Farnsniente

Soft ice cream on a cone dipped in milk chocolate

Quebec Foodie Tour featuring caribou blood?? 

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in
📍 Quebec City, Quebec

Photos

Trip index

Summary

Today we took a Secret Foodie Tour of Québec. Got some interesting Québec history, a lot of steps as well as poutine, maple taffy and duck carpaccio among other things. Afterwards we tried to burn off some of the calories with a walk to parliament and the citadel. The food won, though, and we decide decided we need a break back at our Auberge. We did manage to work up an appetite for a nice dinner, chocolate-dipped soft-serve ice cream and one last visit to Dufferin Terrace at the base of the spectacular Château Frontenac hotel.

Details

Today, like most days of late it seems, will be all about food. First Karen and the Parsons have breakfast at the hotel. I opt for ‘just coffee’ in the room but being so sweet the three smuggle out food for me (and them) for later. Our biggest food thing for the day is a foodie tour. 

We meet at the appointed place, just outside of a restaurant: La Buchette. We have to think that meeting here has a reason and it does. First, though, our guide, Sam, introduces himself and has each of us give our name, town, and favorite food. There are a lot of tourists, and construction, and it’s garbage pickup day so we keep relocating trying to find somewhere quiet to get acquainted, with marginal success. 

In La Buchette we get our first two dishes (duck carpaccio and fried lion mane mushrooms) and a quiz as to what the restaurant means. Something to do with ‘little mouth’? Nope, the name would need an ‘o’ in it. This is Buche as in Buche Nöel, a log. Buchette is a little log. The owner got famous with his first restaurant (La Buche) and this is his follow-on/second, the little buche or “La Buchette”. 

On the wooden esplanade (Place Dufferin) in front of the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac, we hear about the hotel and the impressive statue of Champlain way up on a pedestal. Apparently back in the day they knew they owed a lot to Champlain for discovering and/or establishing this place, but they weren’t sure what he looked like. Someone finally found a good picture of him and many other pictures and statues were made, including this one. A while later it was discovered the picture wasn’t of Champlain but of some Italian guy. Whoops. Too late. 

Our next stop is the aforementioned La Buche, the daddy of the pair. We install ourselves at a series of long tables with a car at one end, a bearskin rug on the wall, and thumping music making what Sam is saying all but impossible to hear. What we do hear is alarming. We’ll next be having caribou blood. Wha?? I must have misheard. Nope, that’s what the man said. Thankfully he was giving the name of the drink rather than the current ingredient list. 

Back in the day they did serve caribou blood with spices as a beverage and now they have a beverage by the same name but made with red wine, spices and some maple syrup (of course). It’s warm, like fresh caribou blood would have been, and how German Glü wine  is served. It’s good. To go with our ‘not caribou blood’ we have pea soup (yellow) which is excellent, and Chinese Paté which (like the caribou blood) is neither Chinese nor paté. It’s like Shepard’s Pie, or Cottage Pie but they make it with pulled braised beef and it’s upside down. It, too, is excellent. I find recipes for later. 

We head outside to cool off and we’re met with more food from here: maple taffy. Keeping with our “it’s not…” theme, it’s not taffy. It’s maple syrup (of course). During the long winter they’ll clear off the snow from a big piece of ice and pour maple syrup in puddles partially over a little wooden stick to be used as a handle. Is it sweet? Yes it is. Good though. 

Next we head to Club Bec. If people here talk about going to “Bec”, and someone asks “Which Bec?” It comes out “Que Bec”. (You see what they did there?) The place is small and has an upstairs and a downstairs. There’s a 4’ by 6’ cutout in the first floor ceiling and there’s a clear lucite half wall upstairs so people don’t fall into the hole. There’s also a warning in case any one is wearing a skirt and is afraid of someone looking up the skirt. The warning? “Pay attention to your skirt… or not.”

At Club Bec we have some very tasty house-made gnocchi with local cheddar, shallot, wine sauce with black garlic crumble. This is served with some very good local white wine. We like it all so much that Karen goes out of her way to find the black garlic to buy. Down the street we each get a good sized block of Quebec-style maple fudge. For all intents and purposes, it’s sugar (though very tasty sugar). For good measure we also each get a half a croissant which is OK. It would have been better if it were fresher. 

Last stop (whew) is for poutine and a tom collins, made with… all together now “maple syrup”. It’s a good foodie tour and it helps to improve our feelings about foodie tours. The tour ends at 2 pm after which we go on a long walk to settle the food. At 7 we’re at a restaurant for dinner, groan. No, it’s all good. It’s our last dinner in Quebec and it’s good. Very close to our table is a game where you swing a ring and try to hook it on a hook on a post. It gets played constantly by passerby as we have dinner and we watch a zillion people try and only a few succeed. After dinner? Ice cream (groan). 

Photos

Early in the morning, before all the tourists arrive, the city is very calm and peaceful. We know it won’t be like this later.
Even up on the (what’s it called) Esplanade de Dufferin it’s empty now.
We take advantage of the sun and our free time to take a group photo in front of the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac hotel.
We find Sam, our guide for our foodie tour, along with the rest of the group. He does his intro and we do ours (name, where from, favorite food) and we’re on our way. We have to keep moving to find a quieter space as there’s construction going on, traffic, and it’s garbage day. Argh.
Our first stop, at La Buchette. Maybe something about little mouth? No, that has an “O”. This is Buche, like Buche Noel, a log, or in this case, a little log. The food has no logs.
At our second stop, La Buche (sister restaurant to La Buchette) we’re told we must see the restroom. The sink is a big tub with three valve controlled “faucets” and cloth towels. It is different.
At Le Bec (as in Le Quebec) they have an upstairs and a downstairs. If you’re upstairs, and wearing a skirt, you may have people able to look up your skirt via this opening. On the clear glass walls around the opening it warns the women. “Be aware of your skirt… or don’t”
Lots of good food and wine and other beverages. Clockwise from the top right are local white wine, maple fudge, Paté Chinoise aka Chinese Paté aka Shepard’s Pie), Lion’s Mane Mushrooms, and duck carpaccio, Yellow Pea Soup with Caribou Blood (aka Red Wine with bourbon, spices and maple syrup) similar to warm glü wine, maple sugar hardened on ice attached to a stick for sucking, gnocchi with local sharp cheddar and powdered black garlic, the group.
At one stop, on the ceiling hanging down, are white (‘snow covered’) trees and a moose. If I turn it over is it believable? Yeah, I didn’t think so either.
An Inukshuk honoring the good relations between the conquering white people and the native First Nations people of this area. They’re effective in their presence.
Up near the provincial capital building are lots of plantings. We know this plant/flower but not in this color and not with so many layers in the blooms.
Outside where we had dinner someone (the restaurant) set up a ring game where you try to swing a ring and have it catch on a hook. Not easy but some people were able to do it. Very popular.
Evening walks are always fun, with the cool temps, the alpenglow, and all the flowers.
Champlain, a local hero who discovered so much and established Quebec City. The following generations knew they should honor and revere him. They found a picture of him and from it made innumerable other pictures and statues. Later? They discovered the original picture was not of him but rather of some random Italian. Whoops! Too late, too bad, so sad.
Not a part of our foodie tour but quite ubiquitous up here: soft serve dipped in chocolate.
Our last night in Quebec. We really like the town, er city with its old buildings, stone streets and murals. The food is great, the people couldn’t be nicer, and the currency is weak. I predict we’ll be back.