Guest Blogger: Sister #3-Aux Anciens Canadien in Quebec City
When you walk the streets of old Quebec City you soon realize just how young the western provinces are in comparison.
After a hot day full of walking up the steep hills of this amazing place, we were all ready to tuck into some comfort food. We were advised to make our way to St. Louis Road to Aux Anciens Canadiens.
Housed in a home that was built in 1675, this quaint restaurant was the perfect setting for an early dinner. The menu du jour is offered until 5:45 p.m. daily and we arrived just in time to take advantage of this incredible value.
We started with a choice of the Portage du jour, Chicken vegetable the day we visited, or the Soupe aux pois Grand-mere AKA Grandmaâs pea soup. I choice the later and was pleased with my choice.
There was a wide variety of main courses to choose from.
Gabrielle selected the Fricassée de suprême de poulet et legumes, like an open faced pot pie of puff pastry with grilled chicken and veggies.
Marie choose the Tourtière du Lac St-Jean aux gibiers which featured a variety of wild meat. It was served with fruit catsup and purple cabbage, which the girls tell me is just how their grandma would have served it.
Chantal and I selected the Saumon à la façon coulibiac et sa fricassée de légumes et crevette and it was decedent and fantastic! Salmon is mashed with seasoned potato, topped with matchstick vegetables, wrapped in puff pastry and served on a pool of shrimp cream sauce.
Unfortunately they were out of the strawberry pie that they had offered as their dessert of the day. I should have gone with the pear sorbet which would have been the perfect end to a rich dinner, but I was in Quebec so I had to try the tarte au sirop d’érable, a maple syrup pie that was amazing.
So our dinner included fresh bread, soup, entrée, a glass of wine and dessert. My bill was $19.95 plus tax. I told you it was an amazing value. All of this in a sweet, traditional setting, with good service and the best company. An evening I will never forget!
Kath’s quote: “He showed the words “chocolate cake” to a group of Americans and recorded their word associations. “Guilt” was the top response. If that strikes you as unexceptional, consider the response of French eaters to the same prompt: “celebration.” Michael Pollan
Love-that is all.
I went to this place many times during the summer of 1978, when I was a 19-year-old learning French at Universite Laval. I always ordered the same thing–a thick slice of homemade white bread with maple sugar on it–and thick cream poured over it. It was amazing. Just had a look at their menu online, and I don’t see it on there. Pity!
Susan-so sorry it took me so long to approve your comment. My youngest daughter has just returned from Quebec where she studied French too.