Restaurants in Québec City
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Le Grain de Riz
A foodie favorite, this Western-Asian fusion restaurant lies just off Rue St-Joseph. Creative twists on Vietnamese and Chinese dishes appear in menu items like chicken with Earl Grey cream sauce served on couscous, or coconut shrimp with mango salsa. Helpful staff give tips on navigating the complex menu flavors. The attached store sells imported rice and tea.
reviewed
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Café le Sultan
This warm, cozy café is head and shoulders above the normal, soulless Lebanese fast-food restaurant. There are hookah pipes in the windows, music playing in the background, oriental tapestries and tiny tables. The service isn’t particularly friendly but the atmosphere is terrific. Try the merguez (spicy lamb sausage), falafel or the leg of lamb.
reviewed
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Oh! Pino
One of the most authentic French bistros in town, the elegantly set Oh! Pino attracts a well-heeled, slightly older crowd that comes for tasty bouillabaisse, grilled filet mignon or roasted scallops in pear sauce with leek fondue; Oh! Pino also offers more than 20 different mussel dishes. The roomy terrace in front is a fine spot for people-watching. Thursday nights feature a live accordionist, to help give the place that Rive Gauche (Left Bank) feel.
reviewed
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Café Krieghoff
This brilliant little resto is a city classic, with a varied bistro menu, extensive breakfast choices and some of the best coffee in town. If it’s warm, you can watch the comings and goings on Ave Cartier from a table on the massive front porch, or head to the laid-back terrace out back. Inside, the dining room is decorated with reproductions from the café’s namesake artist, Cornelius Krieghoff (1815–72), one of Québec’s master painters of the 20th century, who lived just down the street from here on Grande Allée.
reviewed
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E
Le Petit Cochon Dingue
Just down the street from Le Cochon Dingue, this dapper little café and patisserie is a fine destination for coffee, desserts, salads, baguette sandwiches or grilled panini. The helpful staff keep the crowds moving.
reviewed
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Epicerie de la Rue Couillard
Hidden on one of Upper Town’s pretty backstreets, this pleasant little bakery and gourmet grocery whips up delicious fresh-baked goodies and tasty sandwiches, and is something of a local secret. Stop in early for the best selection.
reviewed
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Le Petit Coin Latin
For a French-style breakfast, try this excellent, European spot near Rue St-Jean for croissants, muffins or eggs. In summer you can eat the low-priced lunch specials out on the patio. A wide variety of fresh salads and soups rounds out the menu.
reviewed
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Chez Temporel
Hidden away on a side street just off the beaten path, this charming little café serves tasty sandwiches, homemade soups and quiches, plus prodigious salads, fresh-baked goods and excellent coffees. It attracts a curious mix of locals and travelers.
reviewed
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Carthage
This BYOB (bring your own bottle) Tunisian restaurant offers couscous, meat and vegetarian specials, all lightly spiced. Tables and chairs fill the colorful room while at the tables by the windows patrons kneel on cushions in traditional Middle Eastern style.
reviewed
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Yuzu
This stylish but warmly lit restaurant (lightboxes, bonsai trees) spreads a tempting array of sushi and creative dishes (tempura soft-shell crab), plus a multicourse tasting menu with foie gras thrown in for good measure. A young, somewhat hip crowd stops in before hitting the nearby bars.
reviewed
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Ciccio Café
Tucked just off Rue St-Jean (up a steep hill), this hidden gem serves excellent Italian fare in a charming but low-key setting. Reliable old-world favorites include linguini with clams, as well as slightly creative touches like rib steak with Roquefort and a rich scallop and shrimp risotto.
reviewed
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Jamais Vu
On a quiet stretch of Rue St-Joseph, Jamais Vu is a cozy little restaurant that whips up tasty crepes, fresh salads and smoothies. Favorites include the ham with béchamel and asparagus, the Greek salad and a satisfying croque monsieur. Dessert crepes are a nice cap to the meal.
reviewed
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M
Le 48 International
This stylish spot leans toward theatricality with its sleek black tables and chairs and Cirque du Soleil footage playing in the background. The menu features tasty global bistro fare (Asian noodle soups, gourmet burgers, salads, pizzas) and there’s an outdoor patio. Service is hit-or-miss.
