Le Moine Echanson

Le Moine Echanson Restaurant Review:

This unassuming concept-driven restaurant is one of the hidden gems of Quebec City’s bohemian Saint-Jean-Baptiste neighborhood, just west of the limits of Old Quebec. Set between bakeries, arts and crafts boutiques and hip record stores, the eatery combines traditional cuisine with a list of inexpensive yet always surprising organic and biodynamic wines from French and Quebec winemakers. Owner Bertrand Mesotten, a Belgian-born sommelier, has devised a simple and effective formula: everything on the menu (or almost) is available in small or large portions, served over wooden boards and matched with a particular wine, also available in two- or four-ounce servings. The menu goes through a seasonal rotation of regional cuisines, from Mediterranean in the summer to Alsatian or Savoyard in the winter. Charcuterie includes unusual preparations from an artisanal producer in the Magdalen Islands such as figatelli, a Corsican-style dried liver sausage, or wild pig. Vegetarians and cheese-lovers will enjoy the sheep's milk cheese salad with vanilla oil, lemon confit and almonds while carnivores devour cassoulet and black sausage. For dessert, consider cakes, soufflés and a piece of homemade nougat.