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I briefly visited Sherbrooke back in 2017. It's quite a small city, perhaps not much bigger than Portland, Maine if even that. I didn't find the city itself that exciting though it does have its share of museums. The surrounding region known as the Eastern Townships is very fun however, especially for outdoor activities. If you're going to visit Sherbrooke you might as well do the whole Townships experience and visit Magog, North Hatley, Coaticook, Bromont, and Eastman to name a few nearby places. There are plenty of places to go hiking, biking, boating, skiing, and sightseeing in that whole region. Are you driving up from the U.S.? If so be sure to stop by the Haskell Free Library in Derby Line, VT/Stanstead, Quebec right at the end of Interstate 91 just before the international border. It is one of the very few places in the world where you can enter a building in the US and actually step into Canada without a passport .
Thanks for the recommendations, everyone! For the people that recommended Ottawa and Gatineau, they are definitely on my list, but the drive is a bit longer than the one to the Eastern Townships.
Hopefully I don't offend anyone by asking this, but is poutine really the be-all-end-all for quebecois cuisine? Are there any other dishes I should try to hunt down on my next trip?
Sherbrooke is a nice little city. I haven't been there in long time but when I did go there I had great time. I actually stayed in Lennoxville, jsut south of Sherbrooke. I really like that area of South eastern Quebec, it is very picturesque.
Thanks for the recommendations, everyone! For the people that recommended Ottawa and Gatineau, they are definitely on my list, but the drive is a bit longer than the one to the Eastern Townships.
Hopefully I don't offend anyone by asking this, but is poutine really the be-all-end-all for quebecois cuisine? Are there any other dishes I should try to hunt down on my next trip?
I don’t think poutine is a must at all and you don’t absolutely need to have one if you aren’t interested in that type of meal.
There are many excellent restaurants at all price points in Quebec. I don’t think you want to hunt down specific meals, rather you might want to pick places that are going to give you a good idea of where things are right now. There are many fancy-ish brewpubs or French-style bistros that serve very good, often creative, food. Examples are Taverne 1855 in Magog or the Antidote Foodlab in Sherbrooke (a bit pricier, I haven’t tried it but heard good things). If you go a bit further west, the Kapzak in Granby is a very very good Quebec twist on Polish food.
Thanks for the recommendations, everyone! For the people that recommended Ottawa and Gatineau, they are definitely on my list, but the drive is a bit longer than the one to the Eastern Townships.
Hopefully I don't offend anyone by asking this, but is poutine really the be-all-end-all for quebecois cuisine? Are there any other dishes I should try to hunt down on my next trip?
Poutine at its origin is a low-brow snack food. Traditionally sold at a casse-croûte, roughly equivalent to a hotdog stand or a taco stand. Most casse-croûte places also have regular fries, and hamburgers and hotdogs too. They are also often called "pataterie".
I'd say it's probably worth it to try it at least once as a greasy, high cholesterol risk, guilty pleasure. The locals will be able to recommend a good place to have one.
Poutine has become so ubiquitous that a stand often has different varieties such as poutine italienne (with spaghetti sauce) or poutine mexicaine (with salsa).
Finer restaurants sometimes will propose higher end poutines with the cheese curds replaced by fine cheeses like brie, or the sauce as a demi-glace. The fries can be different as well in these offerings. Often there is meat like chicken or even filet mignon or seafood added to it.
If you're the slightest bit adventurous in the food department, I'd recommend you try at least one higher end poutine.
If you're the slightest bit adventurous in the food department, I'd recommend you try at least one higher end poutine.
Last time I was in Montreal, I had a really good Portuguese poutine with chorizo and other things. It was great, but my problem with poutine is that I can only eat a little bit in one sitting and I don’t enjoy it as much the next day.
I just wanted to make sure there were no entrees, desserts, pastries, or anything that are big in Quebec that I don’t know about.
Last time I was in Montreal, I had a really good Portuguese poutine with chorizo and other things. It was great, but my problem with poutine is that I can only eat a little bit in one sitting and I don’t enjoy it as much the next day.
I just wanted to make sure there were no entrees, desserts, pastries, or anything that are big in Quebec that I don’t know about.
OK well as I said I'd recommend trying a higher end poutine if you're in a restaurant that has one. Often they're enough for the main course of your meal.
Other things you might want to try are meat pieds like tourtière or cipaille/six-pâtes. Again if you're in a mid-range or nicer restaurant it might be worth it. Of the varieties I'd say the tourtière du Lac-St-Jean is the most interesting one. You can find it outside of the Lac-St-Jean region.
As has been alluded there are also wild game dishes like venison and also deer and moose meat. But my favourite is caribou which is very tasty. While they are not native to Quebec you may also find wild boar and bison too.
If you're having breakfast in most any restaurant you can try cretons (not the same as croutons) as a garnish on your bread. They're a lard-based thing similar to French rillettes de porc.
Other than that finer pastries in Quebec are very French-influenced, so if you like that (most people do), go crazy!
In terms of dessert you could try pouding chômeur or sugar pie (tarte au sucre). The latter is my favourite of the two.
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