reviewed
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Apsara
This pan-Asian restaurant serves tasty, consistently good dishes and has been around since 1982. You’ll find an enticing mix of Cambodian, Thai and Vietnamese plates utilizing lemongrass, spicy peanut sauces, rice and delicate noodles. The restaurant has the feel of a drawing room in an upmarket townhouse.
reviewed
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O
Le Postino
Prime people-watching coupled with friendly, unpretentious waitstaff make this place a popular low-key option in St-Roch. There are plenty of classic pasta dishes on the menu for around $10 to $12 as well as a fantastic choice of risottos with genius combinations such as rabbit, roasted parsnips, caramelized shallots and wild mushrooms.
reviewed
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Restaurant Dana
This casual little pan-Asian restaurant serves a good selection of dishes from the East, including flavorful noodle soups, curries, pad Thai and, for dessert, pineapple beignet tapioca. It has a relaxed, family-friendly ambience, making it a destination to hit when the craving for spring rolls strikes and you happen to be in the neighborhood.
reviewed
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Q
Le Marie-Clarisse
Arguably the best seafood restaurant in town, the wait-staff is fantastic, the atmosphere dark, cozy and tucked off the climbing stairs on rue du Petit-Champlain. All fish is fresh, and the menu changes daily depending on what seafood is available in the market, but the marmite (fish stew) at around C$31 is their best known and classic dish.
reviewed
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Le Cochon Dingue
Since 1979 this ever-popular choice has been serving visitors and locals straight-ahead French standbys, from café au lait en bôl to croque monsieur, sandwiches, steak frites, salads, mussels or quiche. It’s all good day-to-day food and a kid-friendly place to boot. There’s outside seating in warm weather for crowd-watching.
reviewed
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Times Café
Another terrific 'non-stuffy' addition to the upper town. This eatery serves Mediterranean food in a beautifully designed space with fire-engine red tables, black and white zebra-stripped chairs and moody blue lighting. Staff are remarkably friendly given the trendy atmosphere. Pizzas and sandwiches run from around C$10-14 while the veal or seafood dishes can go anywhere from C$18-C$30.
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Soñar
Done up with a bit of glitz and a bit of slick, this fantastic tapas bar is perfect for light suppers or evening-long grazing. There's a sidewalk terrace out front if it's warm. Skip the main dishes, the reason to come here is the artfully served tapas. There's a huge range from Portobello mushrooms stuffed with feta and dates to fried calamari and tortillas. The ambience is nightclub minimalism.
reviewed
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Aux Vieux Canons
Set with a spacious front terrace on restaurant-lined Grande Allée, this place serves fairly mainstream bistro fare – roast chicken, spaghetti bolognaise, steak au poivre (pepper steak), grilled meats, French onion soup. The draw, however, is the beer; it’s poured in yard-long glasses and served with a wooden brace. A fine place to refresh after a day exploring the city.
reviewed
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Le Saint-Amour
One of the top-end darlings of the capital, Le Saint-Amour has earned a loyal following over the years for its beautifully prepared grills and seafood. Perhaps more impressive than the food is the excellent wine selection, with over 10,000 bottles in the cellar. The setting is warm and inviting beneath the glass-domed ceiling trimmed with hanging plants. The service, however, doesn’t always come through.
reviewed
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Le Pain Béni
Another great gourmet outing can be head at this small, unpretentious dining room inside the Auberge Place d’Armes. Le Pain Béni serves an excellent assortment of dishes with Québec highlights. Recent favorites include lamb-shank confit, lobster lasagna with sweetbread and morels, and beer-braised wild boar over parmesan risotto. Prices are reasonable compared with similar options. Delectable desserts are the coup de grâce.
reviewed
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Le Patriarche
The nouvelle cuisine echoes the contemporary art hanging on the 180-year-old stone walls in this top-class restaurant. Imaginative culinary creations seem almost too lovely to eat, but the feeling soon passes when you read the restaurants’ roll call of local suppliers. Start off with coconut and lemongrass poached scallops before moving on to roasted rack of lamb, caribou steak or a garden-vegetable mushroom risotto.
reviewed
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Downtown
Fun, relaxed and reasonable, this place is especially popular for lunch during the week. All the usual suspects are featured on the menu including salmon and beef tartare with fries and salads, along with pasta dishes and all-you-can-eat mussels (around C$16). Inside it's cozy with exposed brick walls, and there's none of the nervous energy of a lot of other bistro-type eateries in town. A children's menu is also available.
reviewed