Le Billig: Crêperie-bistro

Le Billig

As I was deciding what to do with my last few days in Quebec City, I focused on the food/places I wanted to try (obviously). Since I'm in the most French-speaking Canadian city, I decided that I must go try crêpes. I turned to Urbanspoon and did a quick search on where I could possibly find some delicious crêpes and finally decided to try Le Billig. They're located outside of Old Quebec, but the distance is walkable, and I read that a lot of locals come here too.

Without knowing that they open at 11am, we got there super early and took a walk around the area. It was definitely very different than the stores in Old Quebec. I love exploring areas where locals go and where it is not so tourist-y.

Because we waiter (or owner?) saw that we had waited so long for them to open, he served us some complimentary alcoholic apple cider. I forgot where he said it was from, but it sounded really special, and it tasted like no other apple cider I've tried. It was very refreshing and had a nice splash of citrus taste.

This small and cozy restaurant had a lot of neat designs and decorations. If you wish, you could even watch the chef make your crepes. They also serve a variety of alcoholic (and non-alcoholic) drinks.

Interior of Le Billig

Au Vrai Smoked Meat

The food court in Laurier Shopping Mall is pretty big, but what caught my eyes was the bright red words, "Smoked Meat". Now I know that smoked meat is very popular in Montreal, but I am surprised that there are very few places to eat smoked meat in Quebec City. Since I won't be going to Montreal this time, I decided to try smoked meat at Au Vrai Smoked Meat in the food court.

Au Vrai Smoked Meat in Laurier Shopping Mall

Bel Gaufre: My first Liège waffle

This was the first Sunday that I wasn't doing any activities hence, I had free time for myself. I decided to go shopping and as I was entering Laurier mall, a sign caught my eye. It was the Bel Gaufre sign with a steaming hot yummy waffle that totally made my eyes and nose bring me to them. 

Bel Gaufre in Laurier

I ordered the chocolate waffle with whipped cream. It was served on a styrofoam plate, which I'm not a fan of. First of all, the plate was kinda too small and it made it hard to cut/eat the waffle. Secondly, it is not environmentally friendly! I would have much appreciated the waffle on a nice ceramic plate, or even a plastic plate.

waffle with chocolate sauce and whipped cream

Chez Victor (La Pyramide)

Chez Victor Menu

Chez Victor Menu

When asked what would be a fairly casual restaurant for burgers, I keep getting the answer, "Chez Victor has the best burgers." So I definitely could not leave Quebec without visiting Chez Victor and see what they're all about. Chez Victor is like a chain restaurant so they have many locations. After classes, my friends and I visited the La Pyramide, which is a small shopping centre, in Ste-Foy. 

Chez Victor at La Pyramide

The interior of the restaurant was nice, and not as casual as I expected. I think the atmosphere is similar to Earl's. Upon looking at their menu, I realized they had a wide range of unique burgers. For example, they had "l'escargot" (snails) and "le sanglier" (boar). I don't think I'd be able to find those burgers in Vancouver, so I liked how they included a bit of their own specialities and culture in it. I've never had snails before, but I decided that I didn't want to lose my snail virginity by having a snail burger. So, I decided to go with the Classic (beef, mozzarella cream cheese, bacon, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, mayonnaise, and mustard). All their burgers come with fries, and you have the option of changing it to poutine for $3, which is just what I did.

Le Classique
(Boeuf, mozzarella ou fromage à la crème, bacon, champignons et
oignons sautés, tomates, laitue, cornichons, mayonnaise, moutarde forte)

The burger was tasty, but I didn't find anything over the bar about the burger. Maybe I should have gone with one of the unique burgers, next time! I think the highlight of my meal was in fact, the poutine.

Le Lapin Sauté

Le Lapin Sauté Menu

My friend convinced me to try rabbit meat while we were in Quebec City. I'm not too courageous when it comes to trying new animals but my friend was a good persuader. We decided to go to Le Lapin Sauté (literally, "The Hopping/Jumping Rabbit") right in Old Quebec.

C'est bon la vie!

Le Lapin Sauté Rabbit Menu

I've passed by this place before and I've seen line ups right outside their restaurant. This place is has a lot of tourists as it is probably one of the most famous restaurants in Quebec City. As we went in the late afternoon, we dodged the line ups. We decided to sit outside as it was a bright and sunny day in Quebec City! They have both English and French versions of the menu so no worries! They have a special rabbit menu as shown in the picture above. Aside from rabbit, they also have other choices such as chicken, salmon, burgers, etc. (I almost chickened out and got chicken instead). 

Fresh bread

Bread

After ordering, we had to ask for bread as they don't serve bread unless you ask to prevent waste. I believe it's a different type of bread each day and we got ciabatta that day. It was so fresh and warm - amazingly good with the soft butter. (Bread always tastes better at restaurants...) I thought they could have been more generous as they only gave us 2.

Rabbit pie

I got the rabbit pie and loved every bite of it. It was served with some fresh greens and chutney on the side.

Les Chocolats Favoris

As I've heard a lot about a very good chocolate-dipped soft ice-cream in Lévis, I decided to go with a group. We took the ferry across St. Lawrence River and then walked up a hill to get to our destination, Les Chocolats Favoris. It was a sunny, hot afternoon, and there was a line-up all the way out of the shop but the line actually went pretty fast. As I was in line, I was thinking to myself, how good can ice-cream get? 

The chocolate dipped ice-creams come in either milk chocolate or dark chocolate and in 5 different sizes: bébé, mini, petit, moyen, and gros. Aside from this, there's also a lot of other flavours of ice-cream on their menu as well as sundaes. I got the petit dark chocolate ice-cream, and man, it was huge for petit. They dip it in warm liquid chocolate right in front of you and because ice-cream is cold, the chocolate hardened right away.  After I took a bite, wow, I was completely blown away. It was absolutely the best ice-cream I remember having. 

Dark chocolate dipped ice-cream

Old Quebec: Chez Ashton

Only having spent a few days in Quebec City, I have already heard of Chez Ashton and their poutines. Since poutine originated from Quebec, I had already been looking forward to trying some authentic poutine in Quebec. So far, I've heard that Chez Ashton has the best poutine that Quebec has to offer (although I do know some locals who may not agree). Like McDonalds, this fast food restaurant has many locations and I visited the one in Old Quebec (54 Côte du Palais). 

Chez Ashton (54 Côte du Palais)

Poutine at Chez Ashton is available in a range of sizes from their smallest, bébé, to their largest, regulaire. There are also different types of poutines such as ones with sausages and/or peas. As well, burgers, hotdogs, salads, etc. are also available. 

Original poutine from Chez Ashton