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East Coast Feast : Québec City

".. on the east coast we ride"

So I had the opportunity to stay in Quebec City, Montreal and Toronto during the month of July and a bit of August - thus I shall start off with some non-local venues. Perhaps you will end up in one of these cities, and when you do.. definitely take some time to explore the cuisine styles there. They do have some spectacular bakeries, but beware... you will miss your sushi.

Here are a few of my favourites.

Québec City

If I were to think of food in Quebec, I'd immediately think of Poutine. Cliche I know, but during my stay my goal was to find the best poutine in Québec City.

Chez Ashton is a popular poutine chain in Québec, and apparently they were known to have the best poutine - I tried it twice and I didn't think it was that great. It was piping hot, but their fries weren't as crispy as I would have liked, and their cheese curds were way too squeaky (normally, cheese curds are supposed to have that squeaky feeling). I prefer my cheese to be stringy and gooey... none of that squeaking business.

Surprisingly, the poutine at the university pub (U. Laval) was the best - perfect crispiness and an abundant amount of cheese! Sadly I couldn't take a picture...I know. Words do no justice to how good the poutine was there. Adding mayo was an extra bonus too!

The pub also had other delicacies, such as "le brie" aka the brie burger. I have a picture of this thankfully, courtesy of my good friend Katie.

The burger itself was delicious, juicy, thick patty garnished with pretty much the basic veggies with a side of fries and salad. The only bleh point was that the brie still had the wax attached. Some people might like it, but the combination of wax + cheese + meat erks me. Affordable price too! I believe it was exactly $11.45.

But beware: the servers in Québec City can be asshats. I've heard from various people that the servers expect a 15% tip from you, and if you pay less, they chase after you to pay the tip. It's quite ridiculous but let's hope you won't have to experience that. Good tips are much appreciated, but it's when you actually receive good service. It is definitely NOT mandatory!!!!

I spent a month in Québec City, but somehow didn't take a lot of food pictures. Fortunately, I have one more picture to accompany my favourite restaurant there:

Paillard is a café-boulangerie... its style parallelling Vancouver's Sciué. It's pretty much a self-serve type of cafe: Buy the food, pick it up and find a place to eat. They serve various sandwiches/paninis/salads during lunch time and pizza is added in during dinner time.

I went for both lunch and dinner, and had a great meal! Their lunch combos are under 10 dollars - includes a demi-sandwich, soup of the day and a fountain drink. Their tomato-spinach bisque was to die for! It was very smooth, with hints of spinach to give a twist.

My friend and I both tried the Margherita pizza for dinner; there weren't enough tomatoes/sauce, but the dough was irresistable. All their pizzas are freshly made, and when you bite into it, you can see how fluffy and light the pizza crust is. We were given some butter on the side, so we paired the remaining crust with it and stuffed ourselves silly.

With my lunch and dinner, I paired it with the Rième line of limonades - hailing from France, these limonades are made with real beet sugar and uses the ancient French way of carbonating drinks. They come in flavours such as Grapefruit, Blood Orange and Pomegranate as well. Needless to say, we loved them!

I would also like to mention a couple more places I enjoyed during my stay in Québec City:

+ Picardie - Cutest boulangerie/pâtisserie! Best croissants I've ever had here - fluffy and fresh, you can see the layers when you take a bite. They also sell a few deli goods for you to bring home. Look for the little red riding hood sign on rue Cartier.

+ Casse-Crêpe Breton - Perhaps the most famous crêperie in Québec City. Very affordable (under $10) and tasty crepes are served, choose from savoury or sweet. You can also make your own combinations! The café du maison (a blend of coffee and hot chocolate topped with a scoop of ice cream) is also recommended as a pairing.

So this concludes Part 1 of East Coast Feast. Stay tuned for Part 2: Montréal!