dutedute's travel diary

Le Billig: Crêperie-bistro

2013-03-22T11:43:00.001-07:00

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

Each order of crepes came with a side of fresh green salad. Of course, one of the first things that I noticed was the shape of the crepe. These ones were folded into a square shape while the Cafe Crepes and Japanese crepes I've had in Vancouver are in a triangle.

The Cannoise (Swiss and Ricotta cheese, spinach, poached egg, tomato, sauce, olives)

Thank goodness the olives were easy to pick out because I don't like olives. The egg was nicely poached, just the way I liked it.

The waiter also recommended the duck crepe as one of their most popular choices. It was filled with slices of duck meat and I was not surprised that this was one of their most popular crepes.

The Béarn (confit of duck, spinach, Swiss, goat cheese, onion marmalade)

Because we had the English version of the menu, I thought it was weird that they put in "au gratin with Migneron". But it turns on that "au gratin" is a culinary term that refers to "grating" and baking the toppings. Interesting.

The Savoyarde (Swiss cheese, potatos, onion, bacon, au gratin with Migneron)

Overall, a very good experience with friendly service. And my first time eating a square crepe. They're definitely not your traditional crepes and are different from Japanese crepes and crepes from Cafe crepe in Vancouver. They're much more crispier and slightly thinner. They do offer the typical butter/sugar/etc. crepes but you'd probably want to try something a bit more exciting as you can't do that in Vancouver!

Menu (click to enlarge):

Au Vrai Smoked Meat

2013-03-13T09:56:00.000-07:00

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

Other than smoked meat sandwiches, Au Vrai Smoked Meat also sells a variety of poutines. I decided to take a break from poutine that day and ordered just a smoked meat sandwich.

smoked meat sandwich

It came on a styrofoam plate, and you probably know how I feel about that from my previous post. I believe that smoked meat is usually served on rye bread with yellow mustard. The bread was very soft, warm, and fresh. This was my first time having smoked meat, so I'm not sure if that is actually how smoked meat is supposed to be, because it was just like ham. I liked the yellow mustard combination with the meat and bread though.

Smoked meat sandwich from Au Vrai

As you can see, it came with plentiful of meat and definitely filled my stomach.

Bel Gaufre: My first Liège waffle

2013-03-12T20:28:00.002-07:00

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

Bel Gaufre sells Liège waffles and they are different from the normal American ones in that they're much denser and sweeter. This was my first time having one and I definitely think I should have gotten a plain one without toppings because it was very sweet.

It was served warm with lots of chocolate sauce. I was looking at my picture (below) and wondering if it looks appetizing. My poor photography skills. To me, it doesn't look great if you glance at it, but it does look yummy after staring at it for a while. Haha.

Liège waffle with chocolate sauce and whipped cream

Chez Victor (La Pyramide)

2013-02-07T11:13:00.000-08:00

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.
Yum! Unlike typical poutines, this one was done with cream cheese. I actually wish I didn't get cream cheese in my burger because I had a little too much cream cheese that day. Super heavy poutine that I had to bring home. Poutine with cream cheese is just amazing and something you gotta try! (Even though a couple of my friends preferred Chez Ashton's poutine with curds of cheese as they thought this was too creamy.) I don't think they are really comparable, they are just two different things and gives off a totally different taste/feeling. Please do not ask me which one I like prefer because you'd have to treat me to both for me to decide.

Poutine with cream cheese

Le Lapin Sauté

2012-12-13T11:47:00.002-08:00

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.

Rabbit pie

The pie crust was warm and crispy. The inside of the pie was filled with potatoes, mushrooms, shallots, and rabbit meat. I concluded that rabbit meat has the texture of duck meat and tastes a big like duck/chicken. I would recommend the rabbit pie for those who would like to try rabbit meat but not in big mouthful chunks.

Rabbit Lasagna with camembert sauce

Pepper from the big carrot

My friend got the Rabbit Lasagna with Camembert sauce. There's rabbit meat in between ever layer of pasta. It came with a white sauce, which was rich and creamy. Before we started our meals, we asked for pepper from the big carrot! I thought it was very creative of them to stick with the rabbit theme.

Inside of Le Lapin Sauté

Overall, it was a very enjoyable meal and our waitress was friendly and patient with our français. I would love to go back and try a different rabbit plate!

Les Chocolats Favoris

2012-11-18T22:46:00.001-08:00

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

The chocolate was rich and went extremely well with the ice-cream. The soft ice-cream inside was heavenly good. Super soft, super creamy, and just full of yumminess.

The soft ice-cream inside was amazing

Deserves another picture!

Definitely worth the trip to Lévis!

Old Quebec: Chez Ashton

2012-11-01T14:34:00.004-07:00

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

I was definitely not disappointed. The fries were just right, the gravy was thick and not too salty, and the curds were chunky and squeaky! As I love gravy, I would have liked a bit more gravy in my poutine. I would recommend anybody who visits Quebec to try at least a bébé poutine from Chez Ashton.

Hello Beijing! (Jingshan Park 景山公园, Beijing Capital Museum 首都博物馆)

2012-09-07T10:17:00.000-07:00

Our first hotel that we stayed at was in Chaoyang district (朝阳区) at Traders Hotel by Shangri-la Hotels and resorts. This hotel is walking distance to the China World Shopping Mall which is filled with all the top brands like Louis Vuitton and Tiffany & Co.

Hotel means breakfast buffet! Yay!!

Traders Hotel Beijing

Bread and pastries

Waffle/Pancake station!

油炸粿 (Chinese donuts)

My first breakfast in Beijing

Our very first stop was at JingShan Park (景山公园). 99% of the time, there'll be stone lions guarding the entrance. There's significant and symbolic meanings such as their curly hair, the male with his paw on the world, and the female lion's paw on a baby lion.

Entrance to JingShan Park (景山公园) and male lion

Female stone lion

writings on the floor

The first interesting thing I saw when I entered the park was a man using a big feather pen and water (?) doing these writings on the ground!

There are many beautiful views in this park but one of the most significant spots in the park is the location where Emperor Chongzhen (崇祯) hung himself from a tree. (This isn't the same tree, but it is the correct location.) Emperor Chongzhen was the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

On our way to Beijing Capital Museum (首都博物馆) !

Beijing Capital Museum 北京首都博物馆

Pillow used in the olden days

太熟悉家常菜 Lunch time!

Flight: Vancouver to Guangzhou to Beijing with China Southern 中国南方航空

2012-09-05T21:09:00.000-07:00

I'm going to Beijing for the first time. My sister has been there for the past two months for summer work so my family and I are going to visit her while exploring the capital city. It's so exciting because I've heard a lot about Beijing how that's where a lot of the palaces are. I'm looking forward to that because I'm really interested in the ancient times 古代 and palaces as well, I'm hoping to learn more Chinese history! And of course, definitely looking forward to the food! Let the trip begin!!!... with a 12-hour flight.

dutyfree at YVR

YVR after customs

Of course you should always get to the airport early...so that you have some time to shop at the duty free shops!

China Southern - my plane

Airplane pack from China Southern

This was my first time flying with China Southern. Our flight was at 12:30pm, so we'd be flying through the night. We are first making a stop at Guangzhou and then we'll transfer to Beijing. I'm always afraid of being cold on the plane so I was relieved to see that they provided each of us with a blanket already. As my flight to Quebec did not have earphones, I couldn't watch anything. China Southern did provide us with earphones as well as a pack containing toothbrush, toothpaste, ear plugs, and a sleeping mask. Shortly after the plane was flying steadily and everyone was settled in, we were served drinks and our first meal.

Before this trip, I was talking to a friend and I was saying how I actually like plane meals and I don't find them so bad. Each meal was served with a warm bun which I really liked. For the first meal, I had beef with some farfalle and vegetables. For my second meal, I got beef with rice and some vegetables. I preferred the second meal as I find that this kind of beef is much better served with rice. Also, this was the time that I first tried their milk. Wow, it tasted so different from the milk that I'm used to. I don't think they have milk that have different % of milk fat, but I think the brand was 蒙牛. Just about an hour before we landed, we each got a Saint Germain bun. It the picture it probably looks like a BBQ pork bun, but there were 2 different ones as there are vegetarians on the plane. The other option was a 奶油包 (cream bun).

First meal on the plane

Second meal on the plane

Saint Germain bun

Arrival Card

As we'll be entering China, we had to fill out an "Arrival card" basically giving our info as well as our purpose in China. I was reading the back of the card and realize all the "alien" talk on it... they mean "foreigners"? Haha. Wow, Guangzhou airport is huge. It is so huge that we were afraid we won't make it in time to transfer. Thankfully, they had these "golf carts" that transported us through a long, long hall to the departure gates.

Meal on flight from Guangzhou
to Beijing

On the golf cart at
Guangzhou airport

Guangzhou airport

Even though the flight from Guangzhou to Beijing is ~2 hours, we still got a meal! I chose fish with rice and unfortunately I didn't like it. By the time we arrived at Beijing, it was like 11PM CST. 15 hour time difference yet I was still able to sleep because flying is tiring!