap poured onto the snow and wrapped around a stick). Eat one and feel your teeth start to rot instantly! :D

There's also tourtière, of course, but that's always best when made by somebody's grandmother. In a nutshell, traditional Québec food is comfort food. Hot, heavy, and sticks to your ribs.

2012 Jan 11
Im from Quebec and generally people from Quebec dont eat at Ashton...you can get better Poutine here in the region than at Ashton.

I will post a list of my favorite restaurant in QCity later. Any particular cuisine you are looking for? You might want to drive out and try a 24 course meal at La Taniere, ive never been but heard lots of good comments about the experience.

2012 Jan 13
Was in Quebec City the summer of 2010. We ate at L'Initiale, pricey but the food was very good. www.restaurantinitiale.com/

Our favourite place we ate at was Le Moine Echanson. Food and wine selection is very good and the atmosphere is very cool, felt like we had found a hidden gem (we had ran into the restaurant to escape a sudden downpour). www.lemoineechanson.com/

2012 Jan 14
A few years ago now, but my family and I really enjoyed Mistral Gagnant www.mistralgagnant.ca Charming, good service and the bouillabaise was delicious.

2012 Jan 15
The Lapin Saute is pretty great! I recommend the sharing platter!
Casse Crepe Breton is also very good

If you are looking for a fantastic, romantic place, the St. Amour is incredibly amazing!!
I was there for my honeymoon and ate our way through the city!

I found that poutine here from a chip truck is pretty similar to Chez Ashton.. maybe that is just me.

2012 Mar 23
When I lived in Quebec City I rarely went out to restaurants, however here are some restaurants I enjoyed:

Le Clocher Penché is a nice place. I've only ever been for brunch, but it was very tasty.
Bistro Les Bossu in Nouveau St-Roch is a charming little bistro with traditional French fare.
If you enjoy Italian, Il Matto was popular among my friends.

2012 Mar 26
My favs are clocher penche and le Moine Echanson.....spellings might be off.

Salmo

2014 Aug 13
Resurecting this topic, anyone have anything to add in the last few years?
Is there an english version QC foodies out there?

2014 Aug 13
was there in October and went to Chez Victors for burgers. Three locals told us Chez Victors had the best burgers in town. They were pretty damn good.

2014 Aug 13
Went to Le Continental lat year just after xmas time...it was awesome, so old school but spot on with service.

2014 Aug 13
L'Affaire est Ketchup is a hot new-ish place.

2014 Aug 13
By far my fav restaurant in Qc city: Aux Anciens Canadiens www.auxancienscanadiens.qc.ca.

Old school French Canadian food with lots of wild game. When you order medium rare, you get more rare than what is generally served rare in Ottawa. My favourite meat was the caribou.

I have in my travel notes a strong recommendation for brunch at Le Café du Clocher Penché.

Enjoy!

2014 Aug 13
Second L'Affaire est Ketchip is must. Cloché Pencher, Hobbit bistro and le billigis also very good.pub...LA barbErie microbrewery offers a good variety of beers. Pub Saint Alexandre is cool spot too for pints.

Fine dining spots are laurie Raphael/Panache/TABLE

Have fun!

2014 Aug 14
We just returned from a trip east and had an amazing dinner at Chez Boulay in Quebec City. The food was superb, especially the mushroom cappuccino soup and the braised beef cheeks. The service was outstanding, friendly and knowledgable, as well as prompt. For breakfast/lunch the next day, we headed across the street to Paillard, a bakery, lunch, pastry and coffee spot. Melt in your mouth croissants and a fantastic apple turnip soup. Great coffee as well.

2014 Aug 15
Thanks for the recommendations - I will try to report back on where we end up.

2014 Aug 20
I am heading down there sooner or later in the next month or two. Thanks for all the recommendations too.

2014 Sep 1
To follow up, here are a couple of places that we enjoyed. Right downtown we went to the Chic Shack. This is an upscale burger/poutine/milkshake place. The burgers were great. The poutine was made with large potatoe chunks. Very tasty but I prefer more traditional fries. Great place to go with a family

The next spot was Le Bureau de Poste. This was another casual place. No reservations, and a long line up outside. They were able to accommodate 10 of us, and it took about 30 minutes. I waited with my brother, while the rest of the family showed up just before being seated. This is a total hipster place. All menu items are $5. How you server up one of the best burgers I've had (bacon, cheese) with a side of soup for $5 I'll never know. Great beers, slightly more than $5. Really fun spot, very loud, and a stream of skate boarding videos keep you entertained. I want one of these in Ottawa.

The last place I'll mention is Versa Restaurant. We went for an adult only dinner there. The place was pretty empty, however the food was very good. Oysters, homemade headcheese, diver scallop with bone marrow ravioli, fresh wild chanterelles, duck breast with duck confit dumplings ... all yum.

We were somewhat limited with our food choices as we were 10 with kids, ranging in age from 5 to 50. Overall there are lots of great places to eat. Quebec is a great eating spot with lots of choices. Our hotel was close to Rue St. Joseph, so that is primarly where we ate at night.