Dining in Quebec City for Couples

For romance, it’s hard to beat Old Quebec, snug within its walls, its streets lined with fine old buildings. Its distinctly French atmosphere is as close to Europe as you’ll get in North America; you almost expect to hear “La Vie en Rose” wafting from a window. While the city is great for family travel, it’s also perfect for a couples’ getaway.

After a day’s sightseeing — and there’s plenty to see — you’ll want a memorable dinner for two.

Here are three good choices:

Bistro Hortus

Not many restaurants in the heart of a city can serve fruits and vegetables picked fresh only a few hours earlier, but the chefs at Bistro Hortus can do that easily. The garden is right upstairs, an extensive rooftop array of vegetables, fruits, berries and herbs complementing the fresh seafood and locally raised meats on the menu. As you might expect, vegetarians will find a lot to like on the menu.

Chez Boulay Bistro Boreal

The Nordic-inspired cuisine at Chez Boulay relies on ingredients, both wild and farm-raised, from the northern latitudes. Look for cranberry seed oil for dipping bread and a dessert of dark chocolate cream, fragrant with balsam tips. Seared char might be sauced with wild leeks and elderberries, and instead of capers with the bison tartare, you’ll find pickled daisy buds.

La Buche

While in Quebec, you may want to sample some of the old traditional dishes like tourtière (meat pie), but not all restaurants touting ancienne cuisine do it well or are a good value. For the best, reserve a table at La Buche, where local Quebecoise favorites and ingredients are respected, but the preparation has been updated to modern standards. The tourtière is made with local venison and beef, and the salmon pie is deconstructed so the salmon is perfectly seared and the crust a free-standing, flaky puff pastry.