L'Affaire est ketchup — Restaurant in Quebec

Small and intimate restaurant with some of the best cuisine I've experienced in my life! (And I swear I'm not exaggerating).

To start, you wont receive a menu since it rotates frequently. Your knowledgable hostess will come by and explain every appetizer and entree with so much detail that you'll be fully drooling by the end! (Explanations done in french or english as you prefer).

Once you start eating, you'll realize that no detail is missed and regardless of what you choose, I'm quite certain your tastebuds will explode with ecstacy. There is so much love and attention that goes into ever element of each dish to marry the perfect balance of flavors with the freshest of ingredients. But feel free to ask what's popular that evening or for some of their personal faves!

Appetizers: Ris de Veau (veal sweetbreads) - insanely tender yet crispy on the outside. The creamy herbaceous sauce its served in is legitimately insane so make sure you get some bread to soak it up. One of my favorite dishes. Would 100% eat this every day for the rest of my life and bathe in the sauce if I could. Sturgeon Fish - flaky and so delicious with the marinated mustard seeds and fresh apricots. On the sweet and citrusy side which was a nice combo to the savory and buttery ris de veau to keep things extra interesting.

Mains: Surlonge de Bison - if you're in the mood for steak, go for the bison. Served almost raw in the center since it's a high protein cut, basically dissolves in your mouth. I'm picky when it comes to red meat and I couldnt keep my fork and serrated knife off of this! Served on a bed of pureed butternut squash with roasted veggies. Cuisse de Canard - MUST GET!! The duck leg was the talk of the restaurant this evening and did not disappoint! Perfectly crisp on the outside and so juicy! Served on a bed of polenta with some roasted veggies and a cherry sauce. A proper description will never do this justice so I'm not even going to try but will say that if you show up and dont order this, you've properly failed the exam. I still dream about this dish and will be telling my future grandchildren about this in 80 years.

Dessert: If you still have room (try to). We went for the brownie with bailey's whipped cream and it was so decadent and creamy. Basically didnt have any flour in it and was a square of gooey fudge with a crisp outer shell, which is right up my alley. Its quite difficult to follow up on a meal so spectacular, but this was a nice finish.

Atmosphere only enhanced the experience! Decor was simple and rustic and the way the restaurant is set up, you almost cant help but strike up good conversation with your neighbors. Everyone KNOWS the food is insane and eager to tell everyone around them just how amazing the dishes they ordered are and you'll soon find out why!

Definitely make a...

Ketchup is an absolute must visit in Quebec City. It’s been featured on pretty much every food and travel show for good reason. The ambiance is something between Brooklyn pop up and your college apartment’s kitchen with the crew cooking on two small ranges right behind the tables. It’s almost dinner with a show. The staff is super friendly though, even to the less French inclined. On Valentine’s Day, they had a pre-fix menu with super interesting choices. The normal menu is always intriguing as well with things that sound strange together, but taste amazing. The service is not at all pushy too, and since the menu included a glass of champagne, never came by to push a second glass or wine.

Service started with an amuse bouche, trout gravlax with caviar on a crusty bun. Compared to salmon caviar, the trout was way less fishy and salty and had a brighter lighter taste. It was quite amusing. Up next was a choice of appetizers. I opted for the land and sea dish, served on scallop shells with scallop, clams, and beef carpaccio. The foie gras dish was also excellent with a nice chunk of seared foie gras, a nice big slice of bread, and ample pate spread. It’s a good thing they were equally generous with the bread at the table to spread out the spread.

The main courses had an amazing selections of various woodland animals including beef, venison, rabbit, and pork. I went for the goat three ways which included a take on shepherd's pie, goat served like pork belly, and a nice thick steak of goat. Each had a unique flavor appropriate to the cut. Each dish was even better than the previous. The crispy skin and chewy meat of the belly was succulent. The steak was thick and juicy and the pie incredibly filling. The rabbit dish came out a Nickelodeon bright green with a leg sticking out. The meat was bright and crispy, very light for even the leg piece.

Dessert was interesting with a mix of fruit and chocolate dishes including a chocolate shelled strawberry square, white chocolate, and chocolate nibs. It was good, but a bit bitter for a chocolate dish, and after the heavy meaty meal, could have been a little lighter on the palate.

Service was relaxed, in fact it was almost an hour between appetizers and entrees were served, but in the atmosphere, it went quickly and was a nice chance to sit and enjoy a leisurely meal.

Make a reservation as we saw over a half dozen couples get turned away without...

When you arrive in front of this restaurant, you'd not even realize it is actually a restaurant. The place is actually very small and music it's loud. Said like this maybe the first impression is bad that's true. When we were presented the menu, it was directly to the whole restaurant that it was presented, dish by dish, one by one. That was new for me. It was a small menu, 4 starters, 4 main dish and 2 desserts As an entree, we took the ceviche and the shrimps. The ceviche of scallops had a very nice taste, the seasoning and the dressing was right to our taste. A mix of sweet and sour with the freshness of the ceviche. The shrimp on the other hand didn't have that crispness of fresh shrimps, it was more a fondant texture. The dressing was nicely prepared with a touch of bitterness in the salad. We waited a long time for the main dish to arrive as they serve all the tables at the same time like if we were a huge group. For the main course, we had bison and duck. Both meat were really good, the bison maybe a tiny little bit more cooked to our taste but it was delicious. The same vegetables were on both plates. As a side dish, the bison had porcini mushroom and truffle purée that was very tasty and a dark sauce that goes very well with the meat. For the duck, it was served with pro, which unfortunately did wasn't to my taste. I would have seen this orzo more like taboulé, as a cold dish with a touch of mint. It was too cooked and fondant for me. As for the sauce it was a creamy moutarde which tasted good. The moutarde sauce would have tested better with white meat! At the end of the meal, we had the brownie with pecan nuts and a white chocolate sauce. The brownie felt like a cake in mouth, moist, not too much chocolate, not too sweet, not too fat like one bite makes you full.

The staff there was nice and friendly. I'd gladly try it again when they will have...