Restaurant experience: Le Cercle

We were recently in Quebec city, which is quite beautiful. Old Quebec looks very similar to Old Montreal and Chateau Frontenac is quite impressive, of course. But we wanted to discover a different side of it, something less touristy. Thanks to a friend's suggestion, we ended up at Le Cercle., located in the hip St-Joseph street. 

Le Cercle is a cool restaurant specializing in tapas which also has shows and exposes works of art. Needless to say, the decor is very urban chic and visually stimulating. We walked in without reservations. The hostess sadly informed us that they were booked for the evening. Swallowing our disappointment, we proceeded to the exit and spent the next few minutes discussing our next course of action. Well, I supposed that the hostess took pity on us and spoke to the manager, because next thing we knew she happily informed us that they have found a table for us. Yeah! So that was one point in their favour.

After looking though the menu, we decided to go with Tapas Mania. This is a great concept where the chef prepares custom-made tapas dishes based on your party's budget. This can also include wine-pairing, if you so wish it. 

Our first course consisted of 4 different tapas. An arugula, snap peas, and asparagus salad. Salmon tartare. Bee tartare. And ricotta and basil wrapped in zucchini slices. These were very good simply because of the freshness of the ingredients used. You can tell they put a lot of heart and quality into their dishes. 

The second course is best described as the meat-lovers. It had duck, beef and fish, each with it's own garnish and sauce. Again, very fresh ingredients and wonderful mesh of flavours like herb butter with orange zest. Both courses were served on slate tiles, which I just loved. 

 
Dessert was next. Of course they wouldn't serve you a wedge of cake on a simple plate. The slate plates are back! this time in a narrow rectangular shape. What you see above is called Jack Banane. I did not order this, since I'm not a huge fan of bananas, but I did sample it. Again, the freshness of the ingredients is surprising. You wouldn't think that a cake can taste refreshing, but the banana flavour was so intense it was like biting into an actual banana! I had a simple hot chocolate, which was a disappointment. It was watery, not very warm nor sweet. I guess you can't win them all.

I would recommend this restaurant to anyone who wants to be in an eclectic atmosphere and have some fun food. However, it's not a great place to go if you have a strict budget or if you're very hungry. Instead, go to Ashton, a chain specializing in poutine. Highly recommended!