I loved every dish we had at Restaurant La Bûche in Quebec City!

We were searching for a restaurant for a late lunch and this restaurant appeared on Google Maps as a highly rated one. We took a quick look at the menu outside the restaurant, spotted “rabbit wings” as well as meat pies and hurried in for a table before more people arrived for the lunch hour.

Inside Restaurant La Bûche, the restaurant was bustling with people. The interior was decorated with stuffed winter animals on the walls and winter gear on the wooden panels. It was so Canadian and so homey.

We placed our names on the waiting list and in 10 minutes, we were called for a table. Yay! There were more group parties than couples, so we were lucky not have to wait the full 20 to 30 minutes’ estimate given by the host.

We were seated by the kitchen near the staircase down to the restroom (which is a must-visit in itself — more on that later). The menus were designed to look like a school notebook. There were breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner selections. We were served water in a glass. The lunch menu included tea or coffee for each guest.

We ordered four items to share. Every single one was so good but my favourite was surprisingly the pea soup. The server had asked us if we wanted all our dishes at once or not. We weren’t fussy about it and our orders actually arrived all at once indeed!

The Pea Soup was thick and heavy and topped with some fried nuts and maple glazed carrots. I loved how comforting and delicious it was!

The Homemade Poutine was the first Quebecois poutine on our trip this time. It arrived in a skillet with large cheese curds on top, sweet tasting gravy, pork, and fries. The fresh cheese curds were so chewy and “squishy” yet rubbery when I chewed. It was so unique and tasty! I liked how the fries were so potatoey smooth.

The Rabbit Wings (3 pieces) were the thigh of the rabbit. These were drenched in barbecue sauce with an accompanying side salad and mayonnaise sauce. These are best to be eaten hot otherwise the meat sticks to the sauce. Rabbit tastes like a lighter form of chicken. Ken said he could taste the herbs of the rabbit meat. It was really good but the sweet bbq sauce was too much.

The Tourtière (Meat Pie) had Quebec venison, Nagano pork, AAA beef underneath a puff pastry with fruit ketchup and a creamy salad on the side. Ken loved the creamy salad (wet salad with lots of dressing). The puff pastry was good and had large meat chunks in the pie. There was a lot of meat!

For our drinks, I chose a black tea (Camella Sinensis) while Ken had a coffee. The tea was poured in a lightbulb glass. It was a good standard tea but I was wary of the plastic tea bags (since they have been studied to release micro plastics more so than traditional paper tea bags), so I didn’t let the tea bag seep for that long.

We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch and the great food here. The service was friendly and very efficient too. We stayed way into the second service (dinner) time.

And as for the restrooms, they’re downstairs in individual gender neutral stalls. There is a giant bathtub in the middle of the room that is a communal wash basin for everyone. The taps are just three pipes coming down from the ceiling while the automatic soap dispensers are the tub taps themselves. How unique! The walls of the restrooms are all graffitied with past customers’ messages too. Bring your own marker to do so. They also provide small neatly rolled napkins on a shelf for hand drying in lieu of paper towels or hand dryers.

I would highly recommend this restaurant for a meal if you are in Quebec City. It’s slightly off and away from the more touristy restaurants in plain sight of Fairmont Le Château Frontenac and thus prices are more reasonable too. The portions and authenticity are to be applauded.