Le Saint-Amour.
Le Saint-Amour – When you want a grande-luxe Quebec City splurge, this is the place. Jean-Luc Boulay’s cuisine – refined, imaginative, rooted in French tradition – tastes even better in the soaring, glass-enclosed garden room. Private and semi-private rooms available as business meeting venues.
Aux Anciens Canadiens – This thoroughly homey restaurant is housed in an ancestral home dating from 1675. The mode is rib-sticking, traditional Quebecois fare: deeply satisfying wild-game tourtiere, for instance, and a peerless sugar pie. Five private rooms available for incentive travel groups.
Laurie Raphael – A sleekly designed space provides the perfect setting for Daniel Vezina’s creative, modern food (a ‘sphere’ of coconut milk, celery and lime zest, say, or ‘reconstructed’ banana bread). Two private rooms available for incentive group dine-arounds.
Initiale – Tucked away on a quiet sidestreet in the city’s Old Port area, Initiale is a bit more old-school, in setting and cuisine, that some of the city’s haute tables, and delivers (the foie gras with reduced dandelion honey is superb). Two private rooms available as business meeting facilities.
Le Cochon Dingue – Expect lineups, especially at lunch, at this bustling, casual spot, on narrow Quartier Petit-Champlain. The kitchen dishes up French bistro classics like crepes, steak frites and mussels. Service is fast and friendly.
Au Petit Coin Breton – As its name implies, this tiny spot dishes up Bretonese classics (escargots, onion soup and, the house specialty, terrific sweet and savoury crepes). Adding to the abundant charm are servers decked out in traditional Bretonese costumes.
Le Lapin Sauté – The specialty is rabbit; the mustard-sauced version is top-notch. But this is no one-trick pony, and also dishes up duck, lamb, salmon, or perhaps something simpler, like fat slices of bread paired with a local cheese. Thirty-two-seat main dining room available for group buyouts, November to March.
Paillard – Excellent crusty breads; tempting pastries; sandwiches hot and cold; salads; and first-rate sorbets, served in a bright and welcoming, European-style bakery café. A long, refectory-style table dominates the eating area.
Le Petit Chateau – Service can be brusque at this no-nonsense eatery in the shadow of the Chateau Frontenac. Ignore that and dig into a hearty plate of raclette (melted raclette cheese served with baked potatoes, tiny pickles, marinated onions and choice of meat).
Old Port Market – Open year-round, this airy market stocks only products made, or grown, in Quebec: tourtiere, foie gras, smoked meat and fish, bake goods, pates, maple-syrup creations, chocolates, cookies, mustards, ciders and wines, jams, fudge and more.
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