Restaurants and Bars

No visit to Quebec City would be complete without sampling its famous culinary institutions and its renowned, even notorious nightlife. For a metropolitan area of fewer than 700,000 inhabitants, Quebec boasts an uncommon number of superb restaurants, charming cafes, seething dance clubs and quiet little hideaways.

Most visitors will naturally gravitate towards the city's sensational French bistros and restaurants. Indeed, most of Quebec's truly world-class eateries serve some kind of French cuisine; at the forefront are the traditional (and expensive) opulence of Guido Le Gourmet, Laurie Raphaël, Initiale and the incomparable Le Champlain, all in Vieux-Quebec, with all setting diners back up to CAD100 for dinner for two.

The Grande-Allee hosts its own restaurant scene, which includes the hectic bistro action at Paris-Brest, La Closerie and other brisker, more casual spots. Haute cuisine finds a home, too, in the newer part of Quebec City, in such landmarks as the revolving L'Astral, and in the Loews Le Concorde hotel, where locally-influenced haute cuisine goes miles beyond the typical revolving fare.

This blending of traditional French cuisine with local ingredients and techniques such as game meats, local cheeses, cranberries, maple syrup products, and so on, is characteristic of many restaurants in the area. Few kitchens in Quebec City entirely escape the hearty, stick-to-your-ribs influence of Quebecois fare. Those that revel in it include the landmark Maison Serge Bruyère, perhaps the city's best-known restaurant, and the spectacular Manoir Montmorency (where, after dinner in the winter, you can stop in for a unique nightcap at the Ice Hotel's Absolut Bar!).

The countryside surrounding the city, and especially the tiny townships of Île d'Orleans, contains numerous other French/Quebecois institutions. La Mairie, in Loretteville's beautiful town hall, and the renowned Le Canard Huppe in St-Laurent on Île d'Orleans, are just two examples. Many of these ages-old restaurants are associated with charming inns or B&B's, and can form part of a delightful day trip away from Quebec City. Each exudes its own sense of quiet civility, especially in winter for the ideal romantic getaway.

Area restaurants also benefit from Quebec's proximity to the sea, which results in such restaurants as Le Marie-Clarisse in the historic Quartier Petit Champlain, and also in a seemingly incongruous concentration of Belgian restaurants. Witness Vieux-Quebec's Môss and the charming B&B hideaway Douceurs Belges, just west of the city proper. Moules frites (mussels and fries) are a very popular choice for pub grub or a light evening meal in a city that tends to eschew McDonald's and its ilk.

Though anyone with a strong distaste for French food will find his choices limited in Quebec City, he will not go hungry. Two outstanding Italian restaurants also highlight the local scene: the famous Cafe d'Europe is in Vieux-Quebec, while Graffiti's French-Italian fusion cuisine and indomitable wine list can be found on the Grande-Allee. Other options await the intrepid, of course, especially outside of heavily touristed areas. As in France, eating out is considered not just a means to an end but a way of life; substandard food is simply not tolerated and should by no means be expected, even in a neighborhood Chinese or Vietnamese place.

Of course, even if a meal should somehow fall short of your justifiably high expectations, plenty of distraction awaits at night to put your mind on other things. Though locals bemoan the death of Vieux-Quebec's traditional cafe culture, a thoroughly civilized afternoon or evening awaits at the popular Pub Saint-Alexandre, the Cafe Krieghoff, or any number of lesser known coffee shops and cafes. It may seem in Vieux-Quebec like there should be more of them, but you will never want for a steaming cup of coffee and good conversation.

Later in the night, things get considerably rowdier at any number of nightclubs in Vieux-Quebec and especially on the Grande-Allee. Some of the better-known nightspots include Chez Dagobert and Chez Maurice, the latter named ironically after despotic former Quebec Premier Maurice Duplessis—both are enormous, pulsating dance clubs that don't cool down until 3am at the earliest. Meanwhile, La Fourmi Atomik offers a downstairs dance floor and a more refined art gallery atmosphere upstairs. Quieter pints await at the aforementioned Pub Saint-Alexandre or the Thomas Dunn Pub, where you can also take a break from all the steak-frites and baked chèvre in favor of a bang-up plate of fish-n-chips!

All in all, the dining and nightlife in Quebec City exude a decidedly French charisma—much more so even than in Montreal. Though cosmopolitan in appearance and attitude, Quebec is less multicultural than many other Canadian cities, and English is rarely—if ever—heard outside of tourist areas. It is, literally and spiritually, the capital of French Canada. As such, this relatively small city manages to remain at the forefront of the North American restaurant scene, which only strengthens its uniquely European feel.