While I was in Quebec, Canada I visited several places on a road trip outside the city. I went to Montmorency Falls which I still have to blog, I went to Ile d’Orleans country island which I am hoping to finish all my blog stories and pictures today and tomorrow, then I went to check out the southern Eastern Townships near the border of the USA.
Now for the day road trip to Montmorency and Ile d’Orleans, I first checked out the bucolic villages of Sainte-Petronille and St-Laurent in the eastern part of the Ile d’Orleans island. There was this promising restaurant beside the water with distant silhouette views to Quebec City in Sainte-Petronille, but it turned out be below my expectations. They have closed their terrace and I didn’t like sitting confined inside. It’s a beautiful day in Quebec and that would be a shame.
I am passionate about ambiance and eating outdoors, so I elected to search further ashore. I am glad that I have the Quebec Travel booklet with me which I picked up at the Tourism office for free. As I do not have internet on my smartphone to quickly search on Google or Tripadvisor, I rely on the booklet for suggestions. It gave me 2 restaurant options in Saint-Jean and both looked quite promising in their photos and descriptions.
There is however 1 important goal that I must achieve for this country island lunch: I need to have my lobster roll sandwich!
Before arriving in Quebec, I was in Montreal where I planned on eating this famous lobster roll sandwiches of Canada. I spied on some of the food trucks at the harbour but I waited too long that when I came back they have already ran out of lobsters. What do they say again?—Shit happens. It did. So I have been procrastinating my lobster lust so to speak, and on this day in Île-d’Orléans, I will not take no for an answer. I must have my lobster roll sandwich.
Finally, after driving to and fro between the 2 restaurants, I parked the car at Resto de la Plage. It was an effortless decision really, because firstly, this restaurant serves lobster sandwiches in their menu, and secondly, the restaurant has a lovely terrace on the sandy shore of the Lawrence River and it is open. The wooden terrace has a charming Victorian style kiosk and is facing the sun, so there goes the answer to my outdoors ambiance fix. Perfect.
And like how I always roll, I asked the young lady attending to me what their best drink in town is to pair up with the lobster roll panini sandwich I just ordered. Without a hint of doubt in her voice, she said, ‘Cider!’ Ah, wonderful, a glass of cider it is then for me.
Apples are grown in the island and in the whole region of Quebec and many farmers brew the cider accordingly to the French cider recipe in Normandy. I remembered visiting this French region many moons ago and buying a few bottles of cider to bring home. In Île-d’Orléans you can visit farmlands and see how the produce are processed and then packaged. Basically, you can buy from the source here.
The lobster roll came with fries in a newspaper and mayonnaise sauce. It looks cool and very authentic, straight out from a 1950’s film. Shredded lobster with spring onions and mayo are always a good combination, and I guess what I miss in the sandwich was a bit more salt, and that I did not find a good number of lobster chunks in it. I did dug deeper and found a meat claw.
Overall it still is a great place to unwind and have lunch. The outdoor terrace is really very nice. It faces the sun so it’s a good place to stay in the afternoon to catch some sunrays. It was pretty much fine to be sitting outside for autumn.
Travel Period: October 2015
Destination: Saint-Jean-de-l’Île-d’Orléans (Quebec), Canada
